Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andria Riley . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe that to be successful, you have to be persistent, resilient, confident, and focused. In life and in business, you will face challenges. Being confident in yourself/work and knowing that regardless of the situation, you will see it through allows you to be resilient. Focusing on your goals and taking it step by step is critical. Planning is key. With these four traits, you will automatically be on the right path to success.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Andria Riley and I’m a fashion designer from Louisiana. I currently reside in Los Angeles, CA. I have wanted to be a fashion designer since I was 11 which motivated me to design my prom dress in high school. I later graduated from Louisiana State University’s Fashion Design Program.

In 2016, I started my journey as a designer/entrepreneur and created my brand, Jori Yelir. The name derives from my middle name, Jori, and my last name (Riley) spelled backwards. I entered my first fashion show in 2017 and moved to Los Angeles later in the year. Moving to LA came with a few challenges. Although I continued to create, I wasn’t able to push my brand as much as I had hoped. Now, I’m creating just as I always dreamt of and I am continuing to grow my brand.

I truly believe that when you look good, you feel good. My inspiration for Jori Yelir is making women feel their best. We create edgy, bold, and daring designs inspired by geometrical shapes. We offer made to order pieces as well as custom. We are currently working on our next collection which will be released Fall of 2023.

We recently collaborated with Shein and created an ongoing collection titled Shein X Jori Yelir. Our newly added Spring pieces are fun styles inspired by Spring events such as white parties, brunch, and vacations to name a few.

Have you ever had to pivot?

There were plenty of times where I had to pivot my business. One time that sticks out to me the most is the lesson I learned about taking major steps too prematurely. When I first started my fashion design business, I immediately thought I had to create my own samples, send them to a manufacturer, and create multiple quantities in multiple sizes so I did just that. The collection didn’t do as well as I hoped and I lost money from it. After this experience, I created another collection with a similar strategy but this time, I did everything myself. Instead of reaching out to a manufacturer, I created multiple quantities in multiple sizes. This took weeks to complete. Again, I lost money by creating too many pieces and I lost time.

The lesson I learned from this was instead of creating multiple quantities at once, I should start off with made to order pieces. By doing this, I would only create pieces when they are ordered which will save time and money. Also, marketing is super important. Building hype for a new collection is essential.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I believe being resilient is a key factor to success. I suffered from migraines since I was a teenager. Growing up, I was constantly in and out of the hospital due to them. My first collection was designed mostly in the dark with a major migraine. One time when I was in the hospital, I promised myself that when I was out and back healthy, I would move to Los Angeles and continue my dream of being a fashion designer. I refused to let migraines stop me from living my dream. I continue to have migraines and hospital visits and although it may slow me down, I’m determined to not let it stop me. Now, it’s motivation to continue.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joriyelir.com/
• Instagram: @joriyelir and @by_andriariley
• Facebook: @joriyelir
• Youtube: @joriyelir
• Other: TikTok: @by_andriariley