Phnewfula Frederiksen

Phnewfula is owner and creator of Happy Mango, mother of two, graduate of Clark Atlanta University, and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She is advocate of breastfeeding, eco conscious and healthy living and minority entrepreneurship. Phnewfula spent 20 years in the music business and has worked at Interscope, MCA, Geffen, Warner Bros, and most recently Atlantic Records. She left her very lucrative career in the music business to fulfill her passion of fusing parenting and her love of eco activism. She dreamt up her retail concept after she gave birth to her first child. She worked for 6 more years in the music industry and finally decided to leave her job and focus on that business after she had her second child.

Phnewfula is no rookie when it comes to business ownership. She owned a boutique in West Hollywood called The Red Lemon Store before she had her children. She built that store from a small online store to be one of the premier destinations for some of Hollywood’s and hip hop’s elite to stop in a shop. She started the store online while working at Geffen Records as an exit strategy after her stint with what she calls a “bad boss”. She was way ahead of the power curve for her time. After having her son, Phnewfula shut down everything and took two years to just learn and enjoy being a mom. That time would change her trajectory and outlook on life. Happy Mango was now going to happen. The only question was when. She decided to go back to work at Warner Bros. Records to save her money and plan her empire. She also loved the artists on that label so that was going to be a huge plus!

During that 4 years between going back to work and having her son, Phnewfula had to focus and set up the foundation for Happy Mango. She started her blog and captured her musings of motherhood. Her blog garnered enough of a following that she was able to launch her online store to an audience. She kept that going and through her very close relationship with her son, she decided to write a book about their conversations. Her book Conversations between me and the kid was published in June of 2013. It is 3 years of their banter. Turns out her son gives her a run for her money in the wit department. The two of them embarked on a book tour and hit radio in several markets to promote their book. She wanted to set her son up to know that he could achieve anything he put his mind to. She said “Now, when he googles himself, he will see that he was a published author at the age of 5”.

In March of 2014 Phnewfula got the jumpstart she needed. She would soon have another child. Being pregnant sent her into overdrive to get everything ready to finally take that leap of faith. She did just that. She gave her boss at Atlantic Records. an 8 month notice of intent to vacate her position.

“I left the music industry in 2015 because I needed to be fully present for my kids,” she says. “I wanted my children to be closer to my mother. That meant packing my whole family up and moving back to Atlanta. Family means everything to me and I knew I was going to need my mom’s help to make this Happy Mango magic happen”

Shortly after returning to Atlanta, Phnewfula launched Happy Mango as a pop up shop in the Krog Street Market from October to January. Her proof of concept was solidified and Atlanta indeed wanted an Eco-baby store.

“When the pop up closed she took a few months to find the perfect location for her new store. Happy Mango would open in Kirkwood in March of 2016. After 7 years there, she has moved to a bigger location on the Upper West side in The Chattahoochee Works. In 2024 she found the magic pivot of virtual and private in person appointments.

Phnewfula has created a private shopping experience that is available to everyone. Access to such lines as Nuna, Babyletto, Clek, Silver Cross, Nurseryworks,Uppababy,Doona, are not geographically possible for a lot of people. She has now made it so. Happy Mango is a full service boutique. “We want to make sure the whole parent is satisfied when they leave.” Happy Mango is a resource for all things baby, breastfeeding, doula recommendations, birthing options, and community. Happy Mango is also a certified CPST store so they do car seat installations and education for parents.

Phnewfula has been featured on local Atlanta TV, CNN, CNBC, Black Enterprise Magazine, Vibe Magazine, Rolling Out magazine, Atlanta Baby, Atlanta Magazine, The HLN Network, The Atlantan, Complex Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Social Magazine, Honey Magazine, Jane Magazine, Atlanta Tribune, Angelenos Magazine, Us Weekly Magazine, and countless radio and website, blog interviews. Her boutique still remains a hot spot for high end clientele and TV shows.