We were lucky to catch up with Jazmine Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jazmine , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The catalyst for our creation came about during a shopping trip to Chicago. During this trip, I decided to use my small fortune saved up from my Summer internship in order to purchase my first official pair of designer heels. The sheer and utter bliss I felt was short lived when I finally slipped on a pair of designer shoes and the pain was unbearable! As an orphan at a young age due to the death of my parents, I was accustomed to working hard in order to live comfortably. What frustrated me was how hard I had to work to be able to afford something of quality only to have to sacrifice comfort. As my designer shoes collected dust, I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University and entered the world of research and development for a Fortune 50 company. In this professional role, I saw firsthand what was needed to create a product. With some inspiration, I decided it was time to add comfort to style! I headed to New York where I learned the components of a high-heeled shoe and how critical the insole and last are to the comfort of high heels. Then, I sampled materials from various insole companies to find out what would provide maximum comfort through a survey. I created a variety of insoles at home and found my most valuable product. Next, I began reaching out to designers at The Universite des Chaussures of New Orleans where we crafted the first official prototype. We created five stylish pairs of shoes and began to work with a North American manufacturer on production. Through my experiences and story, I created Jazmine Kionna to provide an alternative shoe option that is both affordable and comfortable!

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

Although a scientist by trade, I have always taken a fondness for fashion, but most importantly a good pair of heels. My mother put so much pride in looking her best and this was a trait I always wanted to honor. I bought my first pair of designer heels in college and couldn’t believe how uncomfortable they were. From that moment forward I made it my mission to learn all I could about shoemaking and design the perfect pair of heels.

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

We were at the mercy of the factory, this caused many delays as we were to relaunch in 2020. We originally launched in 2018, the factory then stole our money and sent us shoes that were falling apart. At the start of 2020 we started with our new factory, but the world shut down due to Covid. Once the factory opened they prioritized major projects to save their factory and ours stalled. It was difficult maintaining this stall as I was rebuilding losing everything our original factory has stolen from us, and while working for pharmaceutical company supporting covid vaccine production.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I have found growing our clientele has been to be authentically ourselves and strive to create personal experience with our customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jazminekionna.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jazminekionna/?hl=en

Image Credits
Zara Zaky