In March 2023, OLIVE TREE PEOPLE soft launched in the United States. By June, we went public with our Waterless Beauty Consultant program, an opportunity that sparked immediate interest. At the time, we had no idea how quickly our consultants would understand and embrace our brand’s core values, or how soon they could achieve their sales targets. All we were certain of was the uniqueness of our waterless beauty products, which had already proven successful for over two decades in Germany.

Since our soft launch just over a year ago, we’ve gone from zero to 10,000 Waterless Beauty Consultants, including 150 Star Leaders and 22 Black Olive Stars — esteemed titles earned when a consultant exceeds their sales target in a very short amount of time. Without the strength and dedication of our consultants, OLIVE TREE PEOPLE would not be the fastest-growing waterless beauty brand in the United States, so we want to thank each of you!

In this exciting new blog series, we aim to showcase the remarkable journeys of our Black Olive Stars. From their initial decision to join OLIVE TREE PEOPLE, to the astounding results they’ve achieved in as little as 4 weeks, we hope each of their unique stories inspire anyone considering joining our company.

To kick things off, meet Danielle Hampton, Medina Culver, and Shea Williams. Each of these women come from different professional backgrounds and each have very different reasons for joining the OTP team. 

When did you join Olive Tree People, and what motivated you to join? 

Danielle: I joined Olive Tree People the weekend of July 4th 2023. I found myself lost in the website pouring over every little detail for hours – reading Thomas' story, the history of the brand, the way the products are made – my intuition screamed loudly: YOU CANNOT IGNORE THIS. So I placed my first $250 order and then went right back in and placed a second $400 order because I wanted it ALL!

Medina: I joined OTP in August of 2023 but really didn’t share until October, and even then, only shared privately and not on social media. I joined right after my wedding and a cross-country move. 

I have always wanted to work for myself and have the ability to spend more time with my family. In my medical career, I saw the business of medicine taking over the ability to truly take care of patients. Meaning, I was not able to help my patients the way I wanted to, or to educate about health and wellness the way I wanted to. Also, I was having to work 40+ hours and miss events with family and friends because of the clinic. And truly, I learned that life is not about a career; It's about family and loved ones and quality time with people you love.

I found OLIVEDA and knew the business opportunity was huge. I loved the science, the commission plan, and the potential for growth.

This is hard, but is worth it in so many ways. I get to help women build businesses to be independent themselves, and I am lucky enough to be able to actually heal clients' skin and give them the confidence to go without makeup!!

Overall: The story, the science, the passion, and the chance to build an amazing team and help others achieve their success in a supportive environment that fosters abundance was huge for me.

Shea: I joined in August 2023! I had ordered some product from my friend (Love Duo & free travel sized F65) and I absolutely fell in love with it on the first application. A couple weeks later, I joined and ordered some of the internals but at that point I thought I was only joining for the discount.

Once the internals registered in my system and I added in a few more skincare items, my skin was glowing and I was completely shocked and 100% hooked, so I decided to start sharing with my network because it really felt criminal to withhold something so good.
— Shea Williams

When did you achieve your first milestone, and how do you feel your accomplishments have contributed to your personal growth?

Danielle: I was still in the exploratory phase in July and didn't really dive into the business until August. I had women in my immediate circle that I shared more information with, and they too could not look away. They immediately jumped with me! Over the next two months, I dove into creating team resources, sending happy mail to each new consultant that joined our organization, and really focusing on onboarding.

By the end of September, our organization had done over 100,000 in sales - a milestone I had only ever hit once in all my 8 years in network marketing and that was after almost a year. Women were thriving and their businesses were exploding! This was the culmination of all the years of learning, growing, and never giving up. Eight months later, and we are now closing in on becoming a 2-million-dollar team! And to think this is just the beginning for all of us here at Olive Tree People! KEEP GOING! 
— Danielle Hampton

Medina: My first milestone was achieved in January 2024 when I finally grew my business to over 100,000 in a month. I had spent 6 years with a previous direct sales company and never hit that milestone, so to hit this here in just a couple of months and continue to have growth-after-growth each month has been beyond my wildest dreams. I feel my accomplishments showed me that I can do this business well. For years, I spent so much time doubting if I was good enough to do this, or if I would ever be as successful as all the other women I saw; If I was a good enough leader and mentor. At that moment in January, I finally felt like I was all of those things and more. 

Shea: I hit Black Olive my first month, but hitting Violet Olive Star my third month is what really got me excited. For comparison sake - at my first direct sales job selling skincare and makeup, it took me 18 months of working tirelessly to do my first $5K month. At another company I was with right before joining Olive Tree People, I was struggling to maintain a $5K rank even at the one-year mark. I was, and am blown away by the rapid success here.

Having quick success definitely gave me the confidence and motivation to go full throttle with this business, but I also know that not everyone will grow super quickly, so I am happy that as a leader I carry the perspective of being a bit of an underdog in a sense. I know that it takes true commitment and lots of grit to see success in this industry.

You have to be willing to play the long game, but I also fully believe that with products THIS efficacious, the hardest part is getting people to simply try them; the rest tends to unfold easily.
— Shea Williams

I have full confidence my team is going to continue seeing incredible growth and that every person who wants it badly enough will find themselves at the top of our comp plan one day soon.

Could you highlight a particularly challenging moment you’ve encountered so far, how you navigated through it, and what you learned from the experience?

Danielle: I came from another brand that offered a ground-floor opportunity. The excitement is real in starting early with a brand and being able to see and be part of the growth over time. However, having innovative products is truly what will catapult a brand into the future for many years to come. Even if the products are good, if it feels too similar to what is already out there, the sales traction and brand recognition don't always follow.

Being a part of Olive Tree People as a ground-floor opportunity has been the opposite – the innovation behind our products has been superior, leading to explosive growth and a very high demand for our products. With that, we have been faced with unexpected out-of-stock of many of our best sellers and restocks that only last a few days, sometimes a few hours. While this has been challenging to navigate at times with my customers and my team, it truly does tell me we have something EXCEPTIONAL! And I know Thomas is always working with the team in Germany to ramp up production to meet the demand in the US without compromising our quality and sourcing. 

Medina: Comparison. Comparing myself to women who join and achieve crazy success in 4 weeks or 2 months. It's really hard to see that and then wonder what you are doing wrong, or if you really belong here and if you really can achieve the same success.

I have to remind myself that I came to this company as just me… didn't bring a team, didn't bring any influencers, and most of my amazing team are women brand new to the direct sales space. So for me, it's reminding myself and my team that our only competition is ourselves and our previous month. My chapter 2 cannot be compared to someone's chapter 15. 
— Medina Culver

Shea: I think one of the more challenging things for me sometimes, is when I see people from my previous companies or even random people online bash the products or make fun of the concept we have here. It can definitely be hard to ignore, and of course we all have a tendency to want to defend the things we care about. I've occasionally sent messages or left comments kindly inviting the person to learn more, but I've found that in those cases usually those people aren't interested in learning more. Sometimes people just want to be haters. I've learned to let them be. It takes nothing away from the work we are doing or how many people we ARE helping with our products. A few haters cannot stop the waterless wave! But it's a good lesson to remember as we all grow: If you can't handle being talked about, then you aren't ready for success. 

What ways do you believe OTP’s company culture and support from colleagues have influenced your journey and contributed to your success?

Danielle: As I mentioned, this is my eighth year in network marketing and my third company I have had the pleasure of working with. Let's just say my experience has been very colorful over the years! Each experience taught me things, both good and bad. I do feel that it was in these moments that I truly grew both personally and emotionally which undoubtedly has helped mold my leadership journey here at Olive Tree People.

I am still always expanding, growing, and learning from the women around me and within my own organization. I have been lucky to work with what I refer to as the 'creme de la creme' in network marketing. We each bring unique skills, knowledge, and individual expertise to our community spaces so whether you are seasoned in network marketing or brand new, you are supported in a multitude of ways!

Medina: This company is so different in so many ways. It starts from the top with Thomas and the abundance attitude he shares. I never experienced this type of growth both financially, emotionally and mentally with my previous company. I never had the opportunity to sit at the leaders table in the last 6 years.

So many things influenced me to join OTP, but the main one was being able to grow and grow in a culture that I could help create and cultivate. It doesn't get better than being respected by the CEO, honestly, and that doesn't happen at every company.
— Medina Culver

What we do here is not easy. It is hard more days than not,  but I always remind myself of the gift this business has been for my family, for me, and for other women. And then you remember that this really is the best job. 

Shea: Oh wow, the resources here have been such a game changer. My other companies provided some corporate training materials that weren't super helpful but nothing like this.

Our team's collaborative culture is truly unique and unheard of. Pair that with a founder who is on all the calls, and is such a prominent voice for the consultants to hear, and it is pure gold. 
— Shea Williams

My first company there was absolutely no collaboration and it was actually frowned upon. I would always share my content with my team and any sideline teams who asked for it as well, but my up-line mentor thought I was wasting my time and undermining myself. I find that mentality extremely abrasive. In my mind, if it's helping me grow and it can ALSO help someone else grow, then why wouldn't I share it? If we want to see people actually work their businesses, we have to realize that not everyone is a content creator/marketing genius.

So instead of gatekeeping things from each other, we all contribute our strengths and it has created a really lovely give-and-take community. I fully believe it is a huge reason why our team has grown so rapidly.
— Shea Williams

What’s something people may not know about you?

Danielle: This is a first and I am SO very proud! I am hosting my first-ever Leadership Retreat: ROOTED! The idea and planning for this retreat started in January. It is incredibly humbling to finally be in a place in my business to be able to plan something like this – to really love and celebrate our growing leadership team in a way that feels so special and intimate. Stay tuned because we are pulling out all the stops and, for all in the Wild Grove Co community, you definitely do not want to miss the next one! 

Medina: I have a photographic memory.

Shea: In 2011 I lived in my old VW bus named Tug in Los Angeles. It was amazing. I'd park down by the beach to sleep at night, get up and run along the ocean in the morning and then shower at the beach showers, then drive in to work as a waitress or if I had the day off, I'd go on some little adventure. Life was so simple and I loved it. I could honestly see myself choosing something similar when my kids are all grown up, or at least definitely having an RV of some sort to travel around in during the winters. I plan on being a pretty wild granny someday. I have 4 kids, which is a lot for someone who didn't think she wanted kids. :) Glad I was wrong because it turns out I love being a mom more than anything. Fun fact: all my babies were born at home, even the twins!
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If you're interested in reading more of our consultants' stories, tune in monthly for new posts in this series! Part II will be available at the end of May.