Meet Damon Haley | Entreprenuer / Consultant / Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Damon Haley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Damon, how do you think about risk?
I think I was born to be a risk taker because I have always been at risk. Sometimes in physical danger growing up in South Central LA, but always at risk of not living my best life, gaining access to great opportunities and/or not getting phenomenal chances at advances. Risk has to do with one’s fear of the unknown or unlikely. I have always had the courage to push boundaries, do the uncommon and take on the unknown. This has shape my life by adventuring outside of my environments be it my neighborhood as a youth, the City of Los Angeles to attend college, selecting jobs and projects that require travel and pivoting into varies industries and businesses.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Most of my professional career was in finance and sports marketing as I started my career in various finance positions at Chevron prior to launching Nike’s Western Region Marketing Office. I had the opportunity to be part of Nike’s early growth with expanding its retail business, NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA and MLS league deals and working with iconic athletes like Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. This vast array of experiences positioned me to launch my own agency to serve not only Nike but also Jordan Brand and Converse along with the family of brands for Coca Cola, Pepsi, Time Warner and Viacom. It also provided the opportunity to travel the world and do work in Asia, South America and Europe. A few years back, I pivoted to beauty to build brands and businesses with my wife. I knew very little about beauty and leveraged my retail, marketing and brand experience to open Glow + Flow Beauty (www.glowandflowbeauty.com, a Beauty Retail Concept Stores in SoCal along with Slayyy Hair (www.slayyyhair.com) that is currently distributed in TJ Maxx, TK Maxx (Europe), Marshalls and Target. Learning the Corporate America and Korean ‘matrix’ of beauty has been overwhelming to say the least. Everything was brand new but the basics of business, branding and serving consumers was familiar. I love penetrating a growing and meaningful market along with showing others it can be done. And, it can be done marvelously!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to give a huge shout out to my wife Diann Valentine. Diann is a global icon as it relates to celebration and lifestyle design, luxury experiences and women’s empowerment. She is fearless. Having her as a friend and partner has fueled my own fearless journey in business and life. Another shout out should go to a man that catapulted my professional career and was my mentor and friend while I was at my first ‘real job’. That phenomenal man is David Morgan…and we are still friends and brothers to this day. He provided me all the ‘soft skills’ of success that I need to navigate day-to-day work excellence, forward thinking mentalities and managing life in general. The last but not least shout out goes to the late great Kobe Bryant. When Kobe signed with Nike, I had the pleasure and honor of working closely with him. Mamba Mentality is real, infectious and creates superior results if you embrace those principles. Kobe embodied Mamba Mentality as it was not just a campaign or image. He believed in mental discipline, putting in the work and being relentless. I saw this first hand with one of the greatest athletes in the world. It inspired me to take a little Mamba Mentality a long way in my life.

Website: www.glowandflowbeauty.com, www.slayyyhair.com

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