Check Out Jennifer Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Davis. She share her story with us below:

Background regarding me: 

Jennifer Marie Davis, 37, my immediate family consist of Alaysia Davis, my daughter, 15, Dalemarie Davis, my mother, Bay City, my brother Justin who lives in Denver, CO and Eunice Wilson, Aunt, Bay City. My mother and father, the late William Davis, we’re childhood, high school sweethearts. They met as children at The Historical Second Baptist Church here in Bay City and reconnected in high school at Bay City Central. My mother went away to college, and they remained a couple. After she returned home from college, they were married in June of 1978 after 8+ years of dating. My father passed unexpectedly at the age of 35 from a brain aneurysm. My mother unexpectedly became a 33-year-old single mother of two. I was only 3 and a half years old and my brother was 8. I watched my mother work hard to provide us an amazing life. We had all of our need and wants. We traveled growing up and had many memorable experiences as a family. 

The beginning of my business, Chocolate Butter: 

After ending my 7-year relationship and experiencing the shutdown due to covid, I started doing it even more as something to occupy my time. It was a great distraction and very therapeutic for me. During this time, I started to have some medical issues and began to become very ill. I thought it was the stress from moving, ending my relationship, and trying to navigate this thing called life at difficult period not just in my life but in the world. In August of 2020, I was officially diagnosed with Lupus, and it changed my life. I had a difficult time with treatment early on. After multiple treatments and medications, here I am 2 years later and I finally feel like I’m making a turnaround. I started doing a lot of reading and research regarding my disease. I’m trying to eliminate unnecessary chemicals in my body, on my body, and in my environment. I have sensitive skin, so does my mother and daughter so I’ve always been cautious of what I use. With my family having sensitive skin, I’ve been making body butter for a couple of years for myself and family. I get very frustrated with the cost of some organic products. I swear just for putting organic on the label people will charge twice the price. That drove me even more to create my own product line. I’m a single mom and have to prioritize my income. My mission is to provide quality organic skin and hair care at a reasonable price. I have regular customers children and adults that have skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis, alopecia, dry skin, rashes, and sensitive skin. Prescription topical creams can be costly because a lot of medical insurances don’t cover them. Also, before trying a medication, definitely a steroid, wouldn’t you like to try an organic option? 

I believe in Chocolate Butter and the healing power of my products, that I offer a free 2oz sample of our body butter. (Customer pays shipping) 

I have spent a lot of time educating myself on Lupus and how to function and have a life with Lupus. I’ve eliminated a lot of the chemicals I use on my body and in my home. Lupus is a big reason, Chocolate Butter, was born. Cooking has always been a passion of mine. With Chocolate Butter I get the same joy and gratification as I do when I cook. I create my own recipes for all my products. Nothing in my collect is “black or white labeled.” In creating Chocolate Butter, I also get to utilize another hobby of mine and that is reading and writing. I do a lot of reading and research before creating a new Chocolate Butter product. I’ve been published twice, once in junior high and once in high school. I’ve been through a lot of things in my life, and God has brought me through. I do have an ultimate goal and that is to write a memoir of my life. I want to help others by sharing my story. 

A few things I included in a bio of myself. It’s the reason behind my drive to make my business a success.

2. Do you have a partner? If so, how did you meet? Are you married? If so, when and where were you married? What’s your best memory together?

I just started casually dating again after being single for almost 2 years. I was in a 7+ years relationship that was verbally, mentally, and emotionally abusive. It was a difficult breakup and affected the lives of our children and family. We were not married but lived together, and I was helping raise his 2 kids on top of my own. It was a very difficult decision to leave the relationship and cut soul ties. It took prayer, counseling, the support of my family, and the support of my friend/life coach. 

Best Memory Together: 

It wasn’t always bad. We shared many good memories and many first. Wine tours, The International Food, Beer, and Wine Festival, trips, and entertaining in our home that was big enough to host both sides of our families. The summer nights, smell of food on the grill, and the laugher of our children on the trampoline will always be a memory I hold in my heart. 

After 7+ years of no change, no progression, and no commitment, it was time to break away. I’m being transparent because I want to show other women that you can do it on your own. Healing is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. You will have setbacks but keep pushing forward. Don’t let anyone stand between you and your dream.  I had to do what was best for me and my daughter and that was leaving the relationship. He tried multiple times to invert himself back into my life, but on my birthday, April 9, 2020, I said no more. I refused to go through another year of him dangling this great life that was my ultimate dream of marriage and building a family in my face. I thought for years if I do what he wants and put him first he’ll finally follow through. I put myself aside. I lived in fear of if I stood up to him or did not comply with his request, I would suffer some type of punishment. Whether it would be him ignoring my calls and text, him not coming home for days at a time, infidelity on his part, or treating me like garbage to purposely hurt my feelings and cause me pain. There were days and nights were all I could do was cry and pray the God would release the pain and release me from him. The relationship was most of my 20s, and some of my 30s, both of which I feel are a critical time in your adult years. It where you lay your foundation, grow you family and begin to really live. My only regret was not having the strength to leave years before I did. I can’t get that time back, and life is way too short to live how I was for such a long time. The trauma of the relationship brought out a negative side of me. I began to not recognize myself. I signed my lease for my new home the day after my birthday, and that was the start of my new beginning. I started my deep search of finding “Jennifer” again. I began to live my life, and I then realized how much I missed being “Jennifer.” I wanted to make sure my daughter knew that relationship was not ok or normal. I left the toxic situation and started over, just the 2 of us and we’re doing very well. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Time management can be rough. I do work full-time but my most important job is I’m a single mom and a dance mom. When I first started my business, I was making porch drop-offs in Bay City and Saginaw. I would have people order things and need them the next day. That’s not always possible. With the company growing, I had to move to doing shipping on all orders. I only charge $5.99 for shipping which is about half the cost of mailing if not less. Everything else comes from my own pocket. It’s worth it to me because the drop-offs were taking time from daughter. 

Healing from my past relationship was a huge challenge. It broke me and there were times I literally thought I wouldn’t make it out alive. My ex consumed so much of my past. My late 20s and half my 30s. I forgot how to live for me. Chocolate Butter became therapeutic for me. I went from working full-time, taking care of a big house, and three kids to taking care of a smaller home and one kid. This all took place at the beginning of covid. The world shut down right after my breakup. The things I would use as a distraction like getting my hair and nails done, shopping, or taking a weekend away, was not an option. I was in the house with my thoughts and my pain. It forced me to deal with my feelings instead of suppressing them. That was a blessing. I took my free time and put it into Chocolate Butter. The grace of God, my family, and Chocolate butter healed me. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My “9-5” job is as a medical biller. I’ve worked on the billing/admin side of medical for 13 years. I love what I do, but Chocolate Butter is my baby. I created every aspect of my company from the recipes, each product, every single label, and more. My company was started with no investors but myself. I enjoy having complete control because I have a standard. I want to provide good quality organic products at a reasonable price. Anything I put my name on I take very seriously. Something that sets me apart from others in the area is I create each and every recipe and product on my own. When coming out with a new product, I play with different recipes then send them to a few regular customers to try. I also try all my product on myself and my daughter. After my testing period, I then choose my new recipe and product. I DO NOT due white or black labels. This means I don’t buy bulk generic products and slap my label on them. 

I’m known for my skin, body butter, and company name. Whenever someone hear, “Chocolate Butter” they giggle and smile. I haven’t met one person that does not like the name. The name sticks in your head because it’s unique. I choose the name because I’ve been told my skin is smooth and a brown tone that reminds people of chocolate. I had someone the other day tell me I had perfect skin. I said, “I have to I’m a walking billboard.” I chose butter because body butter was my first product. It’s where I stared. 

I’m most proud of maintaining the integrity of my products and brand. I choose to stay organic with my product. I could make my products for cheaper if I did “natural” instead of “organic,” but I want to provide a nonchemical product line. Yes, natural products still contain chemicals therefore I don’t personally agree with purchasing natural products myself. I look at it like you might as well buy the regular, popular, alcohol, based artificial lotion. I only deal with certain brands and distributors for my products. I won’t by a cheaper quality ingredient because one of my ingredients is unavailable. I will go through the proper channels to get what I need as soon as possible. I will also contact my customer and apologize for the delay. For the inconvenience, I always include a discount or free gift. 

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I currently live in Old Orchard by the Bay in Essexville. I moved here after ending my last relationship. At first, my reason for picking Old Orchard was the availability. It’s very hard to find housing right now. After being here for just over 2 years, I have learned to appreciate it even more. The staff is amazing, and so is the neighborhood. It’s so peaceful. I’m also very grateful to be out of the city and in my own bubble where my chances to run into current people is minimum. LOL Very quiet, clean, perfectly outside the city but not too far from stores, my church, or my family. 

With all the negative things going on in the world and the few violent occurrences the have happened in our area, I wish people would realize how blessed we truly are. Bay City is a beautiful community. You could spend a whole day walking downtown and visiting shops, bars, and enjoy some amazing food. We have the flexibility to walk in our community day or night and not feel terrified. Now don’t get me wrong there is always certain precautions you should take but here we don’t have to worry as much as other areas and cities. It is a great place to grow up, and I’m blessed to be able to raise my child in my community. 

I want to be clear on how awesome the women entrepreneurs are here in Bay City. We as women wear many hats. We run homes, businesses, committees, and more. Some of these amazing women in our community run multiple businesses. They inspire me every single day to push and hustle harder for, Chocolate butter. We are a strong force to be reckoned with. I’m proud to be in the public eye as a minority business owner. As a younger, black, single mother and now business owner, I want to break the stereotypes. I want little girls to look at me and think I can pursue my dream. Look what she did. I want to be the light in darkness for females that look like me at times endure tribulations. We’re breaking down doors and making our seat at the table. I want to show my daughter that with hard work and prayer anything is possible. Here I am a small minority business owner that never expected to be doing so well for only being in business a year and a half. Along with grow became opportunities. I am now part of The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and The Minority Business Partnership here in Bay County. 

Pricing:

• Our body butter just like the rest of our products is 100% organic. The combination of coconut oil and shea butter moisturizes your skin and will last all day long. Each body butter is scented with essential oils and fruit extracts. It’s not overwhelming which makes it safe and gentle for the entire family. The body butter is great for any skin type including trouble skin. Available in 8 oz glass jars and 2 oz sample size. $8 sample $3
• Our sugar scrub is a combination of our base ingredients used for our body butter and sugar cane. When creating our sugar scrub I focused on making a product that will exfoliate but stay gentle. I wanted to make sure our sugar scrub was not to rough and abrasive on the skin. Our sugar scrub comes in the same scents as our body butter. Available in 8 oz glass jars and 2 oz sample size. $10 sample $3
• Our Deep Conditioning Hair Butter is 100% organic just like the rest of our line. It’s great for all Hair types. You apply it to your damp hair after you wash normally, then you sit for 15-20 minutes. I recommend putting on a shower cap for a very deep conditioning. Your natural body heat will heat the mask. After your time is up, rinse well, then style as usual. If your hair is very damaged feel free to keep it on longer. It’s 100% organic so you don’t have to worry about overprocessing. NO CHEMICALS!😁 There is a video and pictures on our business Facebook page that gives tips and before/after photos. $10
• Our lip gloss like the rest of our product line is 100% organic. With a combination of organic shea butter, organic coconut oil, and organic beeswax, it provides moisture without feeling heavy and sticky. Each lip gloss is flavored with fruit extract and other organic flavoring. Available in 5 ml tubes $7
• Our stimulating oil is a product that is good for all hair textures. If you have fine hair, use a very small amount but if your hair is thick you may need a little extra. Just like the rest of our line, a little goes a long way. To make this oil, it’s very complex. It’s a 3 days process for the true quality I want to have. No clipping corners for Chocolate Butter. Along with our staple ingredients, organic coconut oil, and organic shea butter, I’ve developed a mixture of organic higher-end base oils, sweet almond oil, castor oil, argon oil, and jojoba oil. All 4 help stimulate hair grow and helps provide moisture. Organic essential oils tea tree, peppermint, and lavender are added to give your scalp a relaxing and refreshing tingle that also promotes hair growth. To finish off, the stimulating oil soaks for 2 days in my organic herbal mix before being bottled and ready for use. I also included a scoop of the same herbs in every bottle. Oil can be used on your scalp and your hair. Oil is available in a 4 oz bottle. The screw top allows you to easily apply the oil while your hair maybe in protective styles like braids and extensions. Price does reflect the time and higher-end ingredients used to create the product. $20

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jmdchocolatebutter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chocolatebutterjmd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chocolatebutterjmd

Image Credits
Rachel Starr
Dana Dorman