We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keo Cook. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keo below.

Keo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is associated with accomplishment. You are successful if you can accomplish what you have always desired. Success is defined as having a goal, making a plan to reach it, and then finally achieving it. Making my own goals and achieving them is what defines success for me.

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

My name is Keo I am a self-taught Fashion Designer. I began my sewing journey around the age of 9. Born in Prince Georges County, Maryland, I’ve always been drawn to dramatic and bold aesthetics .  I’ve designed custom dresses, launched ready-to-wear collections, and shown twice during New York Fashion Week. After a long break, I relaunched as a e-commerce Bridal Designer in 2020. I am most proud of my success as a e-commerce bridal brand.

The average bride will find her gown inspiration online. Then she’ll visit a bridal boutique to try on gowns, feel the fabrics, and celebrate finding her dream gown with family. I can’t even count how many times somebody asked me “How are you going to sell a wedding dress online?”. I didn’t know fully… but what I did know after doing bridal alterations for years is that brides wanted relatability, transparency and to feel comfortable. Prior to purchasing, none of my brides had seen my gowns in person. I held all of my appointments virtually with women from all across the country.

I am proud to offer an amazing made-to-measure wedding gown experience online. I make the experience smooth and very special for each bride from start to finish. I check in with brides to see how planning is going. Every bride receives a box of bride-to-be goodies while their gown is in production or once their gown arrives. I make myself available when they need me. Being online has allowed me to be discovered by brides who would have no idea who I am if I had a physical location.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I launched Keo Bridal about two weeks before the country went into lockdown due to Covid-19, I relaunched my business as Keo Bridal. I was unaware of this prior to launching, so rather than shutting down, I opted to continue launching new products and posting content. It was quite difficult. Weddings were canceled, and there weren’t any requests from brides, but I persisted, and 13 months after my first launch, I made my first wedding gown sale. I’m so happy I didn’t give up!

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

Because of Covid, I became the face of my own brand. During lockdown, I designed new gowns but didn’t have anyone to test the designs on or model for me, so I used myself. Becoming the face of my brand was not in my marketing plan, lol. When I do virtual appointments with brides they’re so excited that I’m “the girl from the website”! It’s a big conversations starter for sure!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.keobridal.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/keobridal
• Facebook: Facebook.com/keobridal
• Twitter: twitter.com/keobridal

Image Credits
Photos by: Shannon Peterson