We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Talesha Austin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Talesha , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

Some of the biggest trends in my industry is that vintage fashion has become very popular! I started my online vintage store 9 1/2 years ago, and it has become more popular among the fashion industry over the last few years!!

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 back background and context?

I started my online Vintage store, Divaxpress Vintage 9 1/2 years ago. I stepped out on faith and decided to pursue my passion with thrifting and finding fabulous pieces to sell online. It has done exceptionally well over the last 9 years, and I am very thankful I stepped out on faith to pursue one of my dreams. I have gained thousands of customers all over the world, and have meet some amazing people in the process. Over the last 9 years I have traveled to some of the locations in the US where I have a high customer count for “meet and greets” which have done amazingly well. I did these to meet some of my amazing customers who support me, and just tell them THANK YOU in person, I also traveled with vintage pieces they could shop from, and it was just a fun time. I post new pieces weekly on my website and have done this every year since I started my business. The consistency is how i gained a dedicated loyal customers, and of course amazing customer service. I always treat people that way I would like to be treated, and its important for me to express to my customers how much I appreciate their support. I think one of the things that set me apart from others even after all of these years, I still have about the same affordable prices that I have had over the last 9 years. I am most proud of being able to have some of the same loyal customers since I started my only store in 2014. I am so grateful.

I have also recently In February of 2019, I had my son a birthday party in my home and decided to decorate his party myself. I’m the process, I created a “balloon garland” that went with his theme. I then a few months later in May, I created a custom garland for my own birthday and did all the decor myself. I posted it online and got a lot of feedback. I had someone reach out to me and ask would I create their custom balloon garland, and that was how “Divaxpress Events” was born. Since then, I have done many balloon garlands and decided to add it on to my brand Divaxpress. It is also something I am very passionate about and feel I can add on to my brand in the months to come.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The Most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been good customer service. I believe and know that customer services plays a big factor in business. I am naturally a peoples person, and love meeting new people. When i started my store, I always even when I hired staff, made sure every customer had a great experience. Good customer service is the key to any successful business. Im sure many of my loyal customers that I have had since I opened my store, are still shopping with me today, not only because of my products, but the customer service they receive as well!! I am responsible for representing my brand when interacting with buyers, and potential buyers. Customer

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I also have a balloon service business as well, where I create organic balloon, garlands of all shapes and sizes, I started this business in February of 2019, and it has taken off pretty well. I gave it the name Divaxpress Events.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.divaxpressvintage.com
• Instagram: @divaxpress
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/divaxpressresale
• Twitter: @divaxpress
• Other: Balloon website…. www.divaxpressevents.com

Image Credits
Website: Nicole of Elocin Marketing Marketing : Elocin Marketing Professional Photos: Marcia Warren