We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Umunique Nikki Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Umunique Nikki below.
Umunique Nikki, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
My business was originally “StyledByNIK.” With “NIK” pronounced (Ne•ek) a play on my name “Umunique.” Then once I decided to rebrand, it became “UMUWANNASTUNT.” Which in turn is also another play on my name, but also a play on words like asking someone “Um, you wanna stunt?” Because that’s the effect i wanted to leave on anyone that was receiving my styling service and it just kind of stuck.
Umunique Nikki, 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 originally got into fashion and having a more private clientele, by working at Nordstrom my senior year of high school and early years of college. That showed me that I was really passionate about fashion and loved NOTHING as much as I loved it. Then while attending the unsinkable“Albany State University,” an HBCU dedicated to encouraging excellence as well as entrepreneurship, I decided to start my own business during my sophomore year of college. I transferred to Georgia State my junior year, before deciding to take a break, and really focus on perfecting my craft, as well as my business. Through relationships I had built while working at Nordstrom, I was blessed with the opportunity to get into and learn more about the world of commercial/campaign styling. I’ve had an amazing mentor, a wardrobe stylist, by the name of Fatiyha Johnson (@styleprovoking) who’s really taught me the ins and outs, as well as discipline of being a successful wardrobe stylist. Organization and building as well as maintaining good relationships with clients are key! Also only doing jobs that are going to help elevate and grow your business/brand as well, because not everyone has the same vision you do for where you want to go or be. The services I offer consist of: brand consulting, creative directing, personal shopping, and personal styling. Providing these services, I’m alleviating the stress of coming up with ideas for projects, curating looks, and any other creative needs someone may have. I think what sets me apart from other wardrobe stylists and creative directors is my attention to details, goals to create visions, and or images that you’ve never seen before or would ever think to create yourself. I just always want to my work to be out of the box and fresh. By far, my most proudest moment in my career would have to be landing my first ever major commercial campaign “Celebrate Soulfully,” with Disney for Black History Month! It was my first billboard, was literally everywhere in the parks, Disney Springs, as well as online and on social media. So, it was really cool to have people from all over the world see and appreciate my work!
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
Imagine starting a new business, going against the norm, and taking a break from school to pursue a career that most parents would pray you had a plan B for. It’s definitely not easy and be so discouraging at times. I spent a lot of time second guessing myself and whether or not I had made the right decision, despite having my family’s full support to chase my dreams. The early days were for sure tough because I wasn’t making any money and I wasn’t 100% confident in my choices due to not seeing any real revenue in the early stages. Then one day I sat down, wrote out all of my goals for the year, and manifested them. Would you believe that every single thing I wrote on that list happened? From getting my first ever magazine publishing, to my first couple of interviews, and first major commercial jobs. Manifestation is powerful and if you can see it you definitely can achieve it. I stayed dedicated despite having little to no faith in myself in the beginning, but that’s because I couldn’t see what everyone else could. That this is something I was destined for.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Growing an audience on social media is honestly a task and I feel like I’m just now somewhat getting the hang of it. I gained my audience obviously through fashion and posting my day to day or vacation looks because as a wardrobe stylist “you are your brand.” You need to look the part. I feel like I’ve really kept and gained my audiences loyalty by staying unapologetically myself and not falling into the trend of looking like everyone else. That’s what Instagram is to me these days, just a bunch of people trying to fit the same aesthetic, they’ve seen work for other people. Which is why I say, once you find your niche, stick to it, and perfect it because there’s always someone who’s going to be receptive to it. Posting content that actually relates to your niche and consistently is another key to maintaining your audience. It all needs to correlate. Utilize the business tools Instagram provides such as: checking your insights, shares, plays, and saves. This helps with keeping track of what content does better or worst, what times your posts tend to have more traction, etc. I’ve also noticed that reels tend to help with growing your audience since people from all over can end up seeing them. If you stick to doing at least a few of these then you should start to see results, sooner than later.
Contact Info:
- Website: umuwannastunt.com
- Instagram: @umuwannastunt