We recently connected with Nakia Glenn and have shared our conversation below.
Nakia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Oh my goodness! Naming your business/brand is so important because this is what your customers will remember. I will say, I went through 3 name changes before the 3rd one became my favorite and final name change. When I first started in the fashion industry, I really didn’t put too much thought into my brand name because I wasn’t sure how it was going to prosper or if it would be something I just did to pass time away. The first name I chose was Lavish Lyfe and I thought it was cute until I researched and saw so many other clothing brands with the same name spelled slightly different. I thought to myself “ok this is not going to work” so I chose the 2nd name House of Swave. Again, I thought ok cute but, I just wasn’t really feeling it to keep it permanently. It was time for me to really think: Kia what are you planning to do with your brand, Kia what name could you give your brand that people will remember & standout, and Kia what will look cute on your marketing. Once, I sat back and thought about it, I said to myself “I’m naming my brand after me ” *smiling*. I want people to remember me, the person behind the brand, the person who is putting in all this hard work, and I want to see my name on my products. I finally chose my final brand name which is “NakiaMichelle”. I knew this was the one and immediately spent tons to have my logo designed, brand new professional website, quality marketing material, and more. I claimed my name on everything I could and finally had it trademarked so I can own it! There is no going back and I love my final brand name!
Nakia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Nakia Michelle Glenn (hence the business name NakiaMichelle) and I was born and raised in Columbus, GA and now reside in Atlanta, GA. I started in the fashion industry in January 2014 as an “online boutique” with no vision and no plan. I simply made a generic website on Shopify, ordered about $2500 in inventory, used vendor photos, paid IG influencers, and made roughly $75,000 my first year. After my first year and I saw what I was capable of with no knowledge, no professional website, and no professional pictures, I knew then it was time to really learn the industry because I was staying in it. I joined a mentorship program with someone who was big in the fashion industry to learn everything I needed to know about the business, pricing, scaling, marketing, and more. After a year of being in her mentorship program, I learned so much and I put everything I learned to use.
Moving forward, over the past 10 years, I have grown so much in the industry, I started out with retail only online and as of today I currently wholesale to different other clothing brands. I focus more on providing quality versus quantity. I specialize in trendy women fashion for the everyday woman. Most of my pieces are not every day wear but, you will definitely stand out when you enter a room. My price points are typically $50 or more. I chose the high end route because the apparel is not sold everywhere and the competition is minimum.
As of 2024, I am moving into manufacturing my own clothing line what will be started from scratch meaning I pick the material, the thread, and everything until I have the final product. It has always been a dream of mine to make my brand stand out even more. Honestly, I started it previously but I felt I wasn’t ready until I learn to manage the retail side. I am overly excited about it and I forgot to mention I have a candle/diffuser line as well that I added to my brand in 2023. Exciting right!!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think what helped me build my reputation in the market is my amazing customer service and providing quality products. So many of my customer reviews always indicated “she has amazing customer service”, “we love her custom boxes”, “I can wear my item more than one time the quality is so awesome”, and more. This lead me to receive more and more customers!
I will say this, I never miss on customer service because I know how imperative it is to ensure your business survive. I truly go out my way to ensure I provide the best service as possible to each and and every customer.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Being that I started off online, Social Media played a major part in my success and me building my brand. When I first started out in 2014, the big thing was Instagram influencers doing paid promotion for small businesses. After I researched the best influencers that would be best for my business, I scheduled every week with an influencer to run my business on their page over the weekend. At the time, Rasheeda was my favorite to utilize every weekend. She was well worth every dollar I spent with her because I not only got followers but, I always made back twice what I paid for promotion. This is the way I truly grew my presence on social media.
Currently, I utilize ads in which I establish a monthly budget and allow the ads to do the work for me, For those that are starting out, I highly recommend utilizing ads but, please do not run ads with other clothing brands and/or boutique pictures. This sometimes raises a red flag with potential customers because they are wondering if you are legit or not. Your ads should be YOUR BRAND.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nakiamichelle.com
- Instagram: shopnakiamichelle
- Facebook: NakiaMichelle