A new era of Houston is emerging post-pandemic with buzzing nightlife spots and exquisite dining experiences that attract vacationers and tourists alike. At the helm is the fearless CEO Molo, who is hastily conquering the promotions and entertainment industry.
Owner of the Selective Group, Playground, and KISS Restaurants, Molo conducts business in a male-dominated nightlife industry with elegance and unwavering determination while creating new and innovative entertainment spaces at her desk. There are no days off for Molo, as she works tirelessly to finalize celebrity bookings, such as Yung Miami of the City Girls and Lil Baby, circulate marketing promotions, and generate new food menus for her restaurants.
She started with humble beginnings working as a door girl for the popular V Live strip club but still needed help finding her niche. “I was broke. I was only getting paid $100, so I didn’t have any money,” Molo says to ESSENCE. “I was getting in trouble and just being a nuisance.”
The turning point came when she decided to throw her first party in 2019. With a successful turnout, Molo became a popular name in the scene.
“Promoters would come to me and say, ‘You can do this. I think you would be a good promoter.’ So in 2020, that’s when I created the Selective Group.”
The Selective Group was created to offer larger-scale exposure and marketing promotions to its high-end clients’ brands, such as local small businesses, clubs, or bars. Employing an all-female staff, clients can enlist their services to promote advertisements for various events, products, and goods through their social media accounts.
As a result of prosperity with her first business, Molo decided to expand her entrepreneurial ventures. The hospitality industry continually changes in a city oversaturated with lounges, bars, and restaurants, and success is no guarantee. But for the mogul, the challenge never sways her work ethic. “I wanted to create something called vibe dining. Something where you can have good food, drinks, dance, and listen to our music.” And with this idea, KISS was born.
KISS restaurants were explicitly crafted for Black culture to give our community a combination of fine dining and overall good vibes. The restaurant offers an elevated ambiance to its patrons with a menu full of handcrafted cocktails, flavorful soul food cuisine, and private dining rooms open for reservation. “You can dine and vibe to Bryson Tiller or Drake. You can create your own vibes or even host private birthday dinners,” said Molo.
With her idea in hand, the newly appointed restaurant owner worked endlessly to open her premier Houston location in June 2021, with KISS Dallas opening shortly after in November 2021.
With two locations under her belt in less than a year, Molo shared that the road along the journey of owning a restaurant chain could be said to have more negatives than positives. “I had to learn everything from the bottom. I didn’t know anything about owning a restaurant, food waste, or liquor licenses,” says Molo. “You don’t know if you’re going to win or lose…Dallas wasn’t successful for six months. I was putting a lot of money in until I went down there and figured out a working recipe. It’s a learning experience, and I had to trust the process.”
The long nights in the office until 1 a.m. indeed paid off for Molo, who has become a prominent name within the nightlife and hospitality industry in less than five years. Being able to accomplish all the goals she’s set for herself, the businesswoman states that contrary to belief, none are her greatest triumph. Before the success, her grandmother raised her at a young age due to her mother’s death and her father being in and out of prison. Crediting her grandmother’s prayers and unwavering love as the reason she has garnered much success, she was able to check off her most commendable achievement in November 2022: retiring her grandmother.
“I told her to quit her job; you’re good,” said Molo. “I paid all her bills and bought her new car in cash, so she won’t have to pay the note. She never has to work another day in her life.”
The Houston success story has her sights set on taking her talents down to South Beach with the newest KISS Miami set to open in Winter 2023 but make no mistake; there is still no end in sight for this CEO. Molo still has more lucrative ideas to bring to the city with the opening of her three-floor destination lounge, Palapas, in March and a new breakfast restaurant, The Sunrise House, soon. “I try to ensure that I do something different from somebody else. So it makes my creativity go to the next level. When I see something in my head, ‘I’m like, okay, I gotta do it,’” says Molo.
Notably, working with big names such as James Harden, Drake, and Future, to name a few, the business mogul was very transparent in noting that her life is a true testimony that having faith in yourself can take you anywhere. Knowing that her community supports her and all her endeavors, Molo continues to hustle hard, create more opportunities for women to make money, and put the city of Houston on her back.