We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tania Reyes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tania, appreciate you joining 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?
Our business concept was developed during COVID. We enjoyed making body chains as a hobby and considered selling products online, but we soon realized we needed to register our business to be properly set up. Our concept immediately grew into a full fledged LLC. We’ve come a long way since then. When developing a new collection, the process of turning a concept into a physical product has several layers. As creatives, we can have multiple ideas at once. It’s essential to have a location to put those ideas in order and to support them with visuals. Emphasizing the images that support those thoughts is crucial to us. When brainstorming, Canva and Pinterest are frequently used and have become our go to for idea dumping.
For instance, our most recent collection honored Hispanic Heritage Month. Naturally, we were influenced by contemporary Latin culture, but we wanted to go back to our roots. For concepts, we looked through old photos from our youth as well as Pinterest. It was crucial to us to include references from all of Latin America in addition to references from our Dominican origin. From there, we were able to determine and create the key products we wished to offer, and the exciting part—implementation—came next.
We were able to develop the concept and a plan for the launch in just four weeks, just in time for the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. Our research and development allowed us to create items that our clients connected with deeply. The collection ultimately turned into one of our highest selling collections. The collection is available on thesourcedstudio.com.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
The Sourced Studio is a dynamic and culturally rich jewelry brand. The brand embodies the fusion of Latin American inspiration and the energy of New York.
We take great pride in our ability to take risks. We are children of immigrants who grew up without an immediate role model or link to anyone else pursuing a similar passion within the creative space. By trusting our instincts and taking the risk, we established The Sourced Studio. We continue using our creativity, perseverance, and a mindset that sees “failures” as redirection. As a Latinx-owned business in the heart of New York, we commit to celebrating our heritage and the city’s melting pot of cultures. Each piece invites exploring, learning, and embracing the diverse stories that makeup the city and its people. The Sourced Studio is an intersection of art, culture, and craftsmanship. The Sourced Studio also offers services such as permanent jewelry, helping us build community and connect face to face with our customers.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes! Thankfully, entrepreneurs have access to a wealth of useful information in the times we live in. We continue to learn everything we can. Here are a few business books that we highly recommend: For business financial management, consider reading Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz, On Brand by Aliza Licht for personal and entrepreneurial branding, and Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One by Emily Hayward for business identity.
Additionally, taking classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, our alma mater, has been beneficial. We’ve participated in practical classes like trend forecasting and jewelry creation.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
When looking for new clientele, there have been a few top sources. Both are connected to the community. To us, our community is everything.
Like many small businesses, most of our initial revenues came from friends and family. Since then, we have grown by strategically taking part in pop-ups where we know members of our community and our target demographic are present. We’ve started to incorporate surprise giveaways to foster engagement within our community. We also love highlighting our community by sharing their stories through our platform.
Contact Info:
- Website: thesourcedstudio.com
- Instagram: @thesourcedstudio
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/TheSourcedStudio - Other: Tiktok: @thesourcedstudio We’d like to offer readers a special discount code as a thank you. Please use code ‘STUDIO15’