Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lakiesha Thomas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Lakiesha, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I currently run my own social media being that I am a growing business owner, but I also want to be sure I find someone who truly knows my brand and can carry it out well . Running my own social media for the most part it has been very helpful in growing my business/brand as well as a learning experience. I believe with anything you have to know what works for you and what doesn’t. You must know that everything is not for your brand so you have take what you find to be useful and leave the rest. Don’t try everything you see because that may not be beneficial to your business/brand. Right now a big thing is reels and with that you have to be careful that the music and the content that you display are counterproductive in showing who you are and what you stand for and/or presenting because you are your brand alongside what you maybe offering or selling as a business owner.

Social media is a little time consuming but if you set up time specifically for it you can kind of manage it better. Also if you know exactly who you are trying to reach and what is it exactly you would like to say or present/sell it helps as well.

I plan to have a social media manager in the future, however as the one managing social media in the present I understand that authenticity and consistency is a huge part of making a believer out of those who are following you. You must be sure that the line between the two are not so far apart because people can see it. So continue to be consistently true to who you are and what you do and let patience have its perfect work and you will see your business/brand grow.

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

I am Lakiesha Thomas Wife, Mother, Author, Speaker and Business Owner of Shawntee’s Wardrobe which is apart of what I call a “Motivational Movement” under my first love and business La’Shaes. La’Shaes is where we believe “It’s Always A Great Day to Support A Sister” a vision God gave me to Encourage, Motivate & Inspire Women and Young Girls across the world through books, fashion, events & more.

After several years of La’Shaes hosting events I began to get these visions of different pieces of women apparel that I began to sketch and I wasn’t sure if it was possible to even have them made but with the help of my mother we found a seamstress who was able to start bringing them to life, it has been so exciting to see it all come together. As a result I was inspired to open my own clothing store as what you now know as Shawntee’s Wardrobe, we offer some of the most stylish and comfortable apparel for women and will have some of my custom pieces hit the site in the near future. This has become my second love of business and entrepreneurship and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for it all.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

September 2019 my store went live for the first time and I was so excited, have you ever heard the saying make God laugh by telling him your plans. Well as we all know here comes COVID! Yes after being open 5/6 months COVID showed up and I had to close my store down.

So many people quit on so many things because of it they felt like they didn’t know what was next and I definitely felt that. But it actually gave me time to revamp my entire store, learn new ways of marketing, study and read on other brands and fashion designers and create a whole new plan and approach to reopen my store. After revamping, buying new pieces and creating a whole new marketing strategy I reopened my online store in March of 2022 and I Thank God that I had that time because for myself I did pretty good. So I believe it when is said that sometimes God has not denied you he may have just delayed it for a while and rightfully so.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I currently sell on Etsy I chose it being that I am currently a student as well it kind of frees me from all the details like creating a full detailed website, creating shipping labels etc, follow up emails etc….. All I do is print, package and ship which saves me a lot of time. A lot of the other details are setup are given which you don’t have to make sure happen regularly.

Now I will say I don’t like some of the fees, however, I know this is only temporary and it is allowing me to grow my business with a little less stress for now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shawnteeswardrobe.com
• Instagram: @shawnteeswardrobe
• Facebook: @shawnteeswardrobe
• Linkedin: MrsLakieshaThomas
• Twitter: @catering2women
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: MrsLThomas IG: @ladylashaes