Happy Weekend lovelies! Happy end of March😀😀😉😉 and end of the first quarter of the year!
It's another edition of LODF INTERVIEW where we interview entrepreneurs from different spheres and learn from their entrepreneurial journey. Our guest today is a Fashion designer/ entrepreneur, a phenomenal one at that😄😄😄 . Enjoy every bit as Precious Olabisi of “Chocolate Luxe” takes us through her entrepreneurial journey.
LODF: Good day sis , can we meet you?
Precious Adebisi: My name is Precious Adebisi Adeola. First of 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. I'm also currently a final year student of Fine and Applied Arts in OAU, Ile -Ife.
LODF: What was growing up like for you? What's your family background ?
Precious Adebisi : Growing up for me....Hmm, I have amazing parents who have strong beliefs and ethics... So I have a combination of strict and extremely loving. They wanted me to be the best I could be, sent me to the best school they could afford. Although my parents are actually the old school kind. What I mean is, they wanted me to be a doctor, so I was groomed to be a doctor..My father is a full time clergyman and my mum is an accountant.
LODF: Nice, What are your interests?
Precious Adebisi: I love anything that has art in it. From music to dance, to drawing, to photography, to writing, to film making and a whole lot more.
LODF: Could you tell us about your brand?
Precious Adebisi: My brand name is Chocolate Luxe.A contemporary high fashion (luxury) manufacturing brand that specializes in beauty, fashion and lifestyle. At the moment, we are still very much in the fashion aspect , clothing to be precise and we hope to expand more aspects has time goes on. We've been in business for about 2 years. We are planning to restructure soon to fully launch into what the initial idea was about.
LODF: Great! What brought you into the fashion industry?
Precious Adebisi: I sort of stumbled into the fashion industry. I was initially admitted for Chemistry and after my first year and “White House course” (OAU Science students can relate), I had to think of other things I liked doing... So we had a 6 month strike and I decided to learn fashion designing, jewelry making and bag making. That's sort of how I stumbled on my love and passion for creating things from scratch.
LODF: Wow, Wow! How has your fashion entrepreneurial journey been?
Precious Adebisi: Fashion isn't for the faint hearted, I must say. It is a fast industry and you have to be on your toes to stay relevant. It's a being a worthwhile journey. I've leant not to depend on my creativity but on the business side as well. I've learnt the right way to do customer service, branding, customer psychology etc. You basically learn on the job. I'm still learning though.
Chocolate Luxe
LODF: How do you balance your entrepreneurial sphere with other things you do?
Precious Adebisi: I discovered I was a workaholic when the business started, I just wanted to work, work, work. But I've learnt to divide my time well and learn to prioritize.... And enjoy life as well.
LODF: (Smiles) What's the idea behind the name of your brand? “Chocolate Luxe”
Precious Adebisi : Well, before I decided to start the business, when I was still discovering what I wanted to really do, I had a journal I used mainly for inspiration purposes. I had cut out an advert for a perfume that was called "the chocolate pill" and I placed it in my inspiration journal and wrote "the name of a brand /business . So I had that name for a while. Then after talking to the first person who got my business plan and was ready to go in with me (my partner) - he's a brand strategist, we finally sat down and decided we wanted a luxury brand and that's how the two names came together.
I also love chocolate flavor so that was basically it. It didn't happen in one day though. That's how the brand tagline came about: Chocolate - taste, Luxe - Luxury... Chocolate Luxe...... The taste of luxury😀😀LODF: Awww, how cool! What keeps you going? What inspires you?
Precious Adebisi: A lot of things keep me going: the final goal / dream, my support system (my sister and my best friends), the feedback I get from my clients, the referrals I get form my clients, and my urge for more knowledge and growth.
Chocolate Luxe
LODF: Do you have mentors in the fashion industry? What are their names?
Precious Adebisi: I have a lot of mentors 😁😁....More in the business sector though, both upclose and afar... Fashion aspect - OG Okonkwo of Style Temple, Deola of Deola Sagoe , Divalukky. Business aspect - Stephanie Obi, Triciabiz, and few others.
LODF: What's the uniqueness of your brand? In other words, what do you offer that differentiates you from other fashion designers?
Precious Adebisi: Uniqueness of the brand is in the experience and design quality... From the moment we meet a client, to the design stage and even client agreement, we give them the full luxurious package.
LODF: How do you create your styles?
Precious Adebisi: Styles are often created differently. Sometimes, I just hold a pen and within 5 minutes, I have a full working and functional outfit designed.And other times, it takes a concept to first be gotten and then worked on from there. Other times, it takes taking a particular design / fashion detail or trend and playing around with it..... It could slowly come from looking at an image of something that inspired me. For instance , flowing water could inspire me to create a drapery and flowing outfit, and I could even decide to use the color of the water or the color that directly translates to the calm state of the water.
LODF: How awesome! 😄Have there being challenges? How do you handle them?
Precious Adebisi : There has been a lot of challenges, the major one being getting people to understand the value of your product as well as capital for expansion, but we've learnt to let things work out for themselves.
LODF: Where do you see your brand few years from now?
Precious Adebisi: In a few years I see the brand accomplishing greater heights we would have worked with various design companies to produce and manufacture their products, we would have release our wide range of services in beauty, lifestyle and even fashion, we would have worked with the movie industry and basically we would have made an impact in the industry and other industries as well.
LODF: Any biggest achievement so far?
Precious Adebisi: We like to celebrate the small wins and so far we are getting to the stage where clients are beginning to understand the worth of the brand and the business is growing and that for us is great in itself.
LODF : Yes Yes!! What advice would you give to upcoming fashion entrepreneurs?
Precious Adebisi: My advice, if you plan to be lazy, please don't even bother.... It takes hard work and being smart to stay relevant in fashion Always improve on yourself, fix your eyes on the goal, try not to get distracted by other people's growth and don't be envious.
LODF: In 3 words, kindly describe yourself .
Precious Adebisi: I'm strong, smart, independent
LODF: Awww! Thank you so much. Stay Winning!
Precious Adebisi : Thank you too😆😆
Trust you enjoyed every bit of the interview guys! Cheers to Winning!
For your gorgeous outfits,
Follow: Chocolateluxe on instagram
Contact :0813 513 2613
Precious Adebisi : Thank you too😆😆
Trust you enjoyed every bit of the interview guys! Cheers to Winning!
For your gorgeous outfits,
Follow: Chocolateluxe on instagram
Contact :0813 513 2613
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