The summer after my freshman year of college, I did some soul-searching as I tried to figure who I was as a person as well as what my interests and passion were. I started asking myself “What is it that you like?”, “What is it that you enjoy doing?”, “What is it that you can picture yourself doing for the rest of your life?” As I embarked on this personal journey, I quickly realized that I could not see myself as a physician. This realization made me uncomfortable and quite confused, because I always thought that I was going to graduate Pitt and go straight into medical school. However, I knew that I loved fashion, but I didn’t exactly know how I could translate my love of fashion into something that would generate an income for myself. While I was brainstorming, I went on YouTube and started watching fashion and beauty bloggers. I came across a YouTuber/blogger that had her own clothing business which generated five figures a month. Intrigued by her story, I quickly started researching into how I could do this. Long story short, after 2-3 months of learning about how to create a business and executing everything that I had learned, my startup Wiara Clothing was up and running.
Wiara (pronounced vee-are-rah) is a polish word that means “faith, belief, and confidence”. I named my brand Wiara because faith is very important to me and I wanted to incorporate that into my business. When I first launched Wiara, I thought that I was just going to create an online clothing store, I never even thought about creating a brand. The person who helped me get in the mindset of creating a brand and not just an online store was Don Morrison, an entrepreneur in residence at the Big Idea Center. I reached out to Don because I desperately needed help with my business since I did not have a strong foundation on how to create a profitable business. As I started receiving help and mentorship from Don, I started to think more about what kind of brand I wanted to create. I knew that I had always struggled with confidence and I also knew that I loved working and being ambitious. Therefore, I decided to create a brand that would inspire confidence and motivate hustle. I wanted to uplift young women, because I never wanted anyone to feel how I felt growing up: unconfident and unworthy.
Being a part of the Big Idea Center and working with Don Morrison has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Without Don, I would’ve never believed in myself or believed that Wiara could be a huge clothing brand. I remember the first time I met Babs Carryer, the director of the Big Idea Center, Don said “Nina’s going to create the next big clothing brand” and I just thought to myself, “Yeah, maybe.” As time went on I realized how Don’s statement could become a reality. I also knew that in order to make it a reality, I needed to raise my standards, have massive goals, and work ten times as hard as I had been working.
To be transparent, Wiara was doing very poorly up until about 3 months ago. From the day I launched Wiara to about 3 months ago, I was only putting in about 3 hours a day working on my business. I thought that I could juggle being a pre-med student, a resident assistant, a research assistant, and a member of Student Government while also trying to grow my business. As time went on and I realized that I wasn’t achieving desirable results by operating this way, I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to make my business successful, then I would need to put in double or triple the amount of time I was already putting in. Because of this, I decided not to pursue the pre-med track at the end of my sophomore year. Additionally, I stopped being a research assistant and decided not to continue with Student Government Board. Essentially, I dropped as many things as possible in order to commit as much time as possible to work on my business while still being a college student. Although I did clear a lot of responsibilities from my plate, I knew that this was necessary for Wiara’s success. Without this type of focus, I knew that I personally would never be able to reach my goals.
The transition from Wiara being highly unprofitable to a business that is generating money is all due to a program that I signed up for. It was around April 2020 when I was getting so sick of failing and not making any money. I had been very positive up until this point. I remember talking to my friend Zach and telling him how I just wanted to quit (even though deep down I knew that I was never going to quit). After talking to Zach, I came across a program that I believed would really help me grow my business. When I finished enrolling in that program, I had about $50 left in my bank account. I quickly called my mom to ask for some money so that I could run ads and keep the business going. That program essentially changed my life because it gave me a mentor and a community filled with ambitious entrepreneurs.
Fast forward to the present, and I’m now working on scaling my business and generating brand awareness through various digital marketing efforts. I’m very excited for what’s in store for Wiara, but I also know that I need to work even harder in order to ensure Wiara’s growth and success.
My advice for someone who wants to start a business is to first get in the right mindset. Have the mindset that no matter how many times you fail, you will always keep going. I think that learning from failure instead of letting it affect you emotionally is a very important skill to master. A few books that has really helped changed my life and my business are “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “The 10X Rule”, and “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. I just want to leave you with one last note: no matter what it is that you decide to pursue, don’t ever quit because of one, two, or even a thousand bad days. Good things take time and nothing good comes easy. Push through fear and failure and you will only come out stronger!
About Wiara Clothing:
Wiara Clothing is a trendy fashion brand that inspires confidence and motivates women to go after their goals, dreams, and aspirations. Wiara believes that clothes have a way of making women feel confident. Therefore, they seek to provide women with items that they’ll love and feel amazing in. Wiara also makes sure that all of their items are affordable so that women can look and feel great without having to break the bank.
Wiara believes that their customers are family and thus make sure to put their wants and needs first. No matter what the situation is, please don’t hesitate to reach out to them. They are here for you!
Connect with Wiara Clothing by following them @WiaraClothing on both Instagram and Facebook!
Email them at Wiara@wiaraclothing.com
Check out their website at www.wiaraclothing.com.