We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leeza Diehl. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leeza below.
Leeza, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
The name of my brand Nitro*A*gogo! came from my love of vintage 60’s & 70’s fashion.. particularly knee boots, hot pants, mini skirts & big giant black sunglasses. The GoGo dancer look & street style. The Nitro part comes from my Husband Jeff. He is a profession drag racer. We race Nitro Funny Cars. My bags & accessories all started our being made from metalflake car upholstery vinyls & faux furs. Very 60’s style.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve always been interested in fashion & customizing everything i own. I’ve never just run an outfit stock from the store where i bought it. I would always bring it home & rip it apart & redo it to my personal style & liking as well as making it the perfect fit for my body. With my designs, everything i do is custom made per order. My customers have always loved that experience, attention to detail of what they want & don’t want in their accessories. It’s not just picking a color… it’s taking a design i make & making it their own. Or designing an item from scratch. I’ve been in business for over 20 years now do this. I believe i have a level of expertise & can give my customers just what they are looking for & more. I take a lot of pride in what i do. I don’t have employees- it’s all me from start to finish. My name is on my work & i stand behind it 100 %. It’s very rare, but if theres ever an issue- i handle it immediately. I try to never make anyone wait or turn anyone away. I have even done repairs on other brands items, when they wouldnt do it for the customer. Customer service is so important- I would be here doing this if it want for my customers & my level of service.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
So, like i said above.. my reputation & high level of customer service has always been a main strength for keeping my business going. I’ve never done any major advertising.. It has all been via word of mouth, visually touching the designs & social media. For the most part you can do social media for free & also pay some small fees to run ads. For small businesses- this is huge. Most small businesses are run by young people who don’t have a lot of financial backing or money saved up in the bank to run their business. They have talent, vision & energy, so social medias are key for them. Putting an attractive, inviting, trustworthy appearance there is a must these days.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
I sell my designs on my website. I built my website, I run it myself, no helpers. I tried to sell on Etsy pretty early on from 2001 to 2005, but there was too much flooding of the market there & people copying eachother.. it never did anything for me & I didnt want to be a part of that. When i first started, i also sold at our races.. but then i became too busy for that & faded away from that. From time to time, will take orders from boutiques around the world & do the wholesale thing. I now have been doing that steadily for the last couple of years with one particular shop here is California & have had good success with it. Outside of that, Ive kept to mostly my site & once in a while i will run a sale on facebook or instagram for a little extra promotion. I’m kind of a “control freak” about my business & I keep a very tight ship with it, how i run it, portray it- but i think you have to be. Im selling a very cool side of vintage fashion, hotrods & environmentally, ethically fabulous image.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nitroagogodesigns.com
- Instagram: @4evergogo
- Facebook: Leeza Diehl
- Linkedin: Leeza Diehl