Jamila White of j.blossom and co. (Bowie, MD)

Jamila White was looking for ways to get off her computer. As a successful e-commerce consultant since 1995 she had spent all day every day in front of the computer. So she started making her own bath and body products. She loved experimenting with different recipes and her friends were always impressed with her products.

Then one day she was looking for a gift for her god daughter’s fifth birthday party and was shocked she couldn’t find much of a selection of quality kids body products that were positive, healthy and fun. So she made her own – some fun lip balm that she gave away as party favors and they were a huge hit, many people wanted to buy them. So she started to think about her hobby a little more seriously.

She did more research and she found that the products that were on the market were focused on just little blond girls or portrayed what she felt were age-inappropriate images. She found nothing at all targeted for young African-American girls. So Jamila started to put together her business plan while perfecting the product formulations, and j.blossom officially launched two days before Christmas in 2006 with a handful of high quality, natural products for girls.

The labels were always going to be important for her products. Jamila wanted some labels that were fun and colorful as well as providing a positive message for the little girls she was targeting. Every label on every product contains an affirming message such as "I am totally lovable" or "I have a beautiful smile." She also knew she wanted high quality professionally printed labels. Back when she was experimenting with her products she would buy Avery labels, but they weren’t durable and looked terrible after being exposed to water.

So before her company launched she contacted Lightning Labels, after being referred by a fellow bath and body product maker. In her words, "we love working with Lightning Labels; the print quality is superb and the prices are very affordable for small companies like j.blossom. Not only that, but the friendly and efficient customer service is outstanding. Our rep, Peggy Nelson, is awesome."

While j.blossom is still a part time venture, Jamila works in front of her computer doing her e-commerce consulting business. She does hope one day to make it her full time job. Right now she does most of the work herself, but she does enlist support from friends and relatives on weekends to help with the packaging of her products. She hopes to hire her first employee in the fall.

In the ingredient list on her lip balm she lists beeswax, shea butter and other ingredients that you might expect, but the last ingredient is not something you see on many product labels: "lots of love." Jamila loves what she does, and she wants to convey that love to her young customers through her products. j.blossom really is a labor of love.

(Peter Renton)