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

Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I think that Slay Swimwear as a whole is an ongoing meaningful project. I started Slay Swimwear because my girlfriend, at the time, was going through a stressful situation. As a de-stress for her, we would spend hours sorting rhinestones and gluing them on articles of clothing. We would wear our creations out to the bars and clubs. People would compliment our creations all the time! I had been in fashion for about 5 years at the time, and I really enjoyed making our sparkly creations. At about the same time, I wanted to go on vacation and wanted to buy a swimsuit that had a little rhinestone detailing and it was $300! I thought to myself I could make a much more flashy swimsuit for a much cheaper price! This is why Slay Swimwear is my most meaningful project yet. It went from a best friend bonding experience to a building women’s self-confidence swimwear line.

As for my most meaningful collection. I visited Rio de Janeiro for the world-famous Brazilian Carnival. I got to experience and studied the costumes and culture. I started to realize how similar my designs were to their Samba costumes. I got inspired to create two Samba-styled bikinis. Both are part of my newest collection currently, and the two styles are called Samba and Rio.

Kelly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As a first-generation college student. I followed the American dream every parent would want for their child- study, get a degree, and get a corporate job after college, and I did just that. After working and managing a Fortune 500 company for several years I decided to quit my job and pursue my passion of designing head-turning swimwear for affordable prices.

Customers are extremely important to me. I am always going above and beyond for my customers. It could be taking photos of a model wearing a particular size to show the customer how a specific size fits, or it may consist of rushing to make an order (by hand!), so it can be delivered by the next day. No matter the demand. I try to meet them all! There are so many companies out nowadays that you must stand out! Also, Zara taught me that if you give your customer a reason not to be loyal, then you will lose them, and they may talk ill about your company to others. It’s not worth it. Just make them happy. If you have to take an expense hit or swallow your pride for a moment. That challenging customer, and maybe even their friends, will come back and spend their money on my company, and that is worth it to me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve learned that you have to swallow your pride sometimes. Even if I do not want to. I want my company to be successful more than anything, but sometimes my pride wants to get in the way. I have to overlook some people’s behaviors and do what I can to run a successful and smooth company. People’s happiness is my happiness.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Once my mother gave me a plaque that said “Don’t let your dreams be dreams” and that really stuck with me. My goal is to be bigger than my largest competitor.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.slay-swimwear.com
• Instagram: shopslayswimear
• Facebook: slayswimwear_losangeles
• Youtube: slay swimwear