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Name: Tiffany R. Harvey
Business: Collegiate Glamour, a collegiate themed fashion line
Industry: Clothing & Accessories, E-Commerce
Location: Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.
Reason for starting: My college experience was not to different from a lot of women out there – it was amazing. I loved all aspects of college – my education, friends, and college town. I had the honor of attending Virginia Tech, and following the horrific shootings in April of 2011 I could not find any feminine and stylish clothes to represent the university during that hard time. After speaking with numerous other alumni from various schools I decided to take it on myself to produce licensed collegiate clothing that was glamourous and gave women the opportunity to represent their cherished universities and colleges.
Related: Read about another clothing & accessories entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? Reaching my goals that I have set for myself and providing an ability to give back to my community. I was told that you have to set high goals for yourself, because no one else will. In addition, you can do anything with hard work and a vision.
Biggest Success: Obtaining three collegiate licenses from major universities to produce clothing for students, alumni, and fans. I wasn’t a large company like much of my competition and the collegiate licensing organization took a chance on me. I decided to take a leap of faith on this idea, and I wouldn’t let anyone tell me otherwise. I want to inspire folks to do things greater than themselves. “Shoot for the moon and land in the stars.”
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? Reaching sales goals, working on it every day and looking for new ways to gain more traffic to my website and gain more retailers. We are almost all completely self-funded and didn’t have a lot of money to put into marketing so it has been a challenge to get our name out there. We have focused on using almost exclusively social media and word of mouth. We also look to provide our customers with exceptional customer service so we stand out from the crowd. In addition, we are constantly working on improving our clothing to stay in style with current fashion trends and items that our customers would want to wear. I have been told numerous times that the only secret to success is hard work. Luckily I love my business so hard work is fun, and I enjoy it.
Related: A Young Woman to Watch
Who is your most important role model? Sara Blakely – her story is amazing and shows that anyone with a dream and passion can reach their goals. I think of her path often when we face challenges and obstacles.
[box_light]Website www.collegiateglamour.com
Twitter @CollegiateGlam
Facebook www.facebook.com/CollegiateGlamourPets
Tumblr collegiateglam.tumblr.com
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/collegeglam[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange