Who You Know: Charnice

At Who You Know, we LOVE to see women empowering other women by sharing their knowledge. That's why when we came across Charnice, we knew we had to feature her in our black British female founder series for Black History Month. Read on to hear her tell us all about her new venture, Blaized, a business consultancy & talent agency. Using her skills & expertise, she is helping others feel confident & calm when navigating the business world.

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself & your career journey?

I am Charnice, the founder of Blaized and The Blazied Agency. From a young age, I have always had the interest of starting my own business, but sometimes, knowing how and where to start is the hardest thing. When I started, my business focus was in a completely different direction, (a media outlet showcasing UK creatives) and it wasn’t 100% me and what I wanted to run. Since then, I redesigned and relaunched my business as a business consultancy and a creative and talent agency and that has been such a great moment for me. Running a business that I love and connect with wholeheartedly. And recently launching my own talent roster has been another super exciting moment for me as all of these moments are the steps of my business growing in a very natural and exciting direction. I’m just loving the process and super excited to see where my business takes me. Outside of business, I love sneakers! And I share my sneaker collection on my Instagram.

Tell us about Blaized, why did you decide to set it up?

Blaized is a business consultancy helping new entrepreneurs and S&M enterprises confidently navigate through the world of business using toolkits, 1-1 sessions and super helpful & digestible business articles written by myself. But on top of business, we remind about self-wellness, supporting a healthy work, wellness balance while guiding them on their journey to business success.

The Blaized Agency is a creative and talent management agency, working with our talent roster (here) and connecting them with global brands, and working with global brands with our additional services to help develop and bring their creative concepts to life.

What motivates & inspires you?

That I get to wake up and do what I love to do, and if I want to continue waking up and doing that, then I need to work hard so that it can continue. And that I get to work with such a variety of amazing people every single day and help them all achieve their goals too.

We’re highlighting black British female founders all month, what advice would you give to someone looking to set up their own business?

• No amount of planning will have you prepared for everything - none of us 100% know what we’re doing and that’s ok!

• Things won’t go to plan, and that’s completely ok (sometimes that’s even a good thing)

• Running a business and being an entrepreneur is not about having all the answers, but knowing the people that do have the answers, utilising your resources, working smart and being a quick thinker and reactive to the right things

What are your thoughts on diversity in the influencer world? I see that Blaized represents a diverse roster, with women of all shapes & sizes. Do you think more needs to represent all kinds of women across brands, campaigns etc?

I think in terms of actual influencers, there is so much diversity whether that’s race, or location, or interests and that’s super fun to see. It’s now just about giving them people the opportunities when it comes to working with global brands and campaigns etc. Which I’m super excited to do! Many companies do need to show a more diverse range of collaborations so that their audience can look and see someone that looks like them or connects to them, and to have a range of talent who can put their own spin on things. The Blaized Agency is here to make that happen!

There’s a lot of content around wellness & self-care on the Blaized site, in this crazy year - what advice would you give to women that may feel overwhelmed?

I know right! It has been such a crazy year, but in a way such a successful year for a variety of reasons – so many people have launched their own businesses, successfully pivoted and evolved their businesses, people have really discovered what makes them happy etc. My advice would be don’t stress about what you can’t control. No amount of stressing will change it unfortunately. So focus on what you can do, for yourself, for your business, for the people that you love. Do what makes you happy and also just trust the journey. And of course, read the Blaized Self Wellness articles for all the tips and advice so that you can best re-invest in yourself.

Name 3 of your favourite female influencers & why do you like them?

I have way more than 3! I love so many content creators for such different reasons haha. Ok, my favourite ones currently would probably be:

Loz (@lozvassalo) – her content is stunning, I love her style (we both love completely neutral wardrobes haha) her picture aesthetic and she is such a lovely person who works incredibly hard

Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) – because every day when I see her content, it just reminds me how much of a smart business woman she is (and of course she looks amazing and Stormi is so cute)

BossBabe (bossbabe.inc) – an amazing and super successful female ran business who shares business tips and quotes every day that just give you that kick of motivation that we all need at times

And of course all the other amazing women on my roster!!

Anything else you would like to add?

If you are an entrepreneur, have a side hustle or thinking about starting on your business journey, a great place to start is on Blaized – read through our weekly articles that are super helpful and digestible, answering many early business questions. We have a FREE business checklist here that you can download and helps you stay on track of all the bits and bobs you need when starting your business. And when you feel ready for that personal 1-1 support, contact me (contact@blaized-uk.com) and we can have a chat!