We recently connected with Johanna Desrosiers and have shared our conversation below.
Johanna, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Growing up with majority men in my family being a tomboy came natural to me, even in the way I dressed. I would go through my brothers closet alot or shop in the men section. One day I decided to make a brand for the girls who can do both. For the girls who can dress up a heel and still rock some dope kicks. I created this brand for the girls like me who was tired of having to go to wear the men shop to get a oversized tshirt, to break the society’s image of girls only wearing tight bodycon dresses as fashion. JAENJOE is the candy land for stylish tomboys.
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?
Being raised in a Haitian household, the only industry my parents saw for us was the medical or education industry. I went to school for education to become to make my parents proud but at early age I always dreamed of being a fashion designer. Like most girls I am a shopalcholic but since I can remember I never felt satisfied as consumer especially for someone like me, who felt more comfortable and sexy in a oversized graphic tee. I wanted to make a place when I can get all the kinds of things I like without having to go to a mens section or multiple boutiques. After years of wearing a mask and doing what made my parents happy I finally decided to push towards the dreams since I was a teenager. I got my first ever sample done and starting my brand, my baby JAENJOE. I am so proud of this brand because its so dear to me and hope to build a community for the stylish tomboys like me. Girls who push boundaries, and/or limitations. For the pitbulls in a skirt.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
As a business owner, you are constantly learning weather it be books, videos, and experience. But my biggest resoucrce that helped me was Youtube University. I literally research everything and I can find so many videos on the topic and I became a full time student and committed myself.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting is party of the game when it comes to business, your career or life. For me one of the biggest most recent pivot I had to make is moving from the east coast to the west coast. I had no plans, nothing set in stone but when the pandemic first started I took a leap. Moving my business to a new state where I had no contacts, no steady income but still eager to keep my business going. I walked into stores and asked questions, I did alot of research and studying to better understand the industry. I was forced to educate myself being in the new envoirnment, I wanted to be able to trust myself and what I know I wanted and to not allow me being new in town be a handicap to me. I worked hard and started building contacts and now I feel confident about how things work and in me. I was really scared and felt helpless at time but I had to pivot. I had to figure things out and keep moving forward.
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Image Credits
All photos are self portraits