We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stacey York. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stacey below.

Stacey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

So how Shadez Of Stacey created, well I believe it was always in me I just needing the right mind set to pull it out. I was already a business owner with Royal Bling Accessories, however I knew I wanted more I started getting confident with selling accessories, but I knew it was more that could be done. And then it hit me in my sleep ( that is where a lot of my ideas are birthed) SUNGLASSES!! I love sunglasses just as much as I love jewelry. It was suggested to me plenty of times but like I said before I needed the right mind set. So I began telling close friends my new business idea and it was very well received, Someone actually stated me and I quote” I’ve been waiting on you to do this.” They also stated to me remember we talked about this a while ago. So then I began researching how to get my inventory what needed to be put in place. I began thinking about price points, my targeted audience, my branding and so forth. All of these thoughts and task began running rapidly through my head, but I could not come up with a name for the difference. So I pondered about it for a little while maybe a week or so. And then it hit again in my sleep like I said before that is where a lot of my ideas come from. I kept hearing my own name in my sleep Stacey Stacey Stacey, but it was different people saying it, different voices were being heard, but they all kept repeating my name, Stacey lol. So different people, different voices, different everything but all saying Stacey!!! Shades is what came to mind, Shades another word for sunglasses, a thing that is sought after in the hot sun, cool , there are things that I began to think about. and viola Shades of Stacey- I wrote it down, I didn’t like it it looked of to me. It didn’t satisfy that creative hunger I was craving. And I thought about how much I never liked my name and how it was misspelled so much (people forget the “e” sometimes, and I am very serious about the “e” in my name. So I wanted to make sure I would stand out be different since I also have a common name. So I am staring at the paper with the words Shades Of Stacey and I said ooohhh I got it, changed the “S’ to ‘Z’ and that’s what did it for me. Shadez of Stacey!!!! I felt really emotional about this. It was something new I was beginning and I wanted it be everything that goes with me all the different moods, the different emotions, all the feels that we have a normal day to day.

Stacey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Stacey York, I am an independent consultant for Paparazzi Accessories. The name of my business is Royal Bling Accessories, where I sell $5 jewelry. I do lives on Facebook and Instagram, my handle is @Royalblingaccessories on both platforms. I am also the owner and operator of another business called Shadez Of Stacey where I sell stylish sunglasses that are $5 for women, men, and children. You can catch my lives for this business as well on the same platforms @Shadezofstacey. I came into both businesses by wanting to earn extra money. I am a single mom of 5 and I working a second job was not in the cards. Therefore, I started a business well 2 of them!!! Royal Bling Accessories began in 2018. I started Shadez of Stacey in 2020. The second one came along because of the barriers I faced as jewelry vendor at pop-up shops. My sunglass business is very personal to me because, it literally has my name on it. It truly is different shades of my personality that I get to share with my customers. I love the fact that my prices range from $5-$25. Especially since most of my customers are women, they don’t have to feel guilty when shopping with me. I keep my prices affordable and budget friendly.

Have you ever had to pivot?

A time when I had to rethink my business strategy was during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would make the bulk of my money by vending at a lot of events. I would also make sales from the office job that I had the time. However, as the world began to shut down, a lot of events were getting canceled and people would be afraid to leave their homes so this presented a huge problem with my business, along with having to work from home. I had to rethink business strategies. And then I remembered when I first became a paparazzi consultant I started making sales by doing lives on social media. So I began doing lives again, and I would do them more often I had a full schedule to prepare for my lives. I would do a total of 4 per week, 2 of the days would be in the evening, 1 at midday, and 1 on the weekend. I would do invoices on one day and mail off all the packages on another day.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One of the hardest things I faced while being a business owner was when I had to deal with the death of my sister. I had never experienced grief on this level before. My sister and I were very close and this was an all of a sudden thing. My business suffered during this time. I would still conduct my business but I had no real motivation and I felt forced to do it. I didn’t have the same passion as I once had. Grieving took a lot from me and doing almost anything felt like a chore and my heart was no longer in it. However, through counseling and having the right people in my circle I slowly began to get back on track. Two years after her death I am still back at it. Back to doing business, back to selling jewelry, back to selling sunglasses. I just celebrated 5 years of being in business this past August. I have also purchased a mobile trailer so I now have a mobile boutique which I am very proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: For jewelry www.royalblingaccessories.com
• Instagram: Jewelry @Royalblingaccessories and Sunglasses @shadezofstacey
• Facebook: Jewelry @Royal Bling Accessories Sunglass @ShadezofStacey