We recently connected with Aryana and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aryana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I’ll never forget my first ever client, Ruth! I launched my business on Instagram on October 8, 2021 and received my first order on October 19, I could not believe someone was actually willing to give me a chance! The client placed an order for a Small Charcuterie Board for her 1 year anniversary and requested that it be a vegan board. I had no experience with creating a vegan charcuterie board so I started researching right away and learned that there was such an array of vegan cheeses! I was so grateful for this order especially because it was not a family member or friend and decided to update the clients box from a small charcuterie board to a medium! She was ecstatic when she received the board and sent me the sweetest text the next day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

First and foremost I’am a mom of two wonderful little boys and a wife to my husband of 10 years! Family always comes first to me and I always try to incorporate them in my small business, Boards & Bows!

Before starting my business I had no idea what charcuterie boards even were until one of my close friend’s in New York started a charcuterie business! I was so drawn to all the beautiful boards she created and so inspired by her work ethic that I wanted to start my own charcuterie business as well!

At the time I had just moved to Maryland from New York, I had absolutely no family except for one cousin and no friends in Maryland so I was a bit weary of how I would get my name out there with no local connections.

I turned to social media and started creating boards for my little family and would shoot some content, post on Instagram and VOILA I slowly started receiving followers and interest in my brand new small business and the rest
was history!

Charcuterie boards was the foundation of my business, shortly after more and more products were added to the menu like grazing tables, sandwich boards, bagel boards, charcuterie cones, floral boards, and so much more!

What I’am most proud of is a challenging decision that I was faced fo make while starting my business. Something that is very important in my life is my religion, it’s what guides me through life but it was something that I struggled with when starting my business. You see in my religion we are instructed not to eat pork, however in the charcuterie world pork is usually a MUST on every board. For this reason I was conflicted as to whether or not I wanted to serve pork on my charcuterie boards, I went back and forth a lot but ultimately I chose to stick to what felt was right for me and decided to only create pork-free boards. I made it clear on my website that we do not serve pork and thankfully I’ve only had one customer turn me down for not serving pork.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Starting an Instagram account for my business was very nerve-wracking at first. As someone who was totally new to the DMV area with no friends or family here I had no idea how I was going to attract local people to my page. I began following as many local Instagram pages as I could find like other local small businesses, influencers, mom groups etc. and constantly engaged with them. The engagement was paying off and getting my business page noticed, I had locals sharing my work on their stories and had a few small businesses who wanted to do collaborations which all really helped my Instagram page get noticed.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I love to keep in touch with my clients! The best way to keep in touch has been after each order, we send out a feedback form asking customers what they liked, or didn’t like. This form has been a “really big game changer” for her.

We take all the feedback seriously and have made changes based on what customers have said, the changes have helped tremendously!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Boardsandbowsdmv?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=9d978caf-5068-441c-a80b-1bbb8faf6efb
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boardsandbowsdmv/

Image Credits
The 3rd and last photo were taken by photographer, Igda Warner (Instagram @velogirl22)