Angiel Myers: Dynamic, innovative, resilient

MARKETING innovator and dynamic entrepreneur Angiel Myers says her success in the industry stems from the resilience passed down a line of hard-working women, and her most recent venture — Iyata’s Organics — is a way to honour a part of that lineage.

With a career spanning over 13 years in marketing, communications, and event production, this business mogul decided to step into the skincare industry with a new soap line under the name Iyata’s Organics to honour her late grandmother Iyata, who she says discovered the company’s standout ingredient in Bath, St Thomas.

“She was a big patron at Bath and was a lover of the detoxifying properties of the clay and a lot of Jamaicans go there but it’s not easy journey to get to Bath… My grandmother wanted to find a way to share the healing powers from Bath with the world,” she said.

Myers wants all Jamaicans to experience the soap’s healing and antibacterial properties, tailoring each bar to provide a specific benefit to the user.

“It embodies a very Afro-Caribbean spirit and even utilising the lioness [which] represents strength and confidence. That’s what we wanted our clients to feel like when they bathe with the soap,” shared Myers.

She noted that it was very important for her to carry on her grandmother’s legacy, so much so that she built upon the work of the elder’s initial development of the soap with the help of soap formulator and body artisan specialist Michelle McKay Yap.

“I really love Jamaica, you know, it’s where my heart is, and I really want to impact and give back to my nation. I think that’s at my core; that’s very important to me. But in terms of the skincare line, we are going to be doing distribution in the United States as well and throughout the Caribbean,” Myers said.

Although Iyata’s Organics is fairly new, its chief executive officer is anything but a newcomer to the business sector.

“I actually started out in the film industry about 15 years ago as a production assistant with a number of household names within that industry and grew through that time to become a production coordinator and eventually a producer within the film arena. That also led me into studying marketing, which drove me into the marketing field with a background of film and media,” Myers said.

Cultivating a hands-on approach to the film industry, Myers contributed to producing prominent entertainment productions such as America’s Next Top Model, music videos by Jamaican artistes Sean Paul and Shaggy, and most recently the production of Love & Hip Hop’s Family Reunion 3, accommodating over 200 people.

Funnily enough, Myers says it was one of the most hectic times of her life because she had to take care of her, at the time, newborn son while trying to plan her own wedding in the middle of production.

“I won’t lie to you, it was one for the books… that was a crazy time, you know, but I just stayed focused, and I just knew I had to get through. We handled everything from the permits, licences, Customs, importation of the equipment, locations, housing of the talents, logistics, travel, every single thing, so we were the local fixers for that production and shot the entire season on the north coast,” Myers said.

The production was handled by her company Arts Chic Agency which has casted talents for many local production houses whose clientele include Red Stripe, Wray and Nephew, Digicel, among others.

“I wanted to have a space where brands could get some innovative direction in regards to marketing, implementing the trends that are happening internationally in the marketing space, and in the media space,” Myers told All Woman.

This entrepreneur is also versed in event production, recently launching a new event series with the District 5 restaurant in Kingston called Smirnoff Serenades, an intimate music set-up that happens every last Sunday of the month.

Undoubtedly, with a full career like Myers’, it is anything but easy to balance a family life. She says that time management is key for her to maintain that balance with her family and friends. But while she describes her company as her best professional accomplishment to date, she reserves the best accomplishment in her life to becoming a mother to her now two-year-old son who she shares with her husband.

“Being a mother has just opened my world and my heart, and it’s just been such a great experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she said fondly.

Myers is also eager to expand her businesses globally and encourages women interested in the industry to hone their skills fearlessly.

“Learn as much as you can and don’t ever be afraid to approach what you would call big deal business; the sky is the limit and once you apply yourself…anything is possible,” she said.