We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Suzanna Valles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Suzanna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
As a teen mother, statistics have always been stacked against me. I want to show women around the country every single day that you can beat the odds and achieve your dreams no matter what circumstances life has thrown at you. The goal is to take your hardships as motivation to take your life to levels you never thought would be possible. I always tell women that I once prayed for the place I am in life right now. And even on hard days where I am not where I want to be, I’m also not where I was yesterday.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My Name is Suzy and I am a 31 year old mother of 3 kiddos, ages 15,11 and 5! My father was an entrepreneur and I watched him work so hard for most of my childhood to build his dreams into a reality for himself and our family. I always admired his drive and positivity even when the days were hard. He passed away when I was 16, shortly after I had my daughter and I wanted to follow in his footsteps and start my own companies but I always thought “This could never happen for me.”
I was a teen drop out, Single mother with 2 kids by the age of 20 working in restaurants and trying to make ends meet and keep my head above water. I never dreamed I would be where I am today.
I opened our first storefront, The Wild Navy in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. We signed our 10 year commercial lease 3 weeks before the world shut down. Shortly after, My husband got cancer and I remember sitting on the rug in my store bawling ym eyes out and telling myself “Just let the dream go. It’s not going to happen. The universe was telling me no.”
But the universe was actually telling me Yes. Screaming at me to push through and build my empire through some of the biggest challenges I have ever faced.
We jumped in feet first and never looked back. Now 2 years later, we own 3 brick and mortar stores. Our original boutique, an Ice cream/Candy shop next door and recently purchased a 27 year old boutique in Marble Falls TX.
In just 2 years we have reached over $1,000,000 in sales and have mentored and helped small business owners in our surrounding community begin their adventures and starting their dream businesses.
Our boutiques are special because we carry a wide variety of clothing items from XS-3XL, so we are size inclusive and that was extremely important to me and our customers. I want to be a safe place for women of all ages and sizes to comfortably shop and find their best style. We build confidence everyday through hands on, personalized shopping experiences that help women step out of their comfort zones and begin their journey to self love and acceptance of themselves.
I have a community over competition mindset. Everyday. I will always support those around me in their business ventures and try and mentor others on a daily basis. One day I hope the begin coaching program and work one on one with women who have faced extreme life challenges to help them build their businesses and launch successful companies.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Oh, the word pivot. I use this a lot in my day to day talks with people because since we began, thats all we have ever known haha! Pivoting is extremely important and crucial in these times as so many small businesses face so much uncertainty daily. It is important to dig deep and pivot daily to fit whats working for you at that time. If something is not working for your business, its important to be quick on your feet and ready to change the flow of what you’re doing in an instant.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media is why I am where I am today. That and building true, genuine connections with people. When you watch an influencer or celebrity story on TV or social media…you watch them because you can either relate to them or enjoy seeing their content right? It is the same for business owners. Real people buy from real people. Think of what amazing things could happen if you set yourself apart from the rest, shared your true self and real life with your customers, and made genuine connections with them?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thewildnavy.com
- Instagram: @thewildnavy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewildnavy
- Other: TikTok: The Wild Navy Boutique