Business Background & Community Involvement: MB Packaging is a woman-owned small business that helps emerging brands Dominate in their niche, Stand out in the crowded marketplace and increase their sales by improving their brand packaging. MB Packaging also has a sister company "MB Home & Lifestyle" that sources, packages and sells unique, must have home and lifestyle essentials like handmade collapsible storage, padfolios, face shields and loungewear. We started officially in April 2019 with the launch of an e-book "How to guarantee your package is PACKAGED" but our journey actually began in August 2018. I have always been fascinated by packaging and packages that gave a memorable unboxing experience like Iphone, Louis Vuitton, or a gift box from Bloomingdales so when the founder of the Trade with Africa (TWA) Business Forum put me in charge of selecting small businesses online to showcase their goods at the to 1st TWA Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas I was happy to do that. I shortlisted 10 small businesses online, coordinated the logistics and created brochures; I had them send down some of their goods to me in New York which I was to take to Bentonville. 70% of the goods I got were badly packaged, some came broken at that moment I was aware of the gap. I had also taken time to speak to some businesses and went ahead to support their businesses and it was clear that a lot of small businesses still treat packaging as an afterthought and not like the most important marketing tool for their businesses. Maison Blanche Packaging was created to help emerging brands get their packaging right. In 2020, Covid hit, a lot of businesses pivoted and so did I but can I really call it a pivot because I started as a Gift Advisor so I know what people want; Unique, quality, affordable, cool Home and Lifestyle goods. I took advantage of an opportunity to become a vendor and created another small business "MB Home & Lifestyle" I started with Handmade collapsible storage and padfolios, then added loungewear, now we have added face shields to our list of products that have become bestsellers and have sold out over 160 pieces in less than 30 days. I am excited about my entrepreneurship journey and the blessing of being a consultant and a vendor, showing and telling from experience, the perfect mix. I started my journey as a Gift Advisor and I am resilient, gritty, and ready for the ride.

Community: Yes MB Packaging is involved in the community, we offer free Packaging assessment sessions to small businesses. In 2020, I collaborated with five community organizations (Global Connections for Women, BellAfricana, StyleProEnterprise, Nest, African Packaging Organization) to offer complimentary webinars and trainings to their members on the Importance of Packaging and the Future of Packaging. We also offered discounted consulting rates to members of this community. In 2021 we would like to do more sustainable packaging awareness in local communities around the New York and New Jersey areas and hopefully get to collaborate with Major brands like Mastercard, Amazon, Shopify etc to offer masterclasses and trainings on How to Package effectively and sustainably.