Meet Jenna Elko | Co-Owner of Happy Soul Sisters

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenna Elko and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna, what do you attribute your success to?
Social media played a huge role in the success of our business. We started Happy Soul Sisters during quarantine in 2020. Kayla and I were both students at UGA at the time and did not have our nannying jobs anymore. We noticed that tie dye had been a big trend at the beginning of the year so we decided to make tie dye in our parents garage and started posting it on Instagram. We did not have initial intentions of turning it into a business. It had just started as a fun quarantine project and a way to make a little extra money. We then had an influencer named Libby Christensen reach out wanting to buy a set. We knew she had a great loyal following and asked if we could send her the set for free in return for a post on Instagram. She agreed and when she posted we had so many people reaching out to order exactly what she had. We gained so many new followers and that was when we knew we could really turn this into a business.

About 3 months later in June 2020 we had a boutique from New Jersey reach out about a tie-dye wholesale order. We ended up making over 300 pieces of clothing for them. By July of 2020, we started our website and have expanded on our products since with now over 300 products available to shop. We still hand-dye our tie-dye pieces and make them custom to order. We have now been in business for almost 4 years and have about 46k followers on Instagram and 175k on TikTok.

Those numbers didn’t come overnight we have focused heavily on growing our social media following. We go live on TikTok every day pack orders and post at least once a day. We have had 2 viral Tiktoks that really helped us grow our following as well. Social media can be challenging but consistency is key. Starting from a trend and the power of social media has really helped with the success of our business over the years.

What should our readers know about your business?
Happy Soul Sisters is an online clothing company founded by me and my sister. We started our business in March of 2020. We are known for our handmade tie dye, seamless collection, and the comfort of all of our products. We focus on athleisure and everyday wear. We are most proud of the customer base we have created. We have built a large community of women who not only support our business but Kayla and me as individuals.

So many of our customers have over 100 orders with us. We want people to know that we take a lot of pride in the products that we pick for our customers and work really hard to stay on top of all our orders. We focus on trying to get orders out the same day or the next day. Until about 2 months ago it was just Kayla and I that did everything. We now have the help of our youngest sister Emily. We love what we have created with Happy Soul Sisters and hope for continuous growth and success!

Overall it’s been a smooth road but there have definitely been some struggles along the way. We both started this when we were in college and wanted to finish school so during those years it was hard to fully focus on Happy Soul Sisters. Kayla had been living at home so we were able to make it work and I was able to help with stuff from Athens.

We also both had to learn how to run a business along the way so there was a lot of trial and error. We had to learn the best tie dye techniques, how to find reliable wholesale vendors to buy from, and how to continuously grow our customer base. Once we both graduated college we knew this was what we wanted to do full time to really make it successful. We have definitely learned so much but our continuing to learn along the way. I think a lot of success comes from learning from mistakes.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many great places to go in the Atlanta area but some of our favorites would be the beltline, Alpharetta, and Lake Lanier. The beltline is so unique and has so many different places to eat and drink. We specifically love stopping by Ponce City Market for some shopping and then going to Ladybird for lunch and drinks. Brewdog is another one of our favorite sports bars that is great for big groups of people. Lingering shade is such a fun spot to grab some drinks. Downtown alpharetta is one of our favorite places to get dinner. There are so many great options for dinner. Pure is one of our favorite mexican restaurants, Renas is a great italian option, and Lapeer is awesome for steak and seafood. There are also so many fun places to get drinks and go out at night. Truck and tap has a fun outdoor atmosphere with live music. Up on the roof is a fun rooftop that overlooks DT alpharetta. Lastly, going to Lake Lanier is one of our favorite things to do especially in the summer. There are so many great restaurants on the lake. Pig tails, Pelican petes, and twisted oar are our favorites. The lake also has a huge waterpark to offer which is so much fun.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would love to dedicate our shoutout to our family and the University of Georgia. Our family has supported us since day one and has always encouraged us to follow our dream no matter what. Without our parents love and support we would not be where we are today. We took over their garage with our tie dye and basement with the rest of our inventory for over 2 years. They have helped us with tie dye, pop events and so much more. We owe them so much for helping with the success of Happy Soul Sisters. The University of Georgia/ Terry College of Business also deserves a huge shoutout. Our business classes at Terry taught us so much and helped us gain so much knowledge about marketing. The marketing department has also had us come back as guest speakers and allowed us to continue to share our story with students every semester. It is always such a full circle moment for us and we are always so honored to be back.

Website: https://shophappysoulsisters.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happysoulsisterss/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happysoulsisters?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@happysoulsisterss

Other: Tiktok- https://www.tiktok.com/@happysoulsisterss?lang=en