From JPMorgan to sofas: How one mom launched a Black-owned furniture brand | Business
Adults always ask children what they want to be when they grow up, but what happens when a child asks her parent that same question?
For Brooke Sharpton, it meant getting the push she needed to leave her job and create Almond Wind, a Miami-based furniture brand.
Sharpton said her first reaction to her daughter’s question was to think, “‘I am grown up,’ but it reminded me that even in my child’s eyes you can do whatever you want, or you can be constantly reinventing yourself and doing something new or outside of your comfort zone. Her saying that to me really motivated me.”
“I think it’s really important to see Black people and Black culture being reflected in the home and decor industry.” -Brooke Sharpton
Sharpton had spent 12 years as a vice president at JPMorgan, working with high net-worth individuals in the $5 million to $10 million range to grow and keep their wealth, when she went into the furniture business.
But why furniture?
Sharpton explained that it wasn’t until she was shopping for her own furniture after buying a house in 2020 that she was pointed in that direction.
Almond Wind founder Brooke Sharpton said her daughter inspired her to start her own business.
“I was looking for a sofa. I couldn’t really find the right sofa that really spoke to me or resonated with me,” Sharpton said. “And typically, how when I shop for clothing or shoes or makeup, the branding is really important to me because I’m not just buying the one thing, I’m buying the brand.”
She said that’s when the idea started. By 2023, she started making sketches and designs of sofas and looking for people to help her.
A sample sofa and design layout by Almond Wind.
She said she wanted “to make sure that they not only looked good, but felt good. So honestly, that took about two years to do because I had no idea where to begin.”
Working two jobs at once
Sharpton didn’t leave JPMorgan right away, however. For a time, she was juggling both endeavors.
“I got my first shipment in February of this year. And then that was obviously a huge learning curve, because I was still at JPMorgan, and then trying to figure out sofas and configurations and warehouses and everything.”
Things happened quickly. Sharpton got her first customer in April. “I was super excited about it,” she said.
As more orders came in, she had to make a decision: whether or not to leave the security of JPMorgan.
“Everyone is thinking, ‘Why leave JPMorgan?’ But deep down, I’ve always been very creative, and I’ve just never had an opportunity to tap into that in my professional life. I just had that burning desire that grew louder as I got older.
“I thought if I really want to give Almond Wind a fighting chance to revolutionize furniture, I need to put my focus here,” Sharpton said. “So I quit JPMorgan in July, and immediately, the company took off. It’s been off to the races since then. So it’s been a very exciting couple of months.”
Sofas that resonate
So, is a sofa just a sofa? Sharpton doesn’t think so. She feels her customers are discerning.
“Almond Wind really resonates with people who are very intentional about their space, who value storytelling, something that’s unique … comfortable,” she said. “If you’re looking to get the cheapest sofa you can find, we’re probably not it; but it’s definitely for people who really value comfort, intentionality and design.
Sharpton sees sofas as the centerpiece of a house.
“And I’m just focusing on sofas because I think that’s such a centerpiece of any home,” she said. “The first thing you do when you come home is you’re gonna go sit on your sofa and relax, decompress, maybe have friends and family over. It’s such a centerpiece to the home that I think that should be rooted in culture. It should be rooted in intentionality. It should be rooted in storytelling. Not just, ‘This was $100 less than the next sofa.’ So that’s really important to me, being really intentional and rooted and just being able to tell Black stories within furniture.”
On that note, Sharpton says the Black market is underserved.
“Black consumers make up about 13% of home and decor, which is $20 billion,” she said. “That’s a huge market, and there really isn’t any representation there. And I’m here to start to change that, because I think it’s really important to see Black people and Black culture being reflected in the home and decor industry.”
Almond Wind sofas can be shipped anywhere in the continental U.S.
Catering to online marketplace
Almond Wind has a unique business model in that its customers shop online and have the sofas shipped nationally from Doral. But customers who live nearby can pick up their furniture at its warehouse.
“I make the pieces in China and I store them in Doral, and I keep them there because everything is about speed,” Sharpton explained. “When I have sofas in stock and people place orders, I want to be able to get them out to them, within — most the time, it’s five to seven business days from the time you place the order to the time you get it. So, the distribution happens here in Doral, and then I ship the sofas to wherever within the U.S.”
Sharpton said to give her online customers an idea of what they’re getting, Almond Wind offers free fabric swatches.
Free fabric swatches are available to give customers a feel for the sofas.
“Ninety percent of customers who have purchased are going to request the free swatch so they can see the color, the fabric, if they want to test it out by spilling wine or juice, or have their dog or cat or any pet scratch it up and see what’s going to happen,” Sharpton said.
Creating a brand
This Women’s Small Business Month, recognized nationally every October, The Miami Times asked Sharpton what her recipe for success is — especially for other trades where free fabric swatches don’t apply. She stressed the importance of brand identity, for furniture or otherwise.
“I do think most people are surprised that (Almond Wind) is a brand. This is a furniture brand that I’m building, like a Restoration Hardware, like an Arhaus, or like a Crate and Barrel,” she said. “This is my own thing. People are surprised when they find out that this is a brand and I designed the pieces, and I do the whole process – obviously, with a team behind me – but I am the brains of the operation.”
Her advice for budding entrepreneurs? Just explore your passion.
“I know this sounds corny, but if you have that burning desire or a vision or an idea, you should 1,000% do it and go for it, because there’s always a million reasons of why you shouldn’t do something,” Sharpton said. “But I’m a firm believer that there’s just as many reasons of why you should. And obviously you need to manage your risk, but I think in this life that you should at least try something that you’re really passionate about. If you have that idea that just won’t go away, just do it. And then if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, then you can do whatever else that you were doing that maybe you didn’t like as much.”
And it all goes back to her daughter.
“It’s just, it’s really important to lead by example,” Sharpton said, “I would want my daughter (now eight years old) to pursue something that she was really passionate about. (That) she has a plan. She has an execution behind it and really believed in it. I would want her to do that.”
