As a child, Skye Tiller used to print out pictures from Google and make them into wearable earrings — now, she is transforming the spirit of her youthful paper products into stylish creations, as the custom jewelry and merchandise build on her foundation of graphic design.
“I’ve always categorized myself as being different. I don’t have a lot of peers around me that wear their creativity on their sleeve,” says Tiller, whose love of graphic design emerged as a career path during college classes. “It’s always been there; I just didn’t know it.”
Before opening a new, all-encompassing brand alongside partner Samantha Young, Tiller’s ventures included professional graphic design company SkyeViewGraphics, illustrated emoji portraits with Gemoji, and accessory business MyImagems. While she is keeping the first two active in some form, a majority of her work now falls under the whimsically titled company HuemorMe.
Tiller is one of 22 confirmed vendors who will be at the first Juneteenth Black Business Expo, organized by the NJ Small Business Development Center at The College of New Jersey.
The free Mercer County event highlighting local Black-owned businesses takes place Saturday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the conference center inside the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, 3100 Quakerbridge Road, in the Clover Square shopping plaza.
Advance registration is recommended, as walk-ins must abide by the capacity limitations of the venue. Tickets are available online at Eventbrite, eventbrite.com/e/2022-first-juneteenth-black-business-expo-in-mercer-county-area-tickets-326745032187?aff=ebdssbdestsearch. For any questions, email info@sbdcnj.com.
The expo, which is also made possible by the Mercer County Office of Economic Development and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, includes shopping, food, music, prizes, and giveaways. While supplies last, the “complimentary bites” will be catered by Jade Grill in Hamilton, with Trenton’s DJ Swell providing his services.
Door prizes have been donated by Mrs G. Appliances, Jeff’s Top Notch Garage of Hamilton, Ashanti Rose Pro Beauty of Hamilton, Beyond Accessories of Ewing, Spin Doctor Laundromat of Hamilton, and others. No purchase is necessary to enter the raffle, but attendees must be present to win.
The expo is being held the day before the federal holiday Juneteenth, established by President Biden in 2021, marking the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Years before an expo like this would be on the table, during college, Tiller started MyImagems to try out a range of business possibilities without losing her sense of authenticity. She began globally selling her products through the website Etsy.
Tiller received her bachelor of arts in computer art and design from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2016. After she graduated, Tiller soon felt that the basics she learned were not adequate in preparing her for the “real world,” as she explains. Instead of only continuing what she knew, Tiller delved into unfamiliar territory.
“Being in my field, you have to be willing to adapt and change with every opportunity that you get. All the roles that I got into, it just happened to me, but if it didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t have learned it,” she says.
By taking on everything from social media to marketing, then carving out a name for herself with a graphic design job at LacrosseBallStore.com in Freehold, Tiller acquired valuable skills that would later set her own business up for success.
Tiller’s graphic design freelancing gained more traction through positive word-of-mouth between clients around 2018. Until 2020, she was also one of the art directors at Princeton Partners before committing to her small businesses full-time.
What had started as a hobby blossomed into a career, with Tiller tailoring her wearable handmade pieces to holidays and evolving trends, releasing a product for each season “to appease different customers,” as she describes it. Everything is made in-house.
For example, around this time of year, custom jewelry is “top tier” for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Halloween is also a big holiday for her, with customers clamoring for costumes. Back in 2020, she launched face masks, which were so popular that they exceeded her expectations — this depleted her inventory but brought different customers into the fray.
Refining her focus as HuemorMe, Tiller wants to kick things off with a “bang” that includes the expo, as well as offering summer products like shoe charms, keychains, and tumblers. By combining jewelry, cartoon faces, and graphic design into a single entity, all of her previous endeavors have a new home.
“It was difficult, but it was also very simple because you have to, at the end of the day, remember that a business is a name. You’re still the person behind it selling your own craft,” Tiller says. “Regardless of the name, it’s still you behind the business.”
The name HuemorMe came from a long research process, which, noting her and partner Young’s “goofy, a little silly” personalities, resulted in a signature that incorporates the word “hue” as a reference to their creative minds. With the help of Young, who is also HuemorMe’s production manager, customers can choose from any color in the rainbow, in every combination, to honor the spirit of that choice.
Tiller lives in Marlton, but she grew up in Camden. Art was a constant presence in her life, not only because of the abundance of graffiti, but her family’s interests — Tiller’s mother and uncles could all draw well, but her mother, Allata, transformed mediums through words and physical expressions of her craft alike.
“I grew up watching them draw, sing, and [write] poetry,” Tiller says. “I always wanted to be like my mom, so I got into poetry.” She dabbled in story writing, then fell “deep into art,” progressing from doodles in the back of her journal to “transforming people into emojis.” These portraits then adorned products such as drinkware and clothing.
“I’m not a typical artist. I’m not someone that can just create something out of my mind,” she says, calling herself a “see it, do it” type of person. “Imagination-wise, I can picture things, and if someone describes to me what they want, I can immediately just come up with something for them.”
Tiller wants to help her repeat customers, some of whom have been with her for years, in finding more ways she can satisfy them. While she also notes that her goal for the year is to sell on Amazon and launch a website, her priority is also to boost HuemorMe into “getting a whole completely new dynamic of customers that haven’t been able to reach yet.”
“That’s what I’m always concerned with…I don’t want to be stuck in a niche. I want to be like, ‘anyone can come to me,’ because I think some businesses get stuck into a certain type of category where [they cannot] reach the audience that they would love to,” Tiller says. “Being that one shop that you can go to for anything, that’s what makes you memorable.”
Part of this expansion, Tiller hopes, is taking advantage of the networking and collaboration opportunities that could happen at the business expo. She aims to be “strategic” in nature, and since HuemorMe does not have a physical storefront, “getting that actual reaction from customers is really important” to her.
“In my opinion, I would like to see a different type of culture, how they react to the products, because I have a specific customer base online. In person, you never know,” she says. “I like to get feedback, I like to see what other vendors are doing, because it gives me ideas of what I could do. You can always improve your product or your business.”
Regardless of if it’s through these face-to-face interactions or online, Tiller tries to have a casual dynamic with customers. That relationship is easy for her, she says, because “I’m a person, I’m not a machine,” with an emphasis on human contact.
Tiller wants to be “super professional” in a way that could make her a household name in the future, so she treats her customers like family members or friends. Since they often are coming to Tiller for memorials or celebrations, she tries to be “very in tune with their emotions” through the products.
“They come to me and feel joy,” Tiller says. “I really pay attention to how my products make people feel…I think a lot of businesses come out with products to make profit. Profit is a great plus, but I look for longevity, I look for [the] long term, making sure that everyone is satisfied and everybody’s happy.”
That gratification, whether for a commemorative souvenir or a heartfelt recollection, is waiting at Skye’s Black Business Expo table.
HuemorMe Gifts is on Instagram and Etsy at @HuemorMeGifts.
Another Black-owned brand vending at the Juneteenth event is Allen Home Inspection Services, LLC, a new business from Wilson R. Allen Jr., a devoted family man whose combined background in HVAC and home maintenance amounts to more than 20 years of experience.
His base of operations, as well as residence, are in Hightstown. Allen Home Inspection opened this February on the anniversary of the day his wife Devita started her professional counseling and development center in Manalapan. Devita, a mental health therapist, was a cheerleader back when she attended Orange High School as a teenager.
Wilson, fittingly, was a basketball player. They fell in love in the summer of senior year, connecting as high school sweethearts who have been together for 25 years — this year, they will have been married for 18 of them.
The couple’s two daughters, Brielle and Mackenzie, are 16 and 11, as well as eager early entrepreneurs looking to follow in the footsteps of their parents.
Currently, Allen Home Inspection Services conducts examinations of residential properties for aspects including safety and functionality, as well as pre-sale evaluations to determine the best prices relative to a house’s condition. Wilson Allen is getting his certifications in termite and radon testing so that his company can be “one-stop shop,” but until then, they are able to hire an outside contractor for those needs.
All of this is so that Wilson can “give back” to those in the urban areas where he is from, as well as to first-time homebuyers who might be nervous or unaware of the process.
“I always try to explain to my clients, I’m not a pass-fail inspector,” he says. “A lot of times, people get scared off when you say you’ve got to get a home inspection, because you might pass or fail, you got to get this fixed, you got to get that fixed. That’s not really my job. My job is just to give as much information as possible.”
“I don’t like to classify it as a home inspection, I like to classify it as a home education. All I’m basically doing, I’m educating you about the conditions of the home present, and what the implications can be. I’ll just lead you in the right direction to get it further checked out, when they make a final determination,” Wilson explains, giving them what they need to “make an informed decision” on how to proceed.
Both literally and figuratively, Wilson Allen’s dreams also started in another direction, as he was first trained in HVAC at the Lincoln Technical Institute in Union.
Then, as time passed, Devita tried to get her husband to start his own business for years, but he was reluctant to make a change. Amidst constant poking and prodding, Wilson admits that he opted for making excuses until everything fell into place.
“When you’re working for a job, you have a safety net, you have a security blanket,” he says, adding that it’s easy to avoid taking risks. “Now, I fully understand trying to build a legacy for my family. I will have to make that leap and actually lead by example.”
Wilson’s hours were reduced, and he was laid off right before the pandemic lockdown went into place. He had another job lined up in the HVAC field, but then the unpredictability of life delayed that process as well.
Unable to settle yet newly inspired to make a change, Wilson set out on a mission to become “the pillar of the family” through action. Wilson obtained his home inspector license, using his own passion to match his wife’s gumption — all to ensure they could lead their businesses as a unified team.
“Out of something negative, we were able to build something positive, where now my mindset is completely different, completely altered. I believe in divine intervention. I think everything happens for a reason,” Wilson says.
“I’m very lucky to have [Devita] in my corner to help guide me through this business aspect, because she’s familiar with it, she’s battle-tested, and I’m very fortunate and grateful,” Wilson says. “It’s all about building our family legacy, passing something down to our kids so they have a mold, a blueprint, where they can set their own standards. That’s what it’s all about…the nuclear family and doing it together.”
When they purchased their house in Hightstown three years ago, Wilson thought he could establish himself, and his small business, in the industry of home inspection.
Now at the helm of that enterprise, Wilson Allen’s steadfast belief in traditional ways comes, to some extent, from his childhood. Wilson played sports of all kinds, believing he “always had the potential to do something bigger,” like joining a professional league.
While a career of that nature did not happen, it did not deter Wilson from accomplishing other dreams. He recognizes the impact his hardworking mother had on him, as well as how her dedication shaped his guiding principles as a father and husband.
“My dad died when I was eight years old,” Wilson says. “Basically everything that I’m doing now is what I didn’t have growing up…I’m just trying to make sure that I’m creating that foundation for my family, that family structure that I didn’t have.”
“There’s always room for improvement. I’m just trying to focus on being the best version of myself and the representation of my family. Basically, that’s what Allen Home Inspections is trying to do. We try to provide the best version of ourselves, so we can be the best representation of Allen,” he adds.
Besides attaining his remaining certifications, Wilson Allen’s other goals are to build the quality of his work, relationships, and referrals.
“I want to make Allen a reliable, credible company that’s useful — you certainly feel safe and secure that you’re going to get a quality job done,” he says, wanting to ensure that both realtors and clients alike are treated comfortably throughout their interactions.
Wilson clarifies that the Allens want to pass down their legacy “of how to build a business and how to attain, to aspire, to get to that generational wealth where [for] the next generation, it’s not as hard. You want to give them a nice starting point, a nice solid foundation,” which is why he started Allen Home Inspections.
Both of his daughters already want to start their own businesses, expressing aspirations in areas such as arts, accessory-making, and architecture for Mackenzie, as well as fashion for Brielle, who wants to make her own clothes while marching to the beat of her own drum.
As he monitors these flourishing hobbies, Wilson is supportive.
“If that’s what you’re passionate about, then we’re going to be behind it 120 percent, because those are avenues that you can develop, and branch off and do your own thing. You can work for a company or get a good job when you get out of school, just to learn the ropes and learn everything that you need to learn — but then it’s also scalable on your own. Once you learn what you need to learn, you can step away and build something on your own,” Wilson says.
Wilson envisions that his daughters will oversee the two pre-existing companies, keeping it “in the family,” as he notes, while also being in charge of their respective ventures. He is not asking for them to continue the exact professions he and Devita lead, but to hire the right people in the corresponding roles so that they can be free to hone in on their individual skills.
“You might have to step out of your comfort zone. If you want to be successful at anything that you wanna do, you’re going to have to apply yourself,” Wilson says.
At the first Juneteenth Black Business Expo, which he affectionately acknowledges that Devita signed him up for, Wilson is a vendor in charge of a very new company — one that honors a family-oriented mission and subsists on compassion.
“Allen Home Inspection wants to be there to provide quality service for future home buyers and sellers,” he continues. “Being a part of a small, Black-owned business, I just try to ingratiate myself with other people in a new arena and take it on full steam ahead.”
Allen Home Inspection Services can be reached at their website, homeinspectionsbyallen.com/index.html, by email at wilson@homeinspectionsbyallen.com, or by phone at 908-520-5123.
