Out of the mouths of babies often comes wisdom. For Chantel Powell, the wisdom to create Play Pits came from her then-six-year-old son, Kam, who was adamant about sharing her homemade deodorant with the rest of the kids at his summer camp. Powell made a kid-friendly deodorant after a firsthand experience with Kam.
“He came in the car smelling like a grown man,” she jokingly confirms to BLACK ENTERPRISE.
She began searching for a product she could give her active middle child. As someone with hand Eczema, Powell has been forced to be conscious of product ingredients to avoid irritating her hands. There was nothing on the market Powell felt comfortable putting on Kam’s body, so she created her own.
“I didn’t want to put toxic antiperspirants on him with all these different harsh ingredients, and the natural deodorants were boring,” said Powell.
Play Pits, a deodorant for children, was made in the kitchen with remedies Powell’s grandmother taught her so parents wouldn’t have to settle for harmful ingredients and products that barely worked.
A Fire Almost Destroyed The Business. Out of the Ashes, A Rebirth To Something Bigger
Powell received a call at 3 a.m. in September 2022 that singlehandedly changed everything with Play Pits. Between 2020 and 2021, the business grew 500%. By then, Powell had relocated to Atlanta from Maryland. She also moved into a warehouse to keep up with the demand, including the demand for Target Stores. Two years after moving into the warehouse, her neighbor called to tell her it was on fire.
“Me and my husband got up, no words and drove down. My body was calm, but my heart was racing. I could see the fire off the highway,” she recalled. “I lost everything.”
The loss included equipment she practically started with. The fire damaged 7,000 units, all of her fragrances, raw goods, and an $11,000 machine that made the deodorants. Even more devastating, she had to lay off some of her employees.
Powell, a faithful woman, tells BE that God told her that the fire would be just a part of their story and wouldn’t be the end. Still, it was a tough time for the mom of three who had given her all to the business, even quitting her full-time job in the entertainment industry. The most challenging part about the fire is that insurance didn’t fully cover the damages.
“Everyone kept saying, ‘Make sure you have high liability,’ so I had to have a certain level of liability. But nobody said, ‘Chantel, have you checked your property damage insurance?’”
The insurance company barely paid a fraction of what was lost. Then, if that wasn’t enough to bear, the insurance company dropped the business from the policy even though the fire wasn’t its fault. Insurance more than quadrupled for the Play Pits.
Two years after the fire, the business is still recovering. Yet, amid the challenges, Powell is pushing through. She has built relationships and partnerships with youth sports organizations in the community and expanded her products to adults who love them, too.
“Everything that could go wrong went wrong after that fire,” says Powell. “When people see the success of Play Pits [or] when they walk in Target and see Play Pits on the shelves, people just see the product. I see the obstacles. I see the challenges that I’ve overcome.”
Bigger Than Smelling Good. Play Pits Is Inspiring The Next Generation of Black CEOs
Customer service and giving back are the core of her brand, especially to the ones who continue to inspire her the most: children.
She says what sets her apart from other brands, other than providing parents with peace of mind for the clean ingredients she uses, is that she treats every customer with care as if they’re a member of her own family. Listening to children about what they want is also vital for Powell, so she ensures they have a seat at the adult table and meets them at the kids’ table.
“What makes us different and will continue to make us different is my ability to be in touch with my customers. I will sit on the floor with the kids at a round table. I don’t ever want to feel far removed from why I am here,” she says. “Kids have always been the center of it all.”
Powell doesn’t take her position as a Black woman CEO lightly. Growing up, the CEOs in her classrooms didn’t look like her. Part of her work in giving back to the community is also about showing up as her authentic self and being the representation to inspire the next generation.
“I know what it means when I walk into a classroom full of African American kids, and they see me walking in with Jordans, a t-shirt, and some jeans, and I say, ‘I’m a CEO,’” says Powell. “When I was a little girl, a CEO was a white man with a suit on, and it didn’t feel obtainable […] I’ve taken the path of continuing to do the work within the community.”
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