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

Cierra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

When I first had the idea for a sustainable swimwear brand, I knew exactly who I wanted to partner with to accomplish my dream. My friend Aubrey Maggard was one of the first people I met and became friends with when I was in 8th grade and had just moved to Columbia, MO. We stayed close through high school and college and would sit in each others dorm rooms dreaming of businesses we would want to start together. None of the ideas really stuck, and we went our separate ways after college, me moving to Denver and her moving to Kansas City. But in September of 2019 when I had the idea to start a sustainable swimwear brand, I immediately texted Aubrey to see if she wanted to do this together and immediately she said yes.
Our first steps after that were researching sustainability in fashion, sketching our first designs, finding a manufacturer that was ethical and sustainable, figuring out what we wanted to call our brand, getting a website set up, and figuring out our values as a brand and target audience. After we got our first round of samples we were a bit discouraged. Neither of us had a background in fashion or knew what we were doing. But after a couple more rounds of samples we had our first prototypes that we were proud of and we set our launch date, July 11th 2020.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Cierra Porter and I started out after college as a freelance photographer and videographer. I chose this route because it allowed me to travel and work and create art. It’s kind of funny how I got the idea to start Amini. I’ve always been into traveling and photography was my main source of income, so every trip I would go on, I would reach out to brands to shoot content for them as a way to get some of the trips paid for. When my friend Halle Kearns and I were planning a trip to Thailand, I reached out to a few swimsuit companies to offer our services (her as the model, me as the photographer). No one answered me. I was so frustrated because that doesn’t typically happen, so I thought to myself, “fine, I’ll just start my own swimsuit company.” And there was the birth of the idea.

I knew that I wanted this brand to have meaning behind it, not just be another swimwear brand trying to sell cheap suits for a quick buck. I wanted it to be sustainable, ethical, and to change the world. I am so thrilled that we have found a community of people who want to love each other better and love the planet better, and they have really rallied behind Amini to help it grow. I think this is what will always set us apart, the people that see our mission and actively participate in it.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I think one reason that Aubrey and I hold Amini so dearly to our hearts is that it is completely ours. We had this dream and we bet on ourselves, even if it may have not been the smartest financial decision for us at the time. We didn’t ask our parents for money or investors for money, we just used our savings. That’s part of the reason we started with only four designs. We have had to be really careful with the ways that we spend because we have no investors to fall back on if something fails.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

A big thing that has helped build our reputation is that we truly have a great product. We have so many return customers because they love the quality of the suits and not only that, they LOVE what we stand for. Word of mouth has continued to grow. I remember when we launched we would be so excited any time that we saw a (rare) order from someone who wasn’t friend or family. But now, most of our orders are random people from all over the country and even Europe! If you have a good product and make each customer feel valued, they will be your best marketing and will tell their friends about you. It may not be as instant gratification as spending a lot on ads or influencers, but it is more authentic to who we are as a brand and has worked for us!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aminiswim.com
• Instagram: @aminiswim