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

Velvet, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so one thing we think people don’t talk about nearly enough is investments – either time or money. What’s one of the best or worst investments you’ve made and what did you learned from the experience?

The best investment I made for myself was attending a small business digital marketing boot camp, It gave me the encouragement to handle the digital world for my business. I think paying to educate and learn from other successful business owners is the best investment you could do for yourself as a business. Also paying for help as a business owner sometimes we think we can do it all but we can’t always do that all and we need the help before we become burnt out. Never feel bad about spending money for educating yourself or paying for small business services.

Velvet, 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 worked in the apparel industry for seven years in different capacities of the industry. While I loved every minute of the time I was there I as a black woman could never seem to get a fair leg up in advancing to a higher position despite how hard I worked it just never happened. After nurturing other companies goals and dreams I entertained the idea of entrepreneurship creating an ebay store and selling used and vintage items. Months later I was let go from a production job and I decided to take the leap and create my own path. I put in the smart hard work from those apparel brands and flipped it into Vedazzling Accessories, reselling accessories I obtained with my wholesaler’s license. Enjoying my journey I resold accessories at large events, festivals and street fairs. I became so large and created a following that I decided to open a brick and mortar store. When I opened the doors in July 2011 after a month in yet again I felt like I was still nurturing other already established brands’ dreams and what was the difference in what I was doing from before.

I found myself creating the new restructured Vedazzling Accessories out of frustration. Most of my friends are black and brown creatives who all had the same story of being turned down and not having the chances that our counterparts have to get shown in a retail environment. I decided in 2012 to reopen as a safe haven for black accessory designers to have a place to showcase their handcrafted designs to the world. I currently have 20 designers that I am showcasing on my e-boutique and have done over 15 successful profitable popup events for the designers. Being named 5 out of 28 destination locations to shop in Brooklyn.

Since transitioning to an e-boutique only in 2019 I am now able to reach customers internationally with my platform. Making dreams come true for other creative makers.

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

When I first entertained the idea of earning side money I obtained a wholesale license and started reselling high end designer hand bags. I opened a ebay store , sold bags at several festivals, pop ups and large events and I became so popular that I out grew the ebay store and could not handle the side handle and full time job. Although I was content with the side business I was let go from my employment and that I thought why not do this full time and open a store. I used my employment compensation check and saving to open my first retail brick and mortar in July 2011 in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn what a rewarding experience to work for myself. I have never looked back! I would suggest to anyone starting a business to stay focused and don’t get discouraged eventually everything pans out but you must be confident that it will especially if you are passionate about your business. Be in a industry that excites you if you’re not excited about what you do its hard to convince others and you will become discouraged faster running you back to giving up.
Never stop hustling even if you think you have scaled up keep pressing like you’re still in the same start up phase.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Finding a funding source is super hard as a entrepreneur and for me I was lucky that I was laid off and able to fund the business with my lay off package and the savings that I had for a rainy day. I also did crowd funding when it wasn’t even a thing. When I opened the boutique I crafted a letter, mailed, emailed and called everyone I knew asking for each person to donate $20 to my dream career people ended up donating more than what I asked for which helped my business initial start up. As I said before keep hustling I did so many side hustles to keep money coming in for the boutique when times were slow and it I always made rent and stayed afloat. Never get comfortable keep working and looking for multi streams of income for your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vedazzlingaccessories.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vedazzling/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VedazzlingAccessories/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/vedazzling
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3qk9I-uDeZK-plQ6x_GwA

Image Credits
Hugh Gladstone – photographer