We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rocquel Carpenter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rocquel , appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
The mission of Non Niché is to create a community/network that helps elevate small business, entrepreneurs, artists, etc to be seen and supported. From creating traffic to their brand like content, website design, portfolio reviews, and brand strategy. Additionally, we go live on instagram to spread knowledge in whatever industry is represented that week. Sharing and listening to authentic conversations to help expand the mindset of creative individuals and expanding everyone’s network. I wanted to have people comfortable enough to reach out to one another to maybe collaborate, help when they feel stuck, or just bond.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started Non Niché in January 2023, it started as a passion project for myself because I was going through a divorce. I was thirty years old restarting life…no job, not married, and lost a lot of my friends in the process. I was relearning who I was as an individual not jumping back into what society expected me to be. So I went to TikTok of course and I saw a lot of sadness about people not feeling seen or businesses struggle not just because of covid shut downs, but businesses not having their content or information pushed through to the masses. I always say that every step can start a ripple and I wanted to help shine light for the people that felt unseen.
Two years down the road I was able to gain more social media experience, marketing knowledge, and brush up on my communications/journalism experience. With all the knowledge that I have accumulated I have been able to start offering services for the brand. I rather have my community focused on creating and expanding on their craft and I can work the business side of things. I believe it helps each client have less stress and helps cut down the negative mindsets that tend to expand when creatives feel overwhelmed.
What I’m most proud of Non Niché is this brand/network has slowly but surely expanded. I really do feel like people are listening to the interviews that help provide guidance. I personally believe that even the simplest conversation can spark something in someone to reflect and expand on their own consciousness. My main goal has always been keeping my content relatable and authentic through any season I’m personally going through. When I started this I was out of a job, now I’m a social media freelancer, facility manager at a local boutique, and a web designer to whomever needs assistance. My followers have seen me on my dark days trying to build this brand. They have also seen me on the good. Holding myself accountable to show up, however that may look like.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
To this day, word of mouth has been my best selling point to get clients. Not just for Non Niché, but for me in general. I used to work as a teacher and one of the kids parents that was in my class saw that I was out of a job and he was able to put in a good word for me as a front desk rep. Yes, portfolios are very important to show potential clients to see what you can do…but when you can back it up with having a great reputation that helps more.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
The best way so far to keep in touch with the Non Niché community is through email. From every interview I’ve conducted from the show we all just keep in touch with events, where we are in life, and collaborative ideas. I believe it’s important to build a connection with your followers/clients they are people first…not just a follower count.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @non_niche
Image Credits
I took these myself