Angela Session | Staff Writer
During the summer of 2020, there was a call to support Black owned businesses in response to the re-awakening of social injustice around the country. Since then, many consumers have been trying to become more conscious about who owns the companies and products they spend their money on.
Hampton University is home to many innovative student entrepreneurs. In honor of Black History Month, here are two HU students making an impact through their entrepreneurial efforts.
Ju’s Mobile Auto Care
Julian McDaniel is a second-year graduate student majoring in community mental health counseling. He received his undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T in 2016 with a B.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in race, class and culture. McDaniel is a native of Charlotte, NC, and is the proud owner of Ju’s Mobile Auto Care.
Ju’s Mobile Auto Care was created because McDaniel realized that he has skills that other people didn’t have. Due to his passion for helping others, he thought it would be a good idea to start a business that offers automobile services.
As a child, Julian had a keen interest in cars, so it was only natural for him to continue to expand his knowledge of them. He worked on his car while at NC A&T, and worked for Discount Tire for some time where he learned to mount, balance, and rotate tires. After graduation, he worked at O’Reilly’s Distribution Center before moving to Hampton. Even though he wasn’t working on cars there, he would get discounted parts to work on cars at his leisure.
In 2019, McDaniel moved to Hampton and got a job at Jiffy Lube where he learned most of what he knows today.
Recently, he quit and started his business to help other Hampton students with their car repairs at affordable prices. As a member of the HU Marching Force, McDaniel was able to spread the word to fellow band members and in student group chats.
At the moment, McDaniel is focusing on creating more exposure since his business is fairly new.
Advice he would give to other aspiring business owners is, “to do what you have a passion for and make a side hustle that can bring in extra cash.”
“Stay focused, keep an open mind, and work hard as you will get what you put in,” said McDaniel.
WaistHisTime
Joy Coates is a third-year kinesiology major from Montgomery County, MD. Her business is WaistHisTime, a holistic business that is centered around improving the confidence of women.
Coates’ mother kickstarted the business by traveling to Ghana and bringing back waist beads. For Joy, waist beads are a part of her Cameroonian culture. With that in mind, she started WaistHisTime because she knew that making traditionally crafted waisted beads available would serve as an enhancement to women’s beauty and confidence.
She was initially able to spread the word through her friends, and eventually began posting flyers, sales and products. Her friends would also tell others where they got their beads from. She also began creating more social media content for her audience.
Coates plans to rebrand WaistHisTime into Tyme, a unisex athletic clothing line. She says this is something she wanted to start since freshman year and she knew she had it in her, the idea just needed to be unlocked.
Her advice to aspiring business owners is that they must get to know themselves first.
“You are your only competition,” said Coates. “Take time away to get to know yourself, because having a business requires a strong mindset and the vulnerability to accept failure.”
To learn more about Joy and WaistHisTime, follow her on Instagram @waisthistime. To learn more about Julian and Ju’s Mobile Auto Care, follow him on Instagram @757_mobile_auto_care.
The Hampton Script 