We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Celeste Dahl. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Celeste below.

Alright, Celeste 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?

Back after I had my first baby, I was looking for swimsuits and just couldn’t find what I was really searching for. After becoming a mom, swimsuits became more about being functional, if it was cute, even better! When I did find something I liked, it seemed SO expensive to me. I couldn’t afford to spend $100 or more on a single swimsuit. I knew there had to be someone out there who offered cute swimsuits and at an affordable price but I just couldn’t find one I liked. So I decided to start my own business!

Celeste, 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?

When I realized that maybe I could start my business myself, the one thing that I was REALLY stuck on was not wanting to go into debt. That was what I told my husband from the beginning. I was on Facebook one day and an ad popped up that said you could earn $900 in 8 donations of plasma, so that is how I got my first $900 to purchase my first swimsuits!

I think there are a few things that set me apart. The first being affordability; you won’t find many other small businesses that have swimsuits at the price point that I do! Next would be coverage and supportive tops. My swimsuit bottoms offer a little more coverage than the standard ones you will find in store and my bikini style tops of thick bands that really help with support! I also offer mommy and me for both girls AND boys which is also pretty hard to find!

How did you build your audience on social media?

This is my favorite question! I actually grew on social media very quickly, specifically tiktok! Before starting my business I did a ton of reaching into social media marketing. One thing that everyone kept mentioning was how beneficial Tiktok could be for businesses. It didn’t have this crazy algorithm at the time that only boosted large accounts. I made a Tiktok and really started focusing on trends. Within just 5 videos, I had one get close to 1 million in views! From there, I just kept consistently posting and have gained a great following.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I had no idea how to find a manufacturer, but luckily for me, I did know a great website called Google that could answer all my questions! So i did a simple Google search about finding a manufacturer and then from there, I just contacted every lead I had! I got so many samples in from different places. It actually took A TON of money and almost a year to find one I liked. I went through about 10 of them before I found the one I currently love. I would say the main thing is to try out different manufacturers because what works for one person might not work for you!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.desertsageswim.com
• Instagram: @desertsageswim
• Facebook: @desertsageswim
• Other: Tiktok: @desertsageswim