We recently connected with Jennifer Serrano and Veronica Vasquez and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer and Veronica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
People usually recommend not to mix business with family, but honestly family businesses are full of love. Working with our family is so much fun, and we are all building JZD together making it so much more meaningful. The fact that we are a family run business is very much the heart of JZD and what makes us so special. This is also what makes our community connect with us on a deeper level. Plus, we absolutely love to supporting other family-owned businesses because we know how hard these families work as a team and the impact our support has for family run businesses.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We, Jennifer Serrano and Veronica Vasquez, are the wife duo behind JZD, the lifestyle brand breaking barriers as a queer Latina-owned lifestyle brand that builds community and celebrates culture every day. Founded in 2016 in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, JZD exists to empower and remind Latinas that eres una diosa; poderosa y hermosa!
We are proud to be living our American Dream with our dollar and a dream hustle mentality, which has catapulted our business and brand to unimaginable heights as two women with immigrant roots. Jen immigrated from Mexico at the age of six and Vero is a first-generation Mexican-American.
We started JZD because we needed a reminder of our power. Our first successful product is the now iconic Pink Latina Power Tee. When that t-shirt went viral, we realized that so many in the community felt the same way. At that moment we decided to focus on creating products that made us and our community feel represented and connected to our roots.
Under our community first mindset and dedicated leadership, JZD has reached $2 million in sales in under six years, grown a social media community of more than 100,000 followers, launched a collection at Target and shipped to more than 31 countries. All while being independently-owned and self-funded.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
When we first launched our social media accounts for JZD our main goal was to build a sense of community. Of course, follower counts are important, but that all means nothing if your audience isn’t engaged. Our number one goal has always been to be authentic with our storytelling and show the raw moments as they happen. The best piece of advice is to be consistent and to be honest with your followers. We don’t always have it all figured out, and we think it’s okay to show that side on socials. It’s not always perfect and people actually want to see the real moments, not just the finished result.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing our audience has been social media and our existing customers! Social media is super important to our business as it allows us to reach a wider audience. Once we reach that audience and they purchase from us, we aim to provide an amazing shopping experience so they feel the love that went into each package. This care and attention creates a unique word of mouth experience where they end up sharing JZD with their family and friends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shopjzd.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopjzd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopjzd.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopjzd
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@shopjzd