Desiree Verdejo

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Womeneur Spotlight” google_fonts=”font_family:Open%20Sans%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C600%2C600italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C800%2C800italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” bg_type=”image” parallax_style=”vcpb-default” bg_image_new=”id^3009|url^https://www.womeneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/womeneur-spotlight-desiree-verdejo-of-vivrant-beauty_650_650_90_ffffffgrayopac-7_s_c1.jpg|caption^null|alt^null|title^womeneur-spotlight-desiree-verdejo-of-vivrant-beauty_650_650_90_ffffffgrayopac-7_s_c1|description^null” css=”.vc_custom_1461334112102{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1461333757041{margin-bottom: -2px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]

DESIREE VERDEJO OF VIVRANT BEAUTY

FOUNDER & CEO
[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”5″ accent_color=”#e3672b” css=”.vc_custom_1460496937176{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text]Website:

Social Media: [dt_social_icons animation=”none” alignment=”default”][dt_social_icon target_blank=”true” icon=”facebook” link=”http://facebook.com/vivrantbeauty” /][dt_social_icon target_blank=”true” icon=”twitter” link=”http://twitter.com/vivrantbeautyny” /][dt_social_icon target_blank=”true” icon=”instagram” link=”http://instagram.com/vivrantbeautyny” /][/dt_social_icons][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”3008″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After practicing law for seven years, Desiree Verdejo decided to pursue her passion within the beauty industry and opened up a beauty boutique in her hometown of Harlem, USA.  caters to a diverse range of women of different nationalities, skin tones and hair textures. This amazing beauty brand proudly stocks a wide selection of beauty products from more than 30 premium, ingredient-conscious, women-owned, person-of-color owned and local beauty brands.

Like so many Womeneurs, transitioning in to a new career field comes with its challenges but the silverlining is that the motivation behind these changes are simply moving closer to your purpose. Desiree tapped in to the need for many  women of color to find beauty products that focused on their uniquely beautiful tones. Vivrant Beauty is based in “the Mecca,” Harlem and provides its customers with a beauty experience.

This Womeneur lets us in to her world and tells us about her journey thus far in the beauty industry and becoming a stable right in her own neighborhood.

What inspired your journey into business? 
A beauty boutique seemed like the perfect marriage of my interests in beauty products and ingredients, being surrounded by inspiring folks and marrying my interests with the business skills that I gained as a corporate lawyer. I started to become extremely excited with just the thought of picturing myself in this role and every day I realize that it was a great move.

What steps did you take to start your business?
It took a lot to get comfortable before the business launched. I started a personal beauty blog to learn about new brands, folks behind the brands and beauty trends that appealed to me. I also started writing my business plan, reaching out to realtors and to brands before I quit my job. The most important thing that I did was to save for the career transition. I spent a couple of years slowly planning the business. There were actually only about three weeks between when I quit my job as a lawyer and when I opened the doors of Vivrant Beauty.

What are your biggest fears?
The saying goes that “if you build it, they will come.” My biggest fear is that that’s a lie. Lol! I am anxiously watching the word spread about our new beauty boutique, meeting customers that have found us through friends, the internet or passing by, and hoping that the clientele continues to flourish. A huge fear of mine is that folks won’t come…or worse that they will find out about Vivrant Beauty but not feel like we are filling a void for them.

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel like giving up?
When I feel nervous about the growth of our clientele, I get busy. I am constantly working on something related to the store whether it’s bettering our product offerings, our e-commerce experience, the way the products are set up or our social media presence. I don’t give myself time to sit and think about whether we’ll succeed, I just spend time focusing on actions that should lead to success.

What are your weakness in business and how have you worked pass them? 
My biggest weakness is that as a newcomer to the beauty industry and the entrepreneurial life, everything is new to me. I am learning about sales taxes, merchandising, beauty conferences, industry leaders, etc. every day. There’s a lot of trial and error (and sometimes costly errors) with things that seemed simple going into the process (like shipping products, for example). I am trying not to be so hard on myself about mistakes as long as I learn from them and better my process because of them.

What’s been most rewarding?
Many aspiring entrepreneurs can probably relate to the stage where you haven’t made the transition but it’s all that you can talk about to anyone that will listen. My closest friends and family members knew for years that I wanted to launch this business. It is so rewarding to have those same friends and family members know that it happened. I love showing my loved ones around the store and they must be able to sense it because they’re constantly visiting (and supporting).

Who were you before you started your business?
I was a corporate lawyer for seven years and practiced at a large NYC law firm for most of that time.

If you had to do it again, what (if anything) would you do differently?
Just one thing? I’d probably hire an interior designer with retail expertise. I added at least a couple of weeks onto the build out and have a basement full of unused hand painted tiles and random paint colors because I did everything on my own. Is anyone redecorating?:)

What’s one good software or application you cannot live without?
I love Shopify. My e-shop was built using one of their templates.  It’s the technology behind the website and it’s my POS (Point of Sale) system in the store. The software also comes with a phone app so I can get a notification of all sales on my phone when I’m not there. It was really easy to learn, speaks really easily to other apps, and they have amazing customer service. Great customer service is everything when you’re doing tech stuff on your own.

What’s your secret to cultivating a relationship between you and your customers?
I get to talk to my customers about their lifestyles, their problems, their loves, their everything and I get to be a listener and an adviser. We haven’t even been open for two months but I have already had many return customers that have trusted advice on a smaller or singular purchase and have returned to sort out a regimen or address an unrelated area. I can’t think of a better way to build a relationship.

Where do you see your business in 5 years?
I am so focused on perfecting the products and the customer experience, and also on spreading the word right now. I think that opportunities are endless in five years if we accomplish those goals now.

What are 3 tips you can share with budding and current entrepreneurs/business owners?

1. Do it!
2. Do something!
3. Do something now!

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