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

Hi Jharionne, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I launched JHA & Company in the junior year of my collegiate career at Georgia State University. I studied marketing and acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a certificate in professional sales. In many of my marketing courses, we discussed the growing e-commerce business sector.
I took extra courses and learned how to build the front end and back end of a Shopify store. For a while, I only sold trending products on Amazon but soon felt the need to build a brand around a trending niche.
I have always loved fashion and often find myself wearing athletic gear, so starting an athleisure wear clothing brand felt natural. I sourced products internationally and domestically that were stylish. The goal was to find clothes that could be worn for style and to the gym.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
One struggle we faced was slow online sales. To combat this issue, I started hosting pop-up shops on my college campus. Immediately girls on campus LOVED JHA & CO.

Every pop-up I completely sold out of my inventory. Word spread about the athleisure wear line and soon began hosting pop-up shops on other college campuses. Today we have hosted 50+ pop-up shops at various venues including Georgia State University, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, La Fitness, Orange Theory, One Life Fitness, and many more!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love that I have grown up here in Atlanta . I love the fact that there are so many young black entrepreneurs in the city of Atlanta. The success of the black community in Atlanta is seldom found in other parts of the United States which makes me proud to be from here!

So first I would take them to the popular black owned business Slutty Vegan. Afterwards I would bring them to my favorite club Havanna.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My Mom and dad helped me every step of the way in the process of starting my business!

Website: https://jhaandcompany.com/

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

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