I want people to think about this music, I just want them to be aware of it and check it out. And to come check us [J@LC] out. ‘Cause we swing!”
LISA PRICE
LOSING — AND FINDING — THE SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH
Lisa Price President, Carol’s Daughter Inc.
The names of Lisa Price’s homemade body and spirit care products are as irresistible as their beautiful scents and rich textures. There’s Mango Body Butter, Honey Pudding, and Shea Butter Skin Smoothie, many of which have found their way into the homes of celebrities including Jada Pinkett-Smith, Halle Berry, and Chaka Khan. But each of Price’s personal care creations also bears the name Carol’s Daughter, which has an appeal all it’s own. “Ten years ago, when I was starting my business and looking for a name, I made two lists,” Price remembers. “One had all the things I was, and the other had all the things I wanted to be. One of the things I was was Carol’s daughter. When I read it out loud I got goose bumps. It just seemed right, and it stuck.”
Price started mixing creams and potions in the kitchen of her Brooklyn, New York, brownstone in 1990. Encouraged by the reactions of family and friends — including, of course, her mom, Carol Hutson — she officially started her business in 1993. Once Carol’s Daughter was up and running, the list of reasons the company name was such a perfect fit kept growing. “I have two young sons and my mother helped me with them whenever she could,” says Price. “She helped me hire staff when I first started to grow. Some teenagers on her block were looking for work and she sent them to me. One of them worked here for six years, another one still works here.
“Whenever I got riled up and couldn’t figure out how I was going to juggle this and that, she would give me the strategy to get through it. She never let me get down on myself. She always believed in me.
“I’ll never forget the day I did the Oprah Winfrey Show. You know how the universe conspires to mess you up on the days you most need everything to be okay? Well, that was going on. Nothing was falling into place. I was supposed to catch a plane to Chicago and I didn’t know how I was going to make it. I called her, and my mom — who was never a person who used foul language — said: ‘L
isten to me. I’m talking to you now as your mother. This is your dream and it is coming true. If anybody tries to get in your way today with any bull, forget them. You pack your bags and get on that plane!’ I just nodded and did exactly what she said.”
Hutson was such a strong, proud, and positive person that, although she used a walker to move around, few people knew she had been battling a neuromuscular disease throughout her entire adult life. The battle required her to