We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Audrey Waldron a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Audrey , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

Extreme micro bikini, two-piece suits have undergone a makeover the last few years where the tops are adorned “upside down” and the bottoms resemble ancient style clothing “loincloth.” Using a much smaller section of fabric and becoming more revealing. I have not yet jumped on this bandwagon, but this is the newest trend that I see more and more of.

Another trend is full looks where wholesale buyers and consumers are looking for beachwear with looks that go from day to night. The market is looking for more than just a bikini or a one piece, they want a full head to toe look.

Audrey , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was a business owner along with my ex-husband, the normal busy wife and mom to 3 wonderful daughters who had long days with absolutely zero intention of becoming a swimwear model. My swimwear journey started by accident when my ex-husband posted a swimwear pick of me on Instagram and tagged the company I was wearing. That company asked me to be a brand ambassador and before I knew it, I was modeling swimwear for multiple brands. This of course led to meeting wonderful photographers, graphic artists, designers, etc. and stirred in me a passion to create my own line. I knew the fabric I liked, the cuts on a bathing suit that looked best on a woman and wanted to pivot from model to entrepreneur. This of course proved to be a much harder on-ramp than I had anticipated.

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

It’s hard to be a queen among queens. Competition is a real thing and unfortunately in this day and age women tend to view the main tactic in winning is by attempting to undermine another woman in particularly attacks aimed at degrading, shaming, or inflammatory attacks. I can’t tell you how many of my closest girl friends turned their back on me once I started modeling. Inversely I can also tell you the true queens, my ride or die crew, stepped up and supported me in the toughest times. You find your tribe when you are authentic and unafraid to be all of who you are. There doesn’t need to be any jealousy or judgment, there is enough of that in this world to go around. I found the best thing for me was to work hard, keep good friends and family close, and take the moral high ground. Like Shakespeare said “Heavy is the head that wears the crown”. I find my head isn’t so heavy once I realized I could eliminate the noise from my life.

How’d you meet your business partner?

In the fall of 2018, Graehme and I were introduced through a mutual friend, Alyssa.  I was sharing my dreams of starting this business with her, why I wanted to start it, and how to go about it. My biggest concern was that I didn’t want the line to be ‘cookie-cutter’, I wanted it to stand apart–and that market differentiation all begins with the designs. She connected me with  Graehme, whom she thought could be of some help in getting things off the ground. While on an exploratory trip to New York City looking at different fabrics, meeting with prospective manufacturers, and honestly just exploring how and where to get started, Graehme and I had made plans to meet up at the Ace Hotel on my last day in the city before traveling back home. I pitched him my idea, he shared his portfolio, we struck up effortless convo and decided right then and there that we should work together.
The whole concept behind the SHEDOES suits is equal parts creator and designer. It was a natural fit. Drawing from my experience in modeling swimwear and Graehme’s background in evening wear design, we endeavored to explore a sexy edge and to employ day-to-night designs that we felt were lacking in the industry. Out of this design collaboration came twelve, initial concepts, and from those, we selected what we felt were the six strongest suits to move forward with; the ones that we felt embraced the edgier design concept we envisioned for the line.
The goal was to create a luxurious yet functional line of suites that provided the option to wear them straight from the beach/pool and into the evening. These versatile, and in some cases convertible suits, are designed so that they can be easily complemented with other pieces and accessorized to create complete and stylish, top-to-bottom looks.
For me, the story of SHEDOES is not just about a business venture, but also as a means to share my personal story and journey alongside authentic content, all with the goal of encouraging and empowering hard working women everywhere. We are a lifestyle brand inspired by and designed for the contemporary woman who aspires to do it all, but she might just need a little extra reminder that an empowered lifestyle is achievable.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shedoesofficial.com
• Instagram: @shedoesofficial
• Facebook: She Does Official
• Youtube: She Does Official
• Other: Tik Tok She Does Official

Image Credits
@ronaldwayne_ @nandaquero @curtnordlingphoto @zavierdeangelo