fashion entrepreneurship through the lens of joanna georges

photo+provided+by+boutique+%2F%2F+model%3A+joanna+georges

photo provided by boutique // model: joanna georges

Meet Joanna Georges, the junior Kent State student pursuing majors in both fashion merchandising and entrepreneurship. On campus, she currently serves as the Junior Co-Producer of the Kent State School of Fashion’s Annual Fashion Show, as well as the Director of Special Events for Delta Gamma Sorority. She is also a brother of the business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi. On top of these activities, Georges owns her own online business that sells accessories, Ciety Boutique, which she plans to relaunch by the end of March.

With the two year anniversary of the infamous March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown having recently occured, many individuals are vividly reminded of the strange time that forced them to restructure their lives and reevaluate their priorities. During lockdown the world witnessed a massive rise in entrepreneurship, with over 4.3 million new businesses filed in America in 2020, according to the Census Bureau. The continued rise of technology combined with the free time that the lockdown provided created an environment extremely conducive for successful entrepreneurship, and as a result, many people, especially young adults, created quarantine businesses. Shopify’s global head of sales and marketing Loren Padelford told Forbes, “The influx of new technology has made the barrier to entry zero. You can launch a company overnight and start selling globally.” Like many others, Georges utilized the time during the pandemic to combine her passion with her entrepreneurial goals. In the interview with Georges, we gain more insight into her ambition and passion for creating her own business, as she details her entrepreneurial journey and exemplifies a constant drive to better herself.

 

What experiences have you had through Kent State that have helped you in your entrepreneurial goals?

I think learning from other students and going to student entrepreneurship panels that organizations on campus have hosted helped me understand how students started their own businesses, which inspired me to start mine. I wouldn’t say that Kent didn’t help me, but when I started my business I was technically a freshman entering my sophomore year, so there were a lot of classes that I hadn’t taken yet. However, I think the classes that I had last year when I was a sophomore and this past year have helped me gain more knowledge on how to better market my business, how to price everything and how to be better at the financial aspects. I feel like I now better understand the industry as a whole. Also, studying abroad last semester greatly broadened my horizons and helped me see where I wanted my business to be and how I wanted to market it. It also made me see that I was proud of my business. Before that, I was proud that I started my business, but I wasn’t proud of where it was at the moment, so that’s why I am relaunching it and rebranding it now. 

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  • photo provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

  • photo provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

  • photo provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

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“First business photoshoot–almost two years ago when I only sold sunglasses.”

 

Who inspires you? How did you become interested in fashion?

No one necessarily inspired me to get into fashion, but for a majority of my life I lived in an all women household with my sister, my mom and my cousin. I would see my sister in her shoes and her clothes, and I would always try on her heels. I was always surrounded by fashion, but I definitely think within my family I’m the most passionate about fashion. From a very young age, I loved the way clothes made me feel, especially when I got into middle school and started to dress myself or have my mom buy the clothes that I wanted. How I felt when I had on a good outfit completely transformed my confidence, and the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve grown into my style, I’ve felt better in myself. That outer confidence in what I wore reflected on the inside, in terms of my inner confidence. I want others, specifically women or woman-identifying individuals, to feel that way, because I know it’s so hard with society’s expectations of women today, in how you’re expected to dress and how you’re expected to look. If you look a certain way, people think that you are a certain type of person, even if you’re not. I want to help remove that stigma, but also to help women truly believe if you look good, you will honestly feel good. 

 

How did you decide you wanted to own your own business and how did you start it?

I had wanted to start my own business since I was about 15–in high school I just knew that I couldn’t work for somebody else. I wasn’t necessarily sure of what it would be, but I always knew I wanted my own business and that I’d probably own multiple in the future. I decided to start my business in May of 2020. It had been a couple months since we got sent home because of COVID, and I wasn’t just bored, but it was such a tough time being sent home during my freshman year of college. I felt so out of place, and I didn’t know what to do, but I saw so many other people starting businesses that were blowing up. I thought, “I can do this.” I had plans and ideas, I had taken a lot of classes related to business in high school and business was a big part of my major, so I started. I grinded for about a month to a month and a half, and I launched on July 9, 2020. I decided on jewelry because it was easier to start than other companies, and I didn’t need that much capital to begin with. 

“Video from the night of my first launch.”

 

What is your role in running the business–what are your day to day tasks?

I do everything myself. I’m currently in the process of rebranding and relaunching, so I created a new logo, I ordered samples of jewelry, I count and do my own inventory and I package orders. I just bought added supplies and new packaging. I’m also the creative director for this business. I recently fixed my pricing, so I broke down why things are priced a certain way, taking into consideration all the work I put into it and how much it costs to ship the products here. Right now I’m also rebuilding my site using Shopify–I could hire someone else to do it for me, but I enjoy it and I think that website building is an important skill to know. In the next coming weeks I’m going to start taking product photos in this photo booth I have, and begin figuring out if I’m going to ask my friends to be models, so I can put their photos on the website. With those pictures, I’m going to start planning my social media and making an Instagram and TikTok. Last time when I started my business, I planned it, but not each aspect of it, so I’m learning from mistakes.

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  • image provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

  • image provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

  • image provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

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“Digital mock-ups of my new logo and packaging.”

 

What are your plans after graduation?

After graduation I’d like to be a buyer for a retail company. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a buyer, but because I’ve already had a buying internship, and I have an upcoming buying internship, I think this would be beneficial for me. I’m not set on anywhere for a job post-graduation–it could be in Texas, Seattle, Milwaukee or even New York or New Jersey, but I do know after a few years I want to end up in north Jersey to work in New York, or maybe I’ll even live in New York, depending on if I want to live in the city. I want my business to be profitable, so I may upscale it by potentially adding bags and larger-scale accessories, or I might stick to jewelry and scarves–I’m not sure yet. I’m also creating another business for my entrepreneur class. I could’ve worked on my business for the class, but I wanted to work on that on my own because I started it on my own and learned from my mistakes. I’ll be working on the new company for this class throughout this semester and all of next year–it’s a creative consulting agency. I wanted to focus on people who are content creators, because in my free time I’m a content creator. I’ve taken it seriously but not as seriously as I could, but I’m busy with school and my business. With the agency I want to help underrepresented and underpaid creators, or creators who simply want to grow. This is a passion of mine, so depending on how these next 18 months go with working on this business in class, this may actually become something that I’ll do post-graduation as well. 

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  • photo provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

  • photo provided by ciety boutique // model: joanna georges

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“Some of my new products.”

 

What advice would you give new fashion or new entrepreneurship students?

My biggest advice is to get as involved as possible, and if you want to do something, even if it’s just an inkling, do it and apply. I’ve realized that I’ve never regretted doing something; I’ve only regretted not doing it. Even if you end up doing something, like a club, organization or application for an opportunity, and you get rejected or you end up disliking it, at least you can say that you did it and that you learned from it. Always go after what you want, because you’ll be surprised at the results that come from doing that.

Georges plans to relaunch her business Ciety Boutique by the end of March. In the meantime, others can explore more of her work via her website, which includes links to her portfolio, content creation and podcast. Georges embodies the entrepreneurial spirit in ways that reach beyond her online business, as she, by centering herself in her creativity and values, excels both academically and professionally. Driven by her ambition and her value of opportunity, she serves as an inspiration to others, as she channels her voice into her work. 

 

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