Black Elephant Maternity with Brittiany Hubbard

Brittiany Hubbard is a distinguished fashion designer and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia who specializes in high-end maternity wear. She is the founder and CEO of Black Elephant Maternity, a brand renowned for its innovative, stylish, and comfortable clothing for expecting mothers. What began as a college project during her studies at the Art Institute of Atlanta has flourished into a leading business, establishing Black Elephant Maternity as a top name in the industry.

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Q: Who are you before labels, titles, or what someone could Google about you?

A: Who am I? I'm not really “Google” just yet. Not yet. But, I'm a mom first. I'm a daughter. I'm number two out of eight kids. So I have a lot of siblings—a lot of sisters, a lot of brothers. I'm a designer. I'm a creative artist. I've been doing it since I was five. So, making paper purses instead of playing house is what I was doing.

Q: Do you think that you had that desire to become a mom from a young age because of siblings, or did that make you not want to be a mom?

A: So, when I was five, I remember telling my mom, I want to be a mom—and ballerina. That's it. A little side note, I am a Cancer—and Cancer is very nurturing. So, it's just in my body. It's in my DNA to be very nurturing or whatnot.

Q: When did you have your kids? How old are your kids?

A: I only have one son, and he's ten now—so I had him when I was 26.

Q: Was motherhood and the entrance to motherhood like you thought it would be? Describe to us what you were doing at the time.

A: So, backstory. I think three months prior to me getting pregnant, they told me I was diagnosed with PCOS. So, they were like, “Well, it's a possibility that you might not get pregnant.” I was okay with that. I was like, “All right, cool. I could just run with my career.” But then, I got pregnant and I got an offer from my amazing support system because I was going to go back to work.

Essentially, I had graduated with an Associate's Degree. I didn’t want to go back to school, so I was just going to go back to work afterwards. My mom said, “Well, how much do they pay you a week so you can stay at home with your baby?” So, I was like, “Okay, I'll take it. I'll take that offer.”

So, we spent a lot of time together. My son is finally at school away from me. So, he was homeschooled. He still is homeschool, but he goes to a homeschool—kind of like, it's not a co-op. It has one teacher, but it's in her home or whatnot.

Q: How did you decide to make that decision ten years ago?

A: I wasn't thinking about it ten years ago. I would have never. That thought wouldn’t have even crossed my mind. My sister homeschools. She has four kids. But, it wasn't a decision that I wanted. He was going to a free school. There were some things that happened, so he had to leave the preschool. Later that year, he was supposed to start kindergarten. COVID hit. I was like, “Well, aren’t we homeschooling anyways? So, let’s just continue with it.”

I had graduated by then, so I had started my business. So, as business progressed, I was like, “Well, you can be with me here every day. We could put some time aside, do the school work, I could work on my work.” I know it's just safe not getting sick out here, because kids get sick so easily going all the time anyway. It’s created a cozy environment for the both of us.

Q: Talk to me about your company—from the idea to start to actually starting it. How long was that?

A: So, I like to say that God was putting little trinkets around. I was living in Nashville and I was working at New York & Company. There was another maternity store across the way, and this lady walked directly to me. She was like, “I need help. Can you help me? Because I don't like those clothes.” I said, “Yeah, give me ten minutes. I got you.” She bought everything that I picked out for her.

During my associate college days, I've always wanted to be a designer. I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I literally would take a briefcase to school in third grade. So, fast forwarding, I had written a list of all the things I wanted to do as far as design, and maternity was in there somewhere and I didn't know. I think that might have been maybe six months before I got pregnant.

I wasn't working because I had some other health conditions happening. So, I'm just sitting there drawing, not trying to be sick. And I was like, “Well, I think I could do maternity wear. I think that's just the move to do.”

What solidified it was that I had gone to another store. I looked at these maternity clothes to see what they had. Oh my gosh. It was hideous. I was like, “I can't. No. No.” Back then, I was very fabulous. Wore all kinds of clothes, colors. I was like, “This can't be. This is it. This is what they have to offer us.” Oversized clothing, wide stripes.

So, I went back to school. I got tired of being a stay-at-home mom, and I was like, “I guess while he's little, I can do it now.” I want him to be like, “Okay, so my mom can do it. It means I can.” So, I went back to school. My senior project was to create your senior collection. So, I was like, “Why would I create anything else? Let's run with it. Let's go.” I had my first client in school. My senior fashion show was on maternity wear.

Q: Were you thinking that you would kind of go into the nursing style or were you just thinking fashion? Both.

A: Both, because there's a lot of working moms, stay-at-home moms. There's moms everywhere. I like to touch base on everybody just a little bit here and there. So, I wanted to create these clothes that you could wear any time. So, if you’re a mom with two kids and want to have more, you can wear them at the beginning, during pregnancy and after.

Maternity clothes are expensive, and when you're buying it, you're like, “Oh, I'm going to wear it for ten months—maybe less than that. Then, I'm going to what? Donate them.” You spent all this money to have these clothes, and then you're not going to wear them again. So, why not have some solid key pieces in your wardrobe that you can always wear?

Also, our bodies don't snap back like. For me, I had postpartum bad. So, I snapped back, but the weight gain came after. So, it's just like, well, these pants don't fit. This shirt doesn’t fit. This doesn't look good. My hair looks like this. I have hormonal acne. It's such a hard time, right? So, I just wanted to create clothes that make us as women—because our bodies are forever changing—still feel good at the same time.

Q: How were you actually able to get this off the ground? How did you get your physical location? How did you go about funding?

A: So, when I started out, I had a really great support system. My mom is that “holds it down for you” girl. So, she's always known this is it with all her kids. Whatever we want to do, she's like, “I got you.” So, I didn't start off at home. She's like, “You gotta move your stuff out of here.” So, what ended up happening? We looked for space, and we found a space here.

I don't know if you have co-working spaces where you have the traditional storage in the back, then a storage warehouse, then offices in the front. They were going to give me the space. I was like, “I don't want that. I don't want to pay extra. Give me the storage unit and we'll work from there.” So, I worked out of there for a little bit. I decked it out and made it look like a cute little office. I just had clients that would walk by my door and be like, “Oh, you make clothes. I need you to design some clothes.”

So, I was basically freelancing, I guess you can say, doing just custom pieces. I told my mom I was going to go meet with the manufacturer. She said, “Well, what do you need? I'm going to the meeting with you. What are we doing to get this ball rolling?”

We got the ball rolling, but then COVID hit. We had just done our first expo. So, I was like, “Well, what are we going to do now?” But pivoting is a great thing. Everybody needed face masks. So at first, I was like, “I'm not selling these people face masks. That's evil. People are out here dying.” They were like, “No, we really need this.” So, I was like, “Okay, I'm going to start making face masks.”

Building relationships is always key, too. I'm always in the fabric store. There are several here in Atlanta, so I'm always talking to the owners. I'm always seeing what they have. So, what ended up happening was, I asked one of the people if they knew anyone who knows how to sew. We became good friends. So, one day he was like, “I have someone for you.” I get there and it's this magical man named Mr. Yoon. He's believed in me since day one. He walked in, he said, “Oh, yes, this is good.” He's coming from Victoria House's manufacturing, doing Michelle Obama's inaugural address and Barbara Bush. Working Tommy Hilfiger. Big, big factories. Coming to little old me—anything I come up with. It's like we meshed very well together, and it's like magic. So, we're slowly building our team.

As far as funding, we don't do a lot of funding, to be honest, because, like I said, I have the support and my investor is Mama. So, it's amazing. The hardest problem to solve is always figuring out where the money is coming from and how you can best invest it. In similar fashion, my dad is our investor. I’d love to have a strategic investor, but, at this point, keep the ownership  in the family if you can, if you have that access. But pivoting is always great, and believing in God is even better.

Q: Talk to us about the amazing piece you designed.

A: Poppy nursing set. So, right now, it's in robe form and it's in a short form—like short set form. Basically, there are two ties inside on the left. There is an opening for breastfeeding. Then, if you're wearing this in the hospital, they have to put all the cords and all that jazz on and the doctor needs to get to you fast, so there's two snaps at the top that you can open all the way up and show them your goodies.

Q: Talk to us about where you see yourself in five to ten years in the company.

A:  I see our company have more than one brick and mortar store because clearly, all maternity stores are online now. There's no way you can go in and shop. Target's maternity section is slim to none. I don't do Walmart.

But, I also want to move into just mom wear. Your style changes as you get older. You become a mom. Forever21 is not always going to cut it. Fashion Nova is not always going to get it. So, I just want to move into that space so that we could just cover everybody.

Q: Talk to us about the name and how you came up with it.

A: So, class project. We had to do a business name. I was driving home, actually, and I saw a laundry company called White Owl. I was like, “Huh? Why does it have to be white? Why can't be black?” So, we had the black part. For some reason, I've always been obsessed with elephants. So, I was like a “Black Elephant. That sticks.” Also, elephants are very nurturing. I know they run in a pack, or they call it a parade. But, they're nurturing their babies and others.

I had a teacher who was like, “Why would you want to be called an elephant?” But you never see a lion attack an elephant. As moms, you say mama bears. But, I would rather be an elephant, because you're not going to be able to stop me when it comes to my kid and protecting my kid.

Q: Is there any advice that you were given along the way that just stuck with you?

A: I listen to a lot of business podcasts. There's one called Sleep Is for Suckers by David Shands on YouTube.

I read a lot of business books, too. One of my favorites is “Who Moved My Cheese. It’s big, but it's a great read. It just teaches you how to pivot. “Fish” is a good book, too.

Q: Do you feel like you have a good support system that gets you, because I know, as entrepreneurs, we are a little bit of a different breed?

A: I have ideas all the time. My mom is very business-oriented. I call her the Kris Jenner of the family. So, she does a lot of the logistics for everybody. That way, I don't have to think about paperwork or anything.

One thing I always go by is to be kind. Always be kind, because you never know who you might meet, who you might run into. Building relationships is always key. I'm learning that working with other people and being in the fabric stores. Speak to the people. Say hello. Ask them how they're doing, because they might be in there all day by themselves. I know working by myself all day, it's quiet in here. I don't have anyone I know.

So, just be kind, because those relationships, you never know. Just the conversations with people and being nice and being kind. I have a friend who makes fun of me, like, “You always put an extra little thank you.” And, I do. I say thank you with a smile, because you don't know whose day is going terrible. I used to work in retail, so I know. I've done food service and people are a little crazy—some days you're like, “I didn't do anything to you.” But, it always is just a secret sauce. Just be kind.

Q: What are you most excited about when you think about the year ahead or the next six months?

A: Meeting people. Just going out, doing expos, meeting people. New Orleans Fashion Week is in September. That's something different for us. I don't plan on showing what you would see in-store, because I'm trying to ease maternity in there. Building new relationships. Hopefully being on more podcasts. Then, helping other entrepreneurs trying to get up off the ground, because I know it's difficult, especially when you're manufacturing stuff and stuff doesn't come out the way you want them to, and then they charge you an arm and a leg and you're like, “Why am I paying for terrible quality?”

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This blog post was written based on kozēkozē Podcast Episode 378: Black Elephant Maternity with Brittiany Hubbard.