Today we’d like to introduce you to Alia Oneal.
Alia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Sure, I’ve always been fashion and product adjacent. My first internship was for a global fashion brand in their product development department, working with a technical designer, who, to this day, I still partner with. After college, I really never lost sight of that creation bug. I guess I was bit early. As I got farther along in my career, I eventually landed a role at Neiman Marcus in the couture buying office. I really enjoyed the work. Each day was more exciting than the last. But, ultimately, I really missed creating the product. I missed the ideation and the process, and mostly I missed the collaboration and relationships that are pivotal to developing products.
In 2019, I decided to look at what the creatives of the world needed now. What I found was a grossly vast delta between the information available and resources needed to successfully launch new brands. For me, having been in the industry for over a decade at that point, I knew the process, and I had hundreds of industry contacts willing and able to execute beautiful products. With that, The Product Place was born. Today we are a full service, end to end, product development agency. We help our clientele refine their ideas for product-based businesses and execute the custom development that is needed to tell their stories and actually launch new brands. Each project we work on has the potential to be a leader in consumer goods for their sectors.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have certainly had obstacles. As far as we know, we’re the first development agency of our kind where we take the client all the way from idea validation to actually shipping out and managing the inventory of their product. It’s a big undertaking. But it’s one I’m passionate about seeing through.
There’s a lot of education we need to offer our clients first, to have them understand what’s truly involved in the successful launch of a product-based business. For the most part, many design agencies work on an hourly basis, because, with innovation, you never truly know what’s on the other side of a great design meeting. So, our challenge has been to find a way to package our extensive knowledge in a way that’s flexible, transparent, palatable for tighter budgets yet still leaves room for great ideas. Over time I’m hopeful we’ll be able to disrupt how quoting design and innovation is done while still leaving room for improvisation, which is so vital to a sellable product in today’s market where the consumer is so savvy.
Please tell us about The Product Place.
The Product Place is first and foremost, a product development agency. We were initially created as a solution for the hustlers, the dreamers, and the creators who influence for the big brands every single day on social media. We thought it was about time those impactful leaders had a team of their own who could help them bring their ideas to market. Over time we have really seen a need to provide a one-stop-shop for product development, brand launches and e-commerce fulfillment to help creators make their new businesses a fast reality so they could get back to what they do best—making incredible content.
What makes our work unique is that we are really focused on creating what makes sense for the individual, not chasing trends and replicating what’s already there. We’re innovating on how the consumer wants to purchase, and we’re sweetening the deal by offering our clients our shipping and fulfillment services to make sure the experience of receiving the goods is as strong as the goods themselves. When you work with The Product Place, you’re creating a direct line from your idea to online sales with your new customers. Our goal is to make the process as fun and inclusive as possible while also providing impeccable service and transparency.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
Recently, we’ve opened our physical warehouse and studio in the Design District of Dallas. The physical manifestation of the business has really created such an opportunity for brand awareness, and has allowed us to expand and offer our clients even more services.
Our proudest moment I think is still ahead. I’ve always seen myself as a coach and teacher, especially since my professional life has granted me so many unique experiences. I’m really proud of a recent initiative that we have launched which is our Power Product Accelerator Program. It’s a six-month, by application only program, where we will be advising new founders on the launch of multiple product based businesses within the next six months. This initiative is something that I think will really change the level of accessibility in product development today, and I’m excited that we are able to facilitate it through The Product Place’s resources.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theproductplace.com
- Free Guide: 101ProductIdeas.com
- Phone: 2148107370
- Email: info@theproductplace.com
Image Credit:
Shelby Tsika Marquardt
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