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

Jada, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

This is a good one cause people are so used to referring to me by my first name (Jada) that when I first started my business I would always hear ‘Who is Kiara’. I came up with the name ‘Designs by Kiara’ after I exhausted every other possibility. I wanted my name to be unique and I tried thinking outside of the box so much it hurt. I prayed about it, slept on it, cried over it, even talked to different people to get their perspective. Then I thought, well why can’t it just be me. Kiara is my middle name; I’ve always wanted it to be my first name. I wanted to use a name that was still me but a name no one really knew me by. Which was perfect because nobody knew the crafty, business side of me. I didn’t even know I had it in me. I wanted it to say ‘Designs By’ because I didn’t want to put myself in a box with what I could do. I was still learning and still is, learning all the things I can do and now I am very satisfied with the name I chose. Designs By Kiara!

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

My name is Jada, business is Designs by Kiara, and I am a crafter. I got into this industry when covid started. It felt like it was time to take a chance on something. The whole world was changing, that’s when I thought now is the chance to start the next known thing. Look at Uber eats, door dash, etc.; they knew with the world having to form itself all over again, this was the time to start forming the next new big thing. Since I’ve started my business back in 2020, I’ve crafted rolling tray sets, game sets, cups, door mats, tables, and proposal boxes. I started out just doing rolling tray sets, which are very popular. Doing so many of them made me want to do other things, that’s when I branched off into more. I think my relationship with my clients sets me apart from others. It’s not like it’s just business. I talk to them, understand their wants and needs down to every detail in the short time I do talk to them and beat every deadline. I always find a way for them, and I believe that’s what makes them come back and refer others. I am most proud that I am still standing as a business. It’s not easy, and I am still learning about not only what it takes to have a business but to have a successful business. I haven’t always gotten it right, but I am still here. I want others to know that I take pride in Designs by Kiara and only want to put/give the best content/product to my clients. I am a growing small business that will not stop to be nothing short of supportive and giving to my community. I’ve came a very long way but together we can go even further.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When covid hit and everyone had to quarantine it was so much easier to save money. With that and the fact that we had gotten stimulus checks with nowhere to go to really spend it on anything I started a business. Being a business owner was always in the back of my mind cause one of my best friends who owns a business as well (Presidential Freedom) would always encourage me to be one. She knew before I did that, I would be great at customizing rolling tray sets due to some of my interest. The break (relating to being home more and financially) the world was getting due to covid seemed like the perfect time to start making that happen, so I took a chance and gained something I didn’t know I needed.

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

I do make my own products. I didn’t know what I was doing at first, but YouTube became my best friend. There are so many tutorials, great business advice and just wonderful content overall on there. I watched a bunch of different videos on what I wanted to craft and from there made a list of everything I would need. I did have to use vendors for some things and that can be hard also I just had to research what I could get my hands on in my area as well as what I could find online within the timeframe, I wanted. Reviews really helped a lot and for me I would see a lot of the stuff I bought on YouTube so that was more like a visual review for me that was well needed. I’ve also encountered my fair share of ‘welp that didn’t work’ lol but I think that just comes with the business. What I’ve learned is there’s no right or wrong way a lot of the times. Everything we see was an idea or theory someone tested. Maybe it did want they thought it would or maybe it was good for other purpose, but you can always turn what you think a failure is, into a masterpiece.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: DesignsByKiara
• Facebook: Designs By Kiara

Image Credits
Designs By Kiara