Bennett College is a small, private, and relatively unknown HBCU for women. It is located in the heart of Greensboro, North Carolina, but doesn’t receive as much national attention as its counterpart, North Carolina A&T State University. Though the liberal arts institution isn’t chosen often for a “top ten colleges to attend” list, there is a plethora of talent and entrepreneurial spirits here.
Meet Eny Oh. The Bennett College alumna, who graduated in 2011 with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science, founded In the Eye of the Beholder EL in her final three months as an undergraduate college student. Though Oh loved making women feel beautiful through hair and makeup styling, she never imagined herself as the CEO of her own brand fresh out of college.
“If you would have asked me where I would be seven months ago, it would have been graduate school. I wanted to go graduate school and then law school, but after speaking to more than 300 firms in Greensboro and 300 in D.C., I didn’t hear the answer I wanted to hear.”
A chance encounter with Tameka Raymond, Usher’s ex-wife, during All-Star weekend changed Oh’s perspective on her future ambitions.
“I spoke to her. She inspired me,” Oh says. “My life was never the same. I realized that I could create something around event planning, styling, and consulting because those are three things that I’ve always loved.”
With the assistance of six other people, including interns and one web designer, In the Eye of the Beholder was created. In the development stage, Oh struggled with finding funds to upstart the company and balancing her duties as a student with her role as CEO.
She says, “I didn’t have a job in college. I was doing hair and makeup to start the brand and the website. I really don’t know how I did it all.”
What Oh does know is that her brand will have longevity because of all that it offers to clients.
In the Eye of the Beholder EL dabbles in several areas including an online boutique, event planning, one-on-one fashion consulting, extensions, and custom designed decorations and invitations. The website boasts that their company makes dreams come true.
Several months after the initial launch, In the Eye of the Beholder EL’s success is Oh’s dream coming true as well.
The D.C. native says, “I believed in myself from the beginning. People may say this looks so easy or that I didn’t go to college to study makeup and hair. But, I believed in myself. Self-confidence is key. I made a decision that I didn’t want to work for anybody. I wanted to have my own brand and not have to slave for anybody else. I literally graduated from college and started my own brand.”
Her advice to others who wants to follow in her stiletto’s footprints is to “have a plan and make sure this is something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.”
Contact information for In the Eye of the Beholder EL:
For info: info@beholderel.com
For booking: booking@beholderel.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BeholderELBtque or http://twitter.com/BeholderEL
