We recently connected with Valentina Juncaj and have shared our conversation below.

Valentina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

I learned so much from my parents by observing. Reflecting back, alot of their lifestyle and characteristics impacted a lot of why and how I started my business and journey. Both my mother and father had a very good work ethic, always going above and beyond for their jobs and employers. Related to that, they always believed in doing the right thing and caring for all they worked with and anyone around them. The other element was work life balance, in that they also made sure to make time for family and cultural events and occasions.

Valentina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my creative journey at a young age – I was drawing and creating for as long as I can remember. While I loved the arts, I never thought of it as a career path for myself and instead went to business school, working in finance, marketing and branding. I could not keep my artistic side dormant any longer and decided to launch a business later in my career, while still working in my corporate job. I did not know how I was going to do it, but I knew I was passionate about it and sharing my story through my love to jewelry and how it gave women confidence and empowerment. I launched vajze with the vision of that jewelry able to bring people of all different backgrounds together for the love of wanting to look and feel good.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I spent a lot of time on social media, really engaging with my audience and learning all of the tools to utilize. In addition to that, I really just was always trying to stay on top of being creative and sharing our products and experience with my audience in different ways. If someone was just starting, I would say to make sure you are authentic to your brand, your target audience, but also don’t be afraid to try different things to see what best showcases your brand/products. You never know what people may be interested in seeing!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

When I first started the business, I funded it myself and since I was still learning, I decided to maintain my full time job until I knew I was ready to be on my own. I did not know how big of a challenge this would be as working on something else 8+ hours a day, really hindered growth in my business. Realizing this, I knew I had to invest more time and resources into my business to scale. For me, it was a fork in the road and a mindset shift : I knew that once I could do more, the business would grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: vajze.com
• Instagram: @vajze
• Facebook: vajzejewelry
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-juncaj/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Uku7p9VFqffBRl0R4dZlg