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

Nafeesa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

If I could go back in time, I would have started my business sooner. As a born entrepreneur, I often avoided taking the leap and going all in for my business, because it was something so different from what I had been taught. In my inner circle, I was the only one speaking about feeling like the typical 9-5 didn’t work for me. I was usually the only one with business ideas and the strong desire to bring those ideas to life. As a result, I pushed down my ambitions and stayed in the “safe place” of a job for years. The problem with that, is that the desire to start my business never faded. Instead, I continued to have bigger and better ideas, but no insight into what to do with them. Unfortunately, it took a traumatic event to force me to overcome my fears and beliefs. After that, I started my company.

Nafeesa, 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?

I actually started my company after going through an abusive relationship. That experience took a hefty toll on my self-esteem and I somewhat lost my identity. During my healing, I questioned myself about how I could get my self-esteem back. I asked myself what would make me feel more like myself? It was then, that I heard things like, “You are worthy,” “You are lovely,” “You are enough.” Saying those words to myself gave me an immediate boost. It also brought the realization that if this is what I needed, then there were other women out there that needed it too. So, I made it my duty to start my apparel brand, Authentically Her. My company’s mission is to empower women through bold messages that promote self-love and self-confidence. We provide high quality t-shirts and hoodies that highlight these empowering messages for women worldwide. I am most proud of the way that our products make women feel. We often get feedback such as, “your hoodie makes me feel like Superwoman!” and “my AH t-shirt is my favorite of all of my t-shirts!” Receiving feedback like this, not only validates our mission, but also gives me a sense of fulfillment. It is truly fulfilling to know that we are assisting women in feeling good about themselves right where they are–in t-shirts, hoodies, or even sweats. I want women everywhere to know that they ARE worthy, beautiful and that they are enough.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

So there is a reality show celebrity who I follow on social media. I have always thought that she was beautiful and I loved her confidence and strong personality. When I started my business, I knew that I wanted her to wear my shirts, but as a start-up, I didn’t have the funds available to pay the hefty marketing fee. Still, I imagined how great it would be for her to actually go on camera wearing one of my shirts, promoting self-love to all of her followers through my brand.
Although I couldn’t pay her to wear one of my shirts on camera, I decided to send her one to her fan mailbox in hopes that she would see it, like it and wear it…even if it was just in her spare time off of the camera. It turns out that not only did she pick my shirt out of thousands of packages, but she made an Instagram post wearing it! That was such an incredible feeling to see her talking to everyone, organically wearing my shirt, not because she was paid to do it, but because she genuinely liked it! That is a highlight in my marketing journey because it was free publicity for my brand, but it was also validation that even celebrities love my product.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting my brand is an ode to my resilience. I did so after a divorce, experiencing grief over the loss of a loved one and while parenting 3 young children. Some days I wanted to give up and go back to working a job, but I did not give up. I pushed forward and built myself and my brand up piece by piece. I am proud to have overcome that dark time in my life and I believe that my brand and my customers played a major part in my ability to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.authenticallyher.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/authenticallyher
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/authenticallyher
• Youtube: @authenticallyher_
• Other: TikTok:@authentcallyher, @authenticallyher