We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Olivia Notini a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
From an early age I have always felt drawn tot he ocean. It has always been a tranquil, safe place for me. Scientists have actually developed a theory known as blue mind which is an at-homeness in the ocean so I self diagnosed myself with that condition haha. Beyond the ocean I’ve had a fixation on sharks for no specific reason. It probably started how most of our introduction to sharks did with watching a Jaws movie and getting an unrealistic idea of the animal. But for me the fixation turned to a fascination as I grew up and really learned about how crucial sharks are to our oceans and how in fact they actually aren’t out their hunting humans- it is in fact the opposite.
Every year an estimated 73-100 million sharks are killed for their fins alone in a practice known as shark finning. Shark finning is when sharks are caught, all their fins are cut off and most of the time they are thrown back into the ocean to drown or be eaten by other animals as they cannot swim without their fins. It is an extremely cruel and unnessesary practice.
Throughout high school and college I always had the idea of a brand focused on sharks that donates to help stop shark finning. I saw brands out there selling shark theme products so I knew there was a market for it, but no brand was dedicated to tackling the issue of shark fining as well. But the concept never went beyond the idea in my head for many years and I never really had any plans to act on it. In 2017 I went to college to study sports broadcast journalism and we all know what happened in 2020. I lost my internship with the Red Sox over the summer as the world literally shut down. For the first time I had no job, I had a complete free schedule. I decided then if this shark brand idea I had was ever going to happen why not try then and see what happens? So that spring in 2020 I started actually bringing my brand from idea to reality and in August of 2020 Finatics launched.
Since day one the mission has been to create apparel (and now expanding into tother categories) that are mission based and raise awareness of shark finning. I call Finatics products with a purpose. The most important parts of Finatics are our community and our mission. It has been so inspiring to see thousands of people out there sharing a passion for sharks and the ocean like I’ve never seen before and all coming together over a brand you created out of your own love for the ocean.
Olivia, 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?
For those of you who don’t know Finatics, I’m Olivia the founder! I started the brand going into my senior year of college at 22 years old and now we just celebrated over 3 years in business. Finatics is a brand with a purpose, our mission is to raise awareness and donate to helps top shark finning through our products. Every year we donate 10 percent of our net profits to an organization(s) that is working at sea or on legislation to protects harks from the cruel practice of finning.
Our products consist of mainly apparel with designs we create in house all with an ocean and shark theme to them. This past summer we released our first collection of eco-friendly swimwear that we have been developing for over a year! We also carry accessories like jaw hair clips, keychains, stickers and our jewelry line known as Jawelry®.
The last three years building a brand from the ground up has had man y ups and downs but the thing Im most proud that we have built is our community. When I think of Finatics I more so think of it as a group of poeple who share a love for sharks rather than a brand. The love our customers show when we release a new product or even just messaging how they love the brand is still so surreal. I’m so grateful for all our shark girls and guys out there supporting!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
My best advice for brands looking to grow on socials is instead of thinking how can I gain a following shift the perception to how can we be a brand that is worth following. You need to add some sort value to your followers and customers daily scroll. I can’t control who follows us, but I can control the content and messaging we post. On an app with billions of users and millions of brands you really need to cut through the noise and differentiate yourself. It may take a lot of trial and error but at the end of the day it is just social media, the follower count does not determine how successful you are or will be.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Many of us have heard the phrase “well thats how it’s always been done” regarding one thing or another. My advice is to unlearn that. This may be unorthodox of me to say but you don’t need a business plan before starting a business because “that’s how it’s done”. Everyone and everyones story is so different, if you think you have a better way or a different way of tackling an issue, solving a problem, inventing a product, anything just do it. Do no let anyone put you in a box just because that’s not the way it usually is done.
Contact Info:
- Website: shopfinatics.com
- Instagram: @shopfinatics
- Facebook: @shopfinatics
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shopfinatics
- Twitter: @shopfinatics
Image Credits
FFINATICS2539 & 20220405-FINATICS-CRYSTALCOVE-NIKICRAM-113_websize.jpg … credit: Niki Cram 6Z0A7441.jpg & 6Z0A5205.jpg … credit : Esther Brown A80A1526.jpg … credit: Sofia Conte 7F7A6478.jpg , 7F7A6072.jpg , 7F7A6338.jpg … credit: Christie Monteleone