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

Tiffany , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

Putting my former boss and mentor, Tony DiElsi, into words is a difficult task but he made such an impact on my life and career I would be remiss to not try. Tony was one of those “you just had to know him” kind of guys- a personality bigger than life and definitely beat to his own drum. At a Senior VP level, he vouched and believed in my ability to be a great merchant long before anyone else did. He had a killer instinct on incoming trends, a skill I strive to be as sharp as. He taught me to take risks, trust the numbers and my gut, despite what others may say. Most importantly he taught me about the importance of content (something he called me regularly about to quiz me on). The lesson ultimately comes down to this- it is all about content. If you have the wrong content in your assortment, not price or distribution will make it sell. This is the backbone of every decision I make as a business owner. Unfortunately Tony fought cancer like hell and ultimately he is no longer with us, but there is no doubt he is the Patron Saint of Celeste Sol.

Tiffany , 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?

Over 60 years ago in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico my grandparents were running Trifilio Imports — a fine jewelry boutique acquiring pieces from around the world. I spent 10+ years as a Buyer/Merchant for big box retailers, and spent the last of those years building brands for the Latinx consumer. With this experience (and my experience as a Latinx consumer) I decided reinvent the family business for the modern customer. offering delicate gold plated pieces for any look at affordable price points; inspired by the same influences of fashion, travel, and culture.

Celeste Sol strives to bridge the gap between culture and fashion through bilingual marketing/packaging, BIPOC representation and charitable contribution, setting aside 2% of our sales to donate to charitable organizations that share our ambition to support and empower Women of Color.

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

I think all entrepreneurs can agree with this one- COVID. It made me learn and appreciate the importance of staying small and nimble. As a small business I didn’t have to worry about furloughs, I could adjust marketing schedules to capitalize on people being at home and avoided supply chain issues by airing in product. I also learned not all of my ideas are good. I started a second business (unrelated to retail) that was training based for the service industry (specific to the need for cleaning standards in the wake of the pandemic), and failed miserably.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Most definitely authenticity. I find that people really love the backstory behind Celeste Sol and like that it is tied to family community and culture. I’m very transparent about my audience, both the wins and the fails and I find that customers really appreciate that. Even if we mess up we own it and generally that keeps the customer engaged at the very least.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.celestesol.com
• Instagram: @celestesoljewelry

Image Credits
Tamera Darden (Darden Creative)