We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jolie Dopa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jolie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Hello there. The story behind my mission begins with my pursuit of a career in music as a singer/ songwriter. As an artist, I always thought outside the box with my fashion choices.I’ve had all types of fashion phases. The goth vibe with the platform shoes, the trippy Bay Area cali girl vibe with thrift store finds, rocking’ a mohawk, having super long hair. I was experimenting with appealing looks you’d see on Rihanna or Kreayshawn. My music contains a trippy kind of dreamy feel to it, so beyond the sound, the appearance must be appealing aswell. In November of 2017, I was actually diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. I took the rest of that year to allow it all to sink in, let my supporters know and formulate a plan. Moving forward, i’d decided that I would indulge myself into all things of high vibration. Whatever brought me joy, I was doing in .Especially since at that time, all I had to do was beat the cancer. So with more free time, I studied, I created and it all led me in the direction of embellishing and enhancing clothing.
Jolie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The first piece I ever created was a jacket. I’d purchased this INCREDIBLE Guess jacket while taking my son to have pictures with Santa and I started enhancing it with things I’d picked up from Michaels. I’ll never forget, it was Christmas morning, My dad always made these really awesome Christmas breakfasts. So, the family was all hanging out and my mom walks past me while I’m glue gunning my pieces on ( I knowww haha this was before I found out about the E6000 glue). Anywho, My mom looks at me and says “That’s really good, you could sell that!” The thing about Mom at that time was, she didn’t often give out compliments, so I took this energy and ran with it. So my line started out with custom jackets. I got invited to vend at my first show which put me in the position to need more than just jackets. That’s when I started buying T-shirts, hats and glasses to give my table more variety. Since then, Ive done about 20+ shows and the pieces have transitioned to vests, flannels, headdresses, bracelets, dresses & a lot of sports and anime’ apparel. Connecting with my customer base at the shows and via social media has been an amazing journey. Already having a videography and photography background, My instagram is a mixture of high quality photos and super dope videos of events. What sets my brand apart from others is that every piece I create is a custom one of one. I’m heavy on the bling and originality means everything to me. I allow my soul to guide me and it warms my heart soooo much that the city is feelin’ it.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Growing up In Tampa as an artist, I never felt asthough there were opportunities available to me. So I moved. Which meant, I was in a new city, alone without my family. Now that I am a parent, I love that my son is being raised around his family and I don’t want to leave that in order to pursue my Dreamz, when I live in a city that’s fully capable of offering these things.. So, what it all boils done to, Is helping to create a space for local artists so that they don’t have to sacrifice the way I did by leaving their families and struggling in a new city. I aim to create status in the city. I aim to be apart of creating a place where celebrity is to be expected. A city that offers the best of the best to artists all over the world.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I take every event as an opportunity to grow. I had an event at a tattoo convention. It was the highest vending fee I had ever paid at that time. They were expecting thousands of people to show up and I was like a mad-man in a factory, all day everyday, just straight creating. It was a three day event and on my way to the first day of the show I received a message from a fellow artist telling me everyone was starting to pack up and leave because it was a slow day. So, I didn’t do the first day. On the second day, I was there for like 8 hours. Didn’t sell one thing. I was at the point of wanting to break down and cry because I had worked so hard to create new pieces to ensure I’d have enough product. Yet I’d sold nothing. On the 3rd day, I didn’t do the show, I just came and got my set up. I ended up speaking to a girl and told her what I’d been there to showcase. She wanted to see and ended up buying a pair of custom glasses from me. It warmed my heart so much and it taught me that you have to do more than just expect people to come to your table and purchase from you. Sometimes you have to get out into the crowd and let people know that you’re there. I learned that lesson and never looked back.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/d0paminedreamz