Today we’d like to introduce you to Janice Hopkins.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Janice. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve always loved clothes. When I was in high school, I had a part-time job, so every two weeks, when I got paid, a friend and I would come to Dallas and shop. It was very easy for me to find clothes at that time because I was much smaller in size. As life went on and I began going to college full time and working full time all while raising my children, I began to gain weight and it became more and more difficult to find the type of clothes that I like in my size. As much as I enjoy shopping in stores, I had to resort to shopping online to find the things that I liked. I found a couple of online boutiques for curvy ladies and began ordering from them quite often. One day I thought “as much money as I’m spending with them, why don’t I put this money into my own business”. I’ve always wanted to own my own business but didn’t know quite sure what I wanted to do. I began researching, saving my money and seeking advice and one day Curvy Diamonds was born.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Overall, running my business has been very smooth. My biggest struggle is promotion. I work full-time and is a full-time college student so this does not leave me a lot of time for the type of promotion I want to do. It’s easy to put a picture online of your merchandise, but once you hit submit, then what? When I first started my business, my sister, niece, and a family friend hit the streets passing out business cards and talking to people about my business – I enjoyed doing that. I want to do more of that plus there are few more things that I plan on doing to promote my business once I get a break from school which will be soon.
Another obstacle is the curvy ladies themselves. Every store I walk into I have a purse full of business cards because I like to talk to people. I am very discreet when doing so because I know every curvy woman is not as confident as others. Some of them take my cards, ask questions, and will even find and follow my social media account right then and there, however, others look at me crazy. Though I see it as a bit of a struggle, I also see it as a lesson learned. I had to come up with two different “speeches”. I have one for those that are happy to talk with me and one for those that are not. Either way, I just see it as a lesson learned and just a part of doing business.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
I specialize in clothes for curvy ladies. As curvy ladies, we tend to dress to hide. I understand we may have some things we want hidden, but I want my customers to put an any piece of merchandise purchased from me and walk into a room and say, “HERE I AM”. We should be able to dress to look pleasing to ourselves – not to hide. I try to offer things that is not offered in your typical plus-size stores. I love color so while I try to make Black available in most styles, I want to also offer colored pieces. My goal to accomplish this is what sets me apart.
I feel good that I am a black, female-owned company (that I started with my own money) that had the guts go JUST DO IT. There are no entrepreneurs in my family, so I had to learn everything on my own. I was very nervous, but that has never stopped me from stepping out and accomplishing whatever it was I wanted to accomplish. I knew because I did not have anyone to give me that hand-held help, that I had to work twice as hard to make my business successful. I’m loving the hard work that I’ve put in thus far and everything that I’m learning along the way.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There is nothing I would do differently. Starting this business has been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot along the way and pass any information I can down to others that I know is starting a business as well. I am very proud of myself for what I have accomplished thus far. Starting a business is a process and thank God that I put myself out there and took a chance to achieve my dream.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.curvydiamond.com
- Phone: 469.233.4729
- Email: curvydiamonds19@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curvydiamondzboutique/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curvydiamondsboutique/
Image Credit:
Ebony Hopkins and Shereal Mitchell
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