Exhale
Mawi, Wallis, Radley; Do these names mean anything
to you? No? Ok what about Dorothy Perkins, Alex Monroe & Yves Saint
Laurent? Still nothing? Ok let me try this one more time; Coco Chanel, Marc
Jacobs & Kurt Geiger Ring a bell? All these Labels were formed by people
who had a vision & the desire to take what they believed to be great, &
make it world renowned.
How’s it going Waking Life readers! What a month
it’s been. I’m so happy to be back & writing articles for y’all again. It
wasn’t easy for me to sit back while having so many relatable stories to share
but I’m back now J!
Quite happy to be back, on Valentines week. Hope y’all men are doing that
special thing for the ladies, & have fun you know. Live, Love Life.
Alright! So while I was away, I was still doing work
& searching for new young, fresh and up-and-coming pioneers to write about
& funny enough, while visiting Mr Ofentse Sello, I met a very interesting,
vibrant & beautifully energetic young woman by the name of Barileng “Exhale”
Ratsela. After having quite the talk with her about who she is & what she
does, I decided to take her out to lunch to find out more & let me tell
you, it’s quite the story. Check it out.
Exhale the Person
Exhale: I have a good relationship with
my dad don’t get me wrong. It’s a really good relationship & I like his
influence because fashion-wise he’s good, and business wise he’s also very
good. So sometimes I feel like I didn’t have a choice growing up because it’s
like business is instilled in my D.N.A. My dad gave me the drive to pursue what
I’m doing now because he’s so relentless in what he does. Which motivates me to
be relentless in what I do.”
Growing up, Barileng tells me, wasn’t so popular, or
so she says. People just knew her but they weren’t really her friends. Although
people did know her, she preferred to be kept to herself;
Barileng:
“It’s like being a celebrity (Giggles).
People know you & “everything” about you but they don’t really know who you
are. They know the basics like; ‘This is Prudence’s & Andries’s daughter’.
They knew where I lived, they knew about Exhale, but they didn’t really know
me. Truth is, it’s easy for people to claim to know you. Saying they went to
high school with you or lived in the same neighbourhood as you, but those
people aren’t your friends. But with that said I like to treat everyone like
family. Even if I don’t know you, I’ll treat you like I’ve known you for years.
It’s just best to treat people with respect, because you never know, they might
be important to you one day.”
Being the oldest child, Barileng was made to grow up a
lot faster than what most teens would have liked. Having a mother that was out
and about, grinding hard to provide for her children, Barileng was left to be
the responsible one at the age of 13, looking after herself as well as her
little sister.
Barileng: “Yeah, I’d say I was forced to
grow up. Which was cool with me. It helped me a lot. I look back on it now
& I’m grateful because, my mom really gave me a chance to be on my own
& just grow up you know? It helped me in terms of my jewellery line because
I am now more responsible. Whatever mistakes I make, no one can tell me that I
did them because I’m a kid. I am not a kid, I’m a grown woman. The mistakes I
make now will be adult mistakes, I’ll learn from them & be more
responsible, & to be honest I am known to be responsible, known to be a
real go getter no matter what the cost. All that stems from being forced to
grow up at an early age which I am very grateful for. While most teenagers
dream of growing up so they could move out & start partying, I was busy
growing up, so that when I’m older my parties won’t be in Hatfield or Menlyn,
they’ll be in Milan or Monaco on a yacht”
With her heart set on becoming one of South Africa’s
leading women on top, Barileng took what she knew best, which is that women
love to look good, & started her own line of jewellery & accessories at
just the tender age of 17 years old. Here’s more
Exhale the
Brand
When I sat down with Barileng, there was this very
beautiful girl that walked by. Beautiful African hair, fantastic smile & it
helped that she was yellow bone, so yeah I gasped. She took my breath away I
tell you. Then I looked at Barileng, apologized & asked her why she felt the
need to name her brand ‘Exhale’. I’m sure a lot of us are probably wondering
right now ‘why did she choose the name Exhale? What does exhale mean?’ Well...
Barileng:
“The name ‘Exhale’, look at it this way;
what did you just do when you saw that beautiful girl? You took a deep then you
‘Exhaled’ right? When beauty is at such a high level that all you can do is
take a deep breath, turn your head & ‘Exhale’. It’s all about standing out
from the crowd, that’s why our slogan is “The Pause That Turns Heads”. We want
people to stop & do 360’s so much that their necks hurt (Giggles).”
But why’s it so important for women to feel the need
to get all dolled up & get validation from their male counterparts?
Barileng:
“I’m going to tell you something right
now that you should already know: most women love to get starred at. I mean
sure, it’s better when a good looking man does it but either way, most enjoy
it. They might act like they don’t but it’s always good to know that all that
work that went into the outfit pays off, but of course a lot of men don’t know
that. That’s what Exhale is about, we want women to feel beautiful, sexy &
unique. It’s part of the reason why we don’t repeat stock. So if you’re wearing
a 1 of a kind type of jewellery, not many other women out there will have the
same kind. You as a woman will part of a small group of exclusive woman with
THAT pair of earrings, necklace & so forth.”
At this moment, Exhale does not only sell jewellery
but accessories as well such as...
Barileng: “We have belts, bracelets &
crucifixes as well. We have a collection for the professional woman called
“Exhale Travel” – it’s for women on the go, the more business type of woman. We
also have ‘Exhale travel which is basically for every woman out there looking
to mix up her lookJ.
We’re also looking to do Exhale men, so as to not leave our male counterparts
in the dark. I mean we women exhale when we see a hot guy so why not get them
involved. Really just trying to make it into an empire & not just another
small company”
Barileng’s motivation is very internally based. As a
teenager, she’d get really tired of asking her parents for money (which I’m
sure is something we can all relate to), and although parents (well most) are
more than willing to hand out a little cash here & there, you can tell that
the older a child gets, the more demanding their lifestyle becomes.
Like most of us, Barileng started exhale a way to
get money and before she realised it, it had become something which she could
see had the potential of becoming a very lucrative company.
Barileng: “I spoke to my mom, she advised
me to start the company, & we came to an agreement where she ended up
helping me with capital & all the essentials so in actual fact, I didn’t do
this on my own. So from there I started travelling to different countries to
help better my product & from there the passion just grew in stronger
inside of me. I won’t sit here & lie & say ‘I’ve always wanted to do
this.’ That’s a lie. The passion gradually grew in me & not before too long,
Exhale went from being a way to make some pocket money to it being a major part
of who I am”
A passion that, although took up a lot of her time,
didn’t halt her from knowing that going to school & having an education is
very important if you want to succeed in the brutal world that is business.
Barileng: “A lot of young people have great
ideas but assume that, that’s all they need. Which is not a very good way of
looking at things. I personally think that if you fail to educate yourself,
you’re actually failing yourself. What is 3-5yrs of studying compare to minimal
success? By that I mean, in those 3-5yrs, you get A LOT more knowledge which
will eventually lead to your success. The youth today, not all just some, have
this notion of YOLO & what have you, which is a very lazy mentality. Pick
up a book & get your mind right because by doing that, you’ll be able to
get your money right. Education is power! It opens major doors for you”
With her mind being renewed every day by the
education she’s receiving, and her heart fixed on making her passion her life,
Barileng ‘Exhale’ Ratsela is poised to take the jewellery industry by storm.
But at this moment, what can you as a reader expect from ‘Exhale’?
Barileng:
“Right now we have a collection coming
up. This collection was actually a request from the guys, it will be made from
Good Wood
We also have a collection of karma bracelets, necklaces etc, coming for both sexes. These will be made from Thailand; it’ll be from Buddhist culture, which is something new. What’s coming back is the chambala, here they call them disco balls but they’re actually chambalas. And that’s about it. It’s going to be really nice. I’m feeling confident about this.”
We also have a collection of karma bracelets, necklaces etc, coming for both sexes. These will be made from Thailand; it’ll be from Buddhist culture, which is something new. What’s coming back is the chambala, here they call them disco balls but they’re actually chambalas. And that’s about it. It’s going to be really nice. I’m feeling confident about this.”
At just 19yrs of age, Barileng also gives back to
the community. Not having her own charity has not stopped her from thinking of
those that are less fortunate than she is.
Barileng: “I do a lot of community work. I
go with my church to give essentials to the poor. Every year we go to
Soshanguve (A small little ‘Hood’ deep in the
capital city of Pretoria), whatever it
may be, food, clothing etc.
Motivated by top jewellers, American Swiss, Bugalri
& so on, Barileng says that what makes her different from them is
affordability.
Barileng: “I love those brands, but you
can’t wear them every day. That’s what I love about Exhale. You can wear the
jewellery during any occasion & it’s very affordable. Too affordable in
fact. So yes, I cater to every class of people. From your average college
student to the high powered business person. We are everywhere”
With that kind of statement, it’s hard not to be
drawn to buy a product that not only makes you look good but feel sexy as well.
I hope y’all enjoyed that article, I know I enjoyed
writing it for y’all. Very inspirational, I mean she’s just 19yrs old! You’d
think you’re talking to a woman who’s been in the game for YEARS!
For more on “Exhale” you can visit their Facebook
page on www.facebook.com/exhale1116
or Google the name “Exhale” & it will appear.
That's all for this week's entry but be sure to Join me next time when
I tell you all about remarkable young women, taking the Dj scene by storm. It’ll
make you do a double take.
Till
then, take care of yourselves & each another
PEACE!!!
