Jaz Fenton and Jamil Bhuya have spent the past decade building—and rebuilding—brands together, first with Yellow Beauty, a turmeric-based skin care line, and then with Burgers N’ Fries Forever (BFF), a fast-casual restaurant chain that Jamil franchised and later sold. Now, they run Otherhalf Studio, a design-first agency that’s quietly grown through referrals and word of mouth to $500,000 in contracts—all before even launching a website.
The Toronto-based couple shares what they’ve learned about scaling a brand, surviving financial disaster, optimizing a Shopify store for conversion, and working side by side as life and business partners.
Approaching brand-building with both vision and restraint
In their early days as entrepreneurs, Jaz and Jamil found initial success with Yellow Beauty, thanks in large part to a strong design foundation. Jaz, who previously worked as a product designer at Shopify, brought the visual polish that made Yellow stand out on the digital shelf. But despite landing placements in retailers like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, they missed one crucial lever: planning for what comes next.
“They basically approached us and were like, ‘What’s new?’ And we had to tell them … nothing,” Jaz explains, describing how a lack of new products led to their eventual drop from a major retailer.
Her takeaway for founders: Don’t assume early traction will carry you. Retailers want innovation. Customers need reasons to come back. And your packaging—especially offline—matters. “Online, you can tell your story in so many ways. In retail, it’s all about the box,” she says. The couple also wish they’d built a stronger network earlier. “We didn’t really seek out help from other people,” she says. “We just thought, hey, we can do this ourselves.”
Jamil agrees: “It was always like we were kind of holding back our own growth.” Instead, he advises, “Take the momentum and sell it—to retailers, to investors, to mentors.”
Starting over after a financial near-collapse
While Yellow Beauty continued running, Jamil’s restaurant chain, BFF, entered a crisis. “In the summer of 2022, I was pulled into a boardroom with my investor and partner at the time … and I was told that there's no more cash left,” he says. “I had to fire my COO, I had to fire myself, because I was on salary, and collect [employment benefits].”
The situation worsened quickly. “I realized we are seven figures in debt,” he says. While on vacation, he found out legal action had been taken against him: “We were in Mexico City and I got served,” he says. “They were trying to sue me personally for defaulting on this loan that was actually government backed.”
To recover, Jamil leaned on transparency and relationships. “I was super honest and authentic with as many people that I thought had experience,” he says. “People want to help. Right? But they can't help if they don't know.”
Eventually, Jamil took Jaz’s advice and began actively networking again with the goal of selling the business. He attended a golf tournament for restaurateurs, where he met the person who would later introduce him to BFF’s eventual buyer. The business was acquired a few months later, marking a full-circle moment. After clawing back to profitability, Jamil successfully turned one of his lowest chapters into a launchpad for his next venture.
Designing websites that convert—and look good
After exiting BFF and stepping back from Yellow Beauty, Jaz and Jamil shifted their focus to Otherhalf Studio, a design-first agency helping ecommerce brands improve their online experiences. Their core belief is that brands often overinvest in paid ads and underinvest in the websites those ads drive traffic to.
Instead of simply making sites look pretty, they focus on thoughtful design decisions that drive performance—like increasing average order value or conversion rate. Jaz encourages brands to treat their product pages more like landing pages, using every scroll to reinforce storytelling and build trust. Features like user-generated content, visual reviews, and detailed product information are all levers they recommend pulling early.
“People have amazing social content that never makes it onto their website,” Jaz points out. And small changes can yield big returns. Jamil explains, “If you can move conversion from 1% to 2%, that’s doubling revenue.”
Their philosophy centers on the belief that beautiful design and data-driven performance aren’t at odds. As Jamil puts it, “Design and data aren’t mutually exclusive, [rather] beautiful design does actually help with conversion rates.” The goal isn’t just aesthetics—it’s to create a customized experience that reflects the brand and drives measurable results.
Navigating business and marriage, one honest conversation at a time
For Jaz and Jamil, the name “Otherhalf” is more than branding—it reflects years of building businesses and navigating change as partners in both work and life. But working together hasn’t always been seamless. Early on, they felt pressure to operate as a unit, attending the same events and sharing responsibilities—even when it wasn’t working.
“He’d want me to come to a networking event, and I’d just be miserable,” Jaz says. The couple eventually realized they functioned better when each leaned into their strengths: Jamil handles sales and relationship building, while Jaz leads design and delivery.
Jamil admits that dynamic took some adjustment, especially when it came to overcoming his own competitiveness. But refocusing on what each person does best helped them collaborate more effectively and avoid unnecessary friction.
They’ve also found balance in difficult moments. As Jaz puts it, “When one person is down, the other person comes up.”
Their advice for couples going into business is to make sure your values align, especially around risk and lifestyle. And make space for both people to lead in their own domain.
Jaz and Jamil didn’t build a unicorn startup or raise millions. Instead, they built something arguably harder: a life and career of entrepreneurship marked by resilience, creativity, and partnership. They’ve learned how to launch products, scale brands, redesign websites, and survive personal and professional crises—and how to do it together.
For early-stage founders, Jaz and Jamil’s story is proof that starting small, staying honest, and focusing on design and community can be a powerful path to success. For more details on Jaz and Jamil’s entrepreneurship journey, check out the full interview on Shopify Masters wherever you get your podcasts.
