We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Jackson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I’ve always had dreams of having my own scrub line, just because most scrubs weren’t my style. Their notoriously boxy-fitting, scratchy material, and flooding pants never worked for me. I wanted to come to work in cute scrubs, that made me feel great and ready to conquer the day. The meaning for Nursebae Scrubs & Accessories came to me during my time in nursing school. Although my journey through school was mostly positive and very enlightening, I did have some bumps along the road. Surrounded by fellow classmates who almost always never looked like me, it was hard for me to shake the feeling of inadequacy, I constantly felt I had to answer quicker, be smarter and do “better” than everyone else just to be looked at on the same level. “Nursebae” was a term I was very familiar with, it had almost become a nickname for me because so many of my friends called me that. I knew there were other women who went through school experiencing similar feelings as I was. I wanted my scrub line to highlight the African American women working hard in the healthcare field, despite all of the adversity we may encounter.
Katie, 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?
I am a 23 year old registered nurse from Milwaukee, WI. I attended a local community college, shoutout to MATC, and graduated nursing school in 2021. It was almost inevitable for me to start a scrub line, seeing as scrubs are over 50% of my wardrobe, Sometimes I think I wear scrubs more than my other, normal clothes. When I would go to stores and purchase scrubs for my clinical classes, it was always difficult to find a brand that was comfortable, durable and stylish. I wanted my brand to encompass all of these values. I think the main thing that sets me apart from other brands is my connection to minority communities and how we highlight those people in healthcare. Nursebae offers scrub sets (of course), custom fleece jackets, and compression socks as of now. In 2023 we plan to offer a casual line of crewnecks and t-shirts, along with more accessories like croc pins and stethoscope cases. The main thing that I want my potential customers to know is that despite the name, Nursebae is NOT only for nurses. Various careers have purchased from us- from certified nursing assistants to dental hygienists to esthetician’s. If you wear scrubs, you wear Nursebae!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I am a bit of a micro-influencer, someone who has between 1,000-100,000 followers on social media and uses their platform to promote products. This is something that I have been doing even before starting my businesses and it has definitely taught me a lot on social media and how to use it to your advantage. Social media is probably the largest free outlet to market products, network and meet those across the world. My biggest advice for anyone just starting out who wants to build their online presence would be to post frequently, but post with purpose. If you post 5 times a week, but you aren’t getting your message across, it’s almost like you were never there. Your posts have to not only be consistent, but conscious. You have to be aware of your audience, what times they’re online, what type of posts or reels get the most attention, how many likes you get in the morning versus the evening, etc. it takes some time and putzing around to get the hang of it. But as long as you just POST, at least you are making your presence known. Another big tip for my instagram users, use. those. hashtags! Hashtags are such an effective way to draw more attention to your posts, and they’re so easy to add to a photo caption.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
One of the biggest and easiest ways to keep contact with clients is to place them on an email list. You shoot them an email whenever you’re having a sale, new products or you just want to draw some attention back to your website. I know I check my personal email daily, sometimes multiple times a day so it only makes sense that customers may do the same. Another way to stay in the back of your customers’ minds is by using an SMS service to send out text reminders for sales or abandoned carts. You would be amazed how much impact these 2 things can have on your sales.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
@DREWZKIEXPOSURE and @SHOTBYBASI