Overview
For Jenee Naylor, success requires a roadmap. Now, that doesn’t mean following a traditional path or climbing the corporate ladder, but rather looking to others for what is possible. ‘Seeing is believing,’ the founder of 12PM Studios tells host Erica Chidi Cohen, and now she hopes to inspire other Black women by sharing all that she’s learned.
Before Jenee made her first major splash with her blog HighLowLuxxe, she got her start on the floor of a Target store in the DMV. She started managing a team of people and moving up the ranks. “I learned how to be a business person through that role,” she shares. She thrived in leadership, particularly because it allowed her to pour into others; she loved teaching, training, and getting people promoted; she was a campus recruiter for Howard. In many ways, it laid the foundation for what was to come. Working for a big store taught her the value of strategy and everything having a place. “So much of my personality is about being efficient and making the most of things.”
Her blog, HighLowLuxxe, was “something clever that represented me,” Jenee says it was true to who she was at the time, mostly shopping fast fashion but splurging on something with her bonus check. It was the perfect blend of Jenee’s expertise and her sharing what she was learning about the world of luxury. Part of what made the blog such a success was Jenee’s honest approach to creating content. Sure, she’d have a flawless beat, but she’d shoot her videos in one take. And authenticity might be the key to her long-term success. “Consistency and longevity are hard to maintain if you are putting on an act,” she shares.
It takes a lot of bravery to walk away from something when it’s working, and working well. Although HighLowLuxxe was a resounding success, Jenee felt called to build something in her own name. She
Details
walked away from high/low luxe to build 12PM Studios, her extremely chic sunglasses company. Why eyewear? For one, it’s “the only thing I care enough about to talk about every day,” Jenee laughs. But also, once Jenee reached the point of success where others were photographing her, she realized sunglasses can offer a bit of protection, a very chic shield from the outside world. So, she looked at what was out there, how others were succeeding, trusted her instincts, and built herself another roadmap. Learn more about how she got from managing a Target to selling her products in Target in this episode of Go Off, Sis.
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Source
Originally published at www.refinery29.com.