We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adejoke Oyewole a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Adejoke, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Joquette Boutique was created out of the love for fashion and integrating African culture and prints with modern contemporary fashion styles and accessories. I keep my creativity alive by studying my clients fashion needs, fast evolving fashion trends but remaining simple and my imagination of creating timeless pieces my clients will love for years to come.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Joquette Boutique is a lifestyle brand created out of the love for African culture, African fashion, and African prints with emphasis on infusing this creativity into modern contemporary simple yet fashionable ready to wear pieces. Our pieces and accessories are all hand made with love and we pride ourselves in slow fashion timeless pieces and accessories.
Joquette Boutique was created in 2007 by Adejoke Oyewole. Adejoke is a full time registered nurse who tells her story of fashion through each piece she creates. Adejoke is a Nigerian- American who enjoys the art of fashion through dressing up and helping others envision fashion through her many creative pieces. Joquette boutique is mainly at local trade and craft shows focusing on building one on one relationships with each individual client and hoping to evolve into an online shop in the nearest future still focusing on slow fashion that not only connect us through fashion but building lasting relationships. once a client, always a family.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Managing a fashion business can be challenging as some parts of the processes are not in our control but the building blocks to keep evolving, learning and staying grounded are
1. Staying on your passion even when there are struggles. Let your love for what you do show in your work. Don’t let your struggles define you.
2. Have a plan but know it is a floating plan that changes.
3. Be open to changes; big and small.
4. There are a lot of building blocks to managing a fashion business that will change periodically. Be ready for that and improvise.
5. Your customers are your focus, listen, adjust and remember to smile and breathe. Rome wasn’t build in a day :).
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Joquette Boutique is open to partnering with store front boutiques looking to adding African culture infused contemporary pieces for their clientele. We can be reached via our email [email protected] or call our Creative Director Adejoke at 312.420. 5851
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joquette_boutique?igsh=N256bThqeTk0NnE4
- Other: email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Adejoke Oyewole
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
