We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keyunna Baker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keyunna below.
Keyunna, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?
Shoebox by Ki has had the pleasure of serving hundreds of women online, at pop up shops and in private.
This past Spring, my assistant Samaiyah and I had the honor of serving 7 amazing women from 3 different generations at a private styling appointment.
Our private styling appointments are held either in the clients home or a designated location.
Samaiyah and I brought in several rolling racks of our inventory. We hand selected different items that matched everyone’s style and allowed them to shop in privacy.
No extra customers, no distractions, just pure fun and joy amongst the women trying on clothes, hyping each other up and having a great time.
The private shopping experience allows clients to see our wide selection of inventory up close and personal.
The women got individualized attention, styling tips, pre selected items and access to merchandise not online.
It was an amazing opportunity to be able to service everyone in a beautiful setting, cater to their needs, give feedback on looks and help them prepare for upcoming birthdays, and tropical vacations.
After the appointment was over, the feedback we received was wonderful :
“Thank you so much for everything that you have done for my mother and family. It was a great experience”.
“Today was fun and thank you for setting up for us today. I’m loving the outfits I purchased from you”.
As an owner, my heart was full! I felt a sense of confirmation and joy knowing that we were able to help these women look and feel their best.
Keyunna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Keyunna and I am a native Oregonian and the owner, and operator of Shoebox by Ki. We are a Portland OR based, online, mobile, and pop up clothing boutique.
We have been in business for a little over 3 years now. Shoebox by Ki initially was supposed to be a shoe business, hence the name Shoebox by Ki.
After not being able to find quality shoes that I felt would sell, I kept my business name and pivoted to clothes.
I pivoted to clothes, because I love clothes, and my soul has always been tied to helping others with styling;
At the beginning of this journey into entrepreneurship – I worked as a private stylist for a former co worker who needed help with her wardrobe and was working as a volunteer stylist for Dress for Success. The joy that I felt with helping these women was unmatched. I loved being able to support women in this capacity.
Those experiences helped me to understand the power in empowering other women through styling and helping them see themselves in a different light. This also helped me to understand my why of pivoting to clothes.
One of the biggest problems that we solve for our customers and what sets us apart from others is our ability to provide quality clothing, providing one on one styling assistance, private shopping in the privacy of our clients home and being accessible.
Our goal is to support women who may have challenges when it comes to styling themselves and finding pieces that compliment them and their lifestyle.
Our service is top tier and we pride ourselves on providing outstanding customer service. I am most proud of the fact that our customers trust us.
The main thing I would love for potential clients, followers and fans know about us is that we are a Black owned, woman owned brand, we hand select all of our merchandise, we care about our customers, we care about the quality of our products and believe in going above and beyond for our customers to make sure they have the best experience possible.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Being a small business owner is not easy. I came into 2022 with a plan and goals on how I would conquer the new year. Little did I know 2022 had something different in store for me.
The majority of this year has been set back after set back. I’ve have had so many unexpected experiences that tried to take me out and throw me off my game:
Deadlines with contractors weren’t met, betrayal from people I trusted, and unforeseen cancellations, you name it – it happened. Instead of being upset, I learned to just roll with what is being thrown my way and learn from it.
I am a resilient person by nature and I don’t believe in giving up or quitting. I believe that there is an opportunity for growth in every experience. In general, we just have to learn to be strong enough to see challenges through a different lens.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One lesson that I am still unlearning– is letting go of this idea that I can do everything on my own–It is ok to ask for help.
We are not super human and attempting to do everything on our own leads to burnout, mistakes and not being prepared for different opportunities that may present itself.
This past month, four of my friends realized just how much I was attempting to do on my own and immediately jumped in to action and helped me with content creation.
Everyone pitched in to help set up, steam clothes, model, take behind the scenes video, and provide me with a location to shoot. After the day was over, I realized how crazy I was for thinking I could do everything without a team. It felt good to see that I had a team of friends who support me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shoeboxbyki.com
- Instagram: @shoeboxbyki
- Facebook: @shoeboxbyki
Image Credits
Image Credits – Reland Logan , DRQ Photography.