Victoria Flores is an entrepreneur, WE NYC Mentor for New York City, Former Wall Street Executive, and Co-Founder & President of Lux Beauty Club Botanicals.
Victoria Flores is a former executive at Morgan Stanley Prime Brokerage, and she is a Panel Guest Speaker on Fundraising for females.
This beauty and wellness brand can be found in independent stores, spas, boutiques, and retailers across the country.
Victoria started her career in Dallas at Themis Capital. She then moved to New York City to start the East Coast branch.
After a long career with MS, she was hired by Morgan Stanley Prime Brokerage.
She then went to work as a broker-dealer to facilitate trade execution and execution for top hedge funds.
She knew that this sector was the right one to create products for women, having researched that the global wellness industry was worth over 4 trillion dollars.
Victoria has been featured on Forbes, Huffington Post, and People en Espanol.
She has also appeared on Beauty Independent, HSN, Project Runway: Fashion Startup, and The Doctors.
She is also an alumnus of Stanford Business School’s Latino Scaling Program, collaborating with Stanford’s GSB.
What’s your career story?
My journey has been full of twists and turns. Although our original company sold hair extensions to women, the overseas supply chain was terrible.
My hair fell out due to poor quality control and the time difference.
My business partner and I were highly stressed. Our lightbulb moment came when we tried CBD for relief.
We moved into wellness and already had 10k customers.
Our sales rose but then fell due to restrictions on advertising CBD. This is absurd.
Many websites and TV shows wanted to be featured but couldn’t due to CBD.
We added non-CBD supplements to our growth, and we saw explosive growth.
I wouldn’t say I like taking pills, and I forget them, so I knew that there would be women who would love our gummies.
Men are the ones who founded most of the supplement lines.
We create all of our products together with registered nurses as my partners.
How do you stay productive?
Get up at 6 am, get dressed, and take my daughter to school. My daughter’s Dad picks her up at 7:15 am.
I then start my day with coffee, reading the DailyMail, and answering emails.
I text my entire team to check sales and new shipments to get any information.
After a long day of calls and zooms, I get on my bike to do 5 miles.
After my daughter and her husband arrive home at 5:30, we have dinner, and then she and I go to bed. I know, it’s crazy, I know!
How do you bring ideas to life?
There is so much research! Find out what’s hot and what people are talking about.
What can we do to make things more efficient or create a better product? Is it something that our customers will love and use often?
What’s your favorite trend?
The market for women’s health is expected to grow to 47 billion by 2027.
It’s not going anywhere. As we age, we need to find innovative ways for women who want to take their vitamins.
The powders you can mix with beverages are great, but they taste terrible! I want to add delicious elixirs to our product line soon.
What habits make you productive?
I don’t stop! I’m a multitasker who can do it all. I also have an excellent memory for product descriptions and SKUs. Yes, super nerdy stuff.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
I wish I had started sooner! This is the only thing I try to instill in my daughter.
My mom was a child when she had me, so she tried her best.
Each generation is better than the last, so you want your community to be proud as an immigrant.
My younger self would have more fun. Do not be so severe! Lol.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
Ha. I’d say that I am one of the most easy-going people you will ever meet.
They say that I am super type A and a perfectionist. I think this could be true.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Do not take a problematic No as a no. Continue to work towards a YES! Don’t give up.
Always check in with them. They are grateful for your tenacity.
What’s your rich strategy?
Build a team with the same vision and create great products that people love. Be authentic.
How do you overcome Failure?
Don’t be too trusting of suppliers from overseas. Trust your inner voice and gut instincts.
I moved my production to the USA and kept jobs in this country. It was a difficult decision that I made.
Can you share a business idea?
This is a great question. Tech has the luxury of scaling quickly! Anything that makes it possible to access any information is a good thing.
What’s your recent best buy?
I donated to a refugee shelter. Felt great! Professionally, I love my Adobe subscription.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
Shopify, Adobe Creative Cloud, Google docs, and google sheets.
Although this isn’t software, my graphic designer in Sri Lanka cannot be without me. Rath, I love you!
Which book would you recommend?
The Celestine Prophecy. It’s easy to read.
What’s your favorite quote?
Do you want to have a balanced work/life? Don’t start a business” – Robert Herjavec.
“Get Rich or Die Tryin'” – 50 Cent
Key Learnings:
- Don’t give up
- Pay attention to your inner voice
- Hustle, hustle and hustle