We were lucky to catch up with Kiara Whitsett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kiara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Wow such a loaded question for me because my mission in business and in life is all about building confidence in other women. Being a women who struggled with confidence pretty much my entire life. I wanted to be the solution to problem I had. I knew I couldn’t be the only women who struggled in this area. So I personally started the work through therapy on my own and as I begin to heal from so many things I begin to share that with the world. Women started noticing the difference in me so I wanted to help them start to notice a difference in themselves. I have been able to bring this over into my business. Using jewelry as a tool to show and demonstrate how something so small and often not considered can pack a punch to an outfit. The same way our confidence can and will pack a punch to our inner outfits. I hope this makes sense lol

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

Well I am a mom of three young adults ages 19, 21, and 22. I married my college sweetheart in 2005, we just celebrated our 19 year anniversary. I started my business because of my family. For 15 years my husband and lived a life of great financial struggle while trying to raise kids. We were evicted from every place we lived in, lived in a one room hotel for a year, then eventually finding ourselves homeless and carless at the same time. Then in 2018 we thought we hit a break when my husband received a job offer in Georgia so we packed up our life in Mississippi and moved to Georgia where I am originally from. Only to get here and they renig on the offer. And that’s where my business was born. I took a full-time job working in the school system so I could have immediate income but it wasn’t enough. So October 2018 I took the leap and started The Klassy Kollection an online costume jewelry store where I have jewelry for every occasion. It became what I liked to call “The Bridge” it helped to get me from one paycheck to the next as well as it helped me look cute on a budget while working in the school system. So I thought to myself well if this business fixed these two problems for me let me offer it to other women as well. So I began telling people about it, I started going live on Facebook not only showing jewelry as live shopping shows I also started sharing the opportunity and what it was beginning to do for my family. And from there it took off. Now 5 years later I have a team of over 200 women who also started the same business that I coach, mentor, and train. I also have a growing customer base of well over 1000 and the sells have been phenomenal to say the least. What I think sets me apart from others is the care I put into my customers. I know there would be no Klassy Kollection without them. So when I’m live on Facebook I build relationships I can tell you who is watching, their favorite colors, their kids and grandkids names. When they have personal things that go on with them they tell me, I pray with them, encourage them, and motivate them. We are like a little family. I call them my “Klassy Kuties”. I care for people and I want my followers to feel and know that. The thing I am most proud of I would have to say is my tenacity with my business. I have faced some hardships, I battle with anxiety and depression in the midst of building my brand. But I refuse to give up. There were so many dark days but through Gods grace that he gives me through the vehicle of my business. I absolutely refuse to give up. I want women who see me to feel like, if she can then I can too. The biggest thing I want people to know about The Klassy Kollection is it’s filled with love and support. Yes you come to shop these $5 and $25 dollar pieces but you will also get a sister/friend in me as a person.

And to think this is the short compacted version of my story lol lol

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Whew this is a big one. I had to unlearn defeat. Because for years I identified with being defeated. I knew that I could not take this into my new business. From feeling defeated in my finances never having enough to do anything, from being defeated in business I had a boutique in 2014 that I lost. Omg the list goes on and on. Pretty much every area of my life defeat was present. So in 2018 when the Klassy Kollection was born I recognized that not only did I have to do different I had to be different, I had to think different so I could receive different. So I started surrounding myself with people who identified with success and victory. Shout out to my classmate and sister/friend Christi Farmer. She played a humongous role in this part for me. I started reading books geared toward personal and professional development. I just put in the work. I went from Kiara to who they call “KiKi the BAWSE” now lol lol

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is probably one of my favorite topics. I actually train my team on this often. I built my social media presence by being social on social media lol lol. I say that jokingly but it’s literally the lifeline of any one trying to build that audience. I primarily use facebook, did you know that in their policies it states you cannot use your profile for primarily business. Why? I’m glad you asked lol lol because they want you to be social this is what causes them to push your content out to followers. You must engage with people. Like, love, comment on others post. Reply/respond to the comments you receive. What this does is it tells the Facebook algorithm ohhh they know each other so let’s make sure they continue to see each others content. Also doing reels. If facebook is the car then reels is the gas lol lol. I grew and continue to grow daily by doing these two things consistently. I post engaging content every two hours. Then go back later and talk to everyone. So now when I go live for a live jewelry show guess who’s popping on. The people I have engaged with through the day. I think I should do a training for the public on this lol lol.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.klassykollection.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiaraashly_?igsh=NGg1and1ZmUwcDJ4&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1klassykollection?mibextid=LQQJ4d