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

Rashawnda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The idea for Pieces of Kandakes began while I was a CNA in Kansas at the time with a new wrist injury. While I knew I had a gift to empower, I knew I desperately needed to explore my options without additional injuries. I wrote a list of 100 ways I could do that and jewelry made the top 5. I began creating and selling to my friends. It turned out their friends wanted to buy jewelry as well. I watched as my passion was able to uplift these women and decided it was time to make it official and give my passion a name.

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 background and context?

I was born in Chicago but raised in Wichita ks. I am the sole owner of a wonderful brand called Pieces of Kandakes sells luxury jewelry at an affordable price. I founded in Chicago in 2019 but later re-established in Minnesota. My ultimate goal is to give our audience an unforgettable interpersonal experience with jewelry and a newfound place of empowerment in their jewelry box. Wearing our jewelry is a way to express confidence, originality, culture, and strength. With that we have done at least 80 vending events since opening, were awarded Startup Business of the Year at Minnesota Black Business Ball in 2019, and partnered with The Color Run in 2022. We took empowerment a step further and hosted model calls for inspiring modeling careers. This provides their first professional photo for a portfolio. I am happy to share that experience with each of them.

My team and I enjoy teaming up with women empowerment spaces. This is what separates us from a lot of jewelry brands. We want to have actual conversations with our audience and learn their needs and assist them with turning the internal light on. We enjoy adding value. We also educate them on our product and the history of the Kandake warrior to which we pay homage daily.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I am an online jewelry store. My first thought was how can I be around my target audience. E-commerce was an easy choice for me. I enjoy this due to the fact we can pick up and head right to our target audience anywhere in the world.

One of the main pros is to see the faces behind the purchase. I enjoy connecting in person. I also enjoy telling them the story of the Kandake warrior to whom my business pays homage. Our pros are a lot longer than our cons. As mentioned before, we live to empower women. If I had to say one con it would be team building and traveling with a team. It is easy to meet the CEO and understand the vision but it is equally important to get that same experience with all employees and members of our teams. Here at Pieces of Kandake, we aim for our customer experience to be as good as the quality of the products.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A moment that solidified the peak of resilience would be last March. I was in a near-fatal car accident and left with a fractured spine that required a minimum of 6 months of recovery and Physical Therapy twice a week. In the beginning, I had to roll myself out of bed. I was delegating my business from my bed while preparing for the launch of our Timeless Collection. At that moment I reflected on how I was going to embrace the strength of the Kandake Warrior we pay homage to every day. I came to realize that my ‘Why’ was way more important than my current circumstances. Mindset is everything

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piecesofkandakes/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kandakequeens/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIB8i6WFILLOs0xqg0MJIsw/featured

Image Credits
Photo 1 CREDIT to Jonathan Thomas Sr. Photo 2 CREDIT to Tailana Blaylark Photo 3 CREDIT to AP SPLASH Photo 4 CREDIT to Rashawnda Scott