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Meet K. Nicole of Crochet By K, Smudge Cosmetics & IAmKNicole in Lilburn

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Today we’d like to introduce you to K. Nicole.

K. Nicole, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I create handmade crochet clothing, accessories, baby items, home products, and more. I am also a fashion and beauty influencer on YouTube and Instagram. Lastly and most recently, I just launched my second business which is Smudge Cosmetics, and I create lip glosses, lip oils, body oils, glow drops, and more. I also sell lashes and lash adhesive. All of this started when I was a young girl. I was always obsessed with makeup and fashion. I was not the typical child that liked to play with toys all of the time, I was always getting caught playing in lotion and lipstick. I always knew that I wanted to have my own business because both of my parents are entrepreneurs, so that is basically how I was raised. I am an only child and I always had to find ways to entertain myself. You would always find me cutting up clothes, turning pants into a shirt, distressing denim, basically doing things that I had no business doing with brand new clothes from the store. I just wanted to add something extra to every piece.

When I got to high school, I had big dreams of starting a makeup line and a t-shirt line and I knew that I wanted to call it Smudge. I created the name and overall vibe for the logo when I was in 10th grade. I procrastinated a lot because I felt like I did not have the necessary tools and I struggled to find vendors for inventory. I then put my makeup dreams on hold and that is when I really started focusing on fashion. I wanted to go to college and study fashion because it was something that I was obsessed with for such a long time. I did so much research and I came across the Savannah College of Art and Design and I knew that this would be the school for me. By the time junior year came around and it was time for me to apply for college, I applied to SCAD and many other schools. I then realized that I also needed to create a portfolio for SCAD which could possibly contribute to a scholarship. I had to showcase my best work. Instantly I knew that this was the perfect opportunity and I wanted to create the first prototype for my Smudge t-shirt line. I wanted to do all of the fashion styling and I also wanted to do the photography because it was a new interest of mine that sparked during that time. I quickly designed my first t-shirt, got it printed by one of my friends from school that had a t-shirt business at the time, and I did my first fashion photoshoot on Krog Street in Atlanta. I was so proud of myself and I was in love with how everything turned out. I ended up getting accepted to SCAD with a $40,000 academic scholarship plus an additional scholarship for my portfolio. This felt like one of my greatest accomplishments.

It was not until my senior year in high school that I was actually able to decide whether I wanted to study fashion design or fashion marketing and management at SCAD. Naturally, I had characteristics of a businesswoman but creatively, I wanted to learn more about making clothes. A fun fact about me is that I actually hate sewing. I do not enjoy using a sewing machine at all. And once I learned that the curriculum for the fashion design program consisted of a lot of sewing it was very easy for me to make the decision to study fashion marketing and management. It was so crazy because one day, I decided that I wanted to make myself a blanket and I was so adamant about figuring out how I was going to do this. I was on YouTube browsing around, trying to find tutorials for something that looked exactly like what I wanted. I found a video and it was a crochet tutorial for a blanket stitch and I was immediately intrigued. I went out and bought all of the yarn and necessary materials and I spent hours in my room trying to learn how to crochet. After days of practicing nonstop, I had finally done my first few rows of the blanket and there was no stopping me. It got really out of hand to the point where I did not want this blanket to end! I kept going and buying more yarn and working on this blanket. That blanket ended up being about the size of a king size comforter and it was the heaviest thing ever!

Even though I did not plan for it to be so large, I was so proud of my work because I had made it with my own two hands. And that was the beginning of Crochet By K. I started out just creating blankets and scarves. I wanted to make clothes but I was so nervous about getting the measurements right. It was not until I got to college and I was taking intro to fashion design (which was a required class), that I decided I was going to make a crochet crop top and skirt for my final project. I accepted this challenge because I did not want to sew anything for that project. So I went back to YouTube to learn more about how to crochet for clothing and what the best stitches and yarn were. Once I figured out what I needed to do, I grabbed my materials and got to work. I was so shocked that I created actual clothing pieces. The outfit I created for that project landed me an A in the class after having a B all quarter. That is when I knew that I could do something fun and different. I realized that I did not have to sew or make clothes the traditional way in order to be relevant in the fashion industry. After that project, I started working on my first few crop top designs and I launched Crochet By K.

Interestingly, the same way I fell into crocheting was the same way I fell into being an influencer. I grew up modeling and doing hair shows in New Jersey which is where I am from. But there was a point where I did not want to do runway modeling anymore. I wanted to do something more personable and more rewarding for me. I was on YouTube looking up something and I ended up coming across a makeup tutorial. I had no idea that people were on the internet showing other people how they did their makeup, talking about which products to use, and telling everyone where to shop. I was immediately interested in this because it included everything I already loved to do. I loved getting dolled up and doing my makeup, I loved shopping obviously, and I loved taking pictures for Instagram which was starting to become really popular at this time. I watched a few people’s makeup tutorials and on that same day, I decided that I was going to start my YouTube channel. That is when IAmKNicole was born. I started off filming and editing videos on my iPhone 4s. I was so excited and anxious to get started, I did not have any other equipment at the time. I did not even have a computer with editing software. In the beginning, I did makeup looks with voice overs because I was nervous to speak to the camera. This was something so new to me but it was so fun and exciting. I eventually built up the courage to do a talking video and once I got comfortable with the camera you could not tell me anything. I was up all day and night filming 12-15 videos in one day. I was having so much fun being myself and creating content that I could look back on and be proud of. Today I am still creating content. I love to make vlogs and outfit of the day videos. I am so big on capturing moments and keeping them forever. I know that YouTube is a huge business now, but I still get the most reward from being able to look back at family memories and being able to look back at myself and seeing how much I have grown over time.

Most recently, after graduating from SCAD with honors and being home and “in the real world,” I had a full-circle moment when I decided that it was time to stop procrastinating. I always wanted a makeup line and at that point, I knew how to research vendors and find what I was looking for. I am always on YouTube watching other people’s fashion, beauty, and vlog content, and I unexpectedly stumbled across a video (I’m sure you can see a pattern here of how this usually goes for me) on how to make your own lip gloss. I was so fascinated because I was already making clothes and other items by hand and this aligned perfectly with what I already had going on. It was a random day in September that I got multiple crochet orders and I had just unexpectedly earned a decent amount of money in one day. I had no bills to pay and I thought to myself, “Is this a sign? Are you going to keep this money or are you going to invest it and finally start your new business venture?” I ended up doing so much research that week alone, I was finding all of the products, packaging, and ingredients that I needed to start my business and at that point, I was just adding everything to my cart. I had placed so many orders, there were so many packages being delivered to my house and I just knew my parents were looking at me like I was crazy. Once everything came in I was able to get to work and start experimenting with mixing lip gloss and I just fell in love with it. It is so fun to mix colors and find the right consistency and add all of the amazing scents to the product. I created my website and picked a launch date which was November 1, and I started promoting. I really pushed myself in a short period of time because I had procrastinated for such a long time. I knew that if this was something I really wanted to do, then I needed to take that risk and just get started.

Today, I now have a physical location where I sell my Crochet By K pieces, I sell my Smudge Cosmetics products, which have expanded to more than just lip gloss, and I film my YouTube videos, all in one space. All of the hard work and sleepless nights have definitely paid off and I am so grateful for where I am today, and this is only just the beginning.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been far from smooth, but like they say, good things do not come easy. To be completely honest, I know that if the road is too smooth, then I won’t get much out of the journey. One of my favorite artists Sir says “what’s a journey without the complications?” and that really resonated with me. Sometimes I get frustrated when things go wrong but at the end, I always realize that it happened for a reason. Some of the struggles that I face are the challenges of formulating products, this takes a while and it is honestly trial and error. I want all of my products to be perfect so I often have to rework them, start over and try again, and this process ultimately wastes a lot of product. But at the end it works out, I learn what the formula should be, and then I can release a new product to my website. When it comes to crocheting there are times when I make one simple mistake and that ruins a whole project. Adding one extra stitch in the wrong place can cause the whole piece to be wrong. When things like that happen, I literally have to rip out all of the stitches I spent so much time handcrafting and start over. This doesn’t happen often anymore because I’ve done it enough to learn, but I am human.

So sometimes I make mistakes, but the important part is that I always catch them and learn from it. And with YouTube, there are endless struggles that can occur. Technology can be so unpredictable, cameras and computers malfunction, software malfunctions. There are just so many factors that go into completing daily tasks that it is almost impossible for everything to be super smooth. Despite all of the struggles that happen, I am very hard on myself about not giving up. I get so frustrated sometimes because I am a perfectionist, and it is really hard to work when you are frustrated. But I always manage to pull through and going through a struggle always adds more value to the finished product. Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It requires a lot of patience, discipline, and structure. You also have to go into it knowing that something unexpected can always happen and that you most likely will experience bumps in the road. So that is the mentality that I have today and like I said, it is always so rewarding to see something that I created work out and receive good feedback.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Crochet By K, Smudge Cosmetics & IAmKNicole story. Tell us more about the business.
So at the moment, I have three businesses. I create handmade crochet pieces for my business Crochet By K, where I specialize in and I am known for my shag jackets. I create other clothing pieces, baby items, blankets and pillows, and more. I have Smudge Cosmetics where I specialize in creating lip gloss, but I also create body oils, lip oils, lip scrubs, and I sell lashes and lash adhesive. Lastly, I have my YouTube channel IAmKNicole where I create vlogs, fashion and beauty content.

I think what sets me apart from others is my drive and determination. I will literally stay up all night every night to get work done. A lot of people always ask me how I am able to juggle everything and I am so open with everyone that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for what you want. I am running three businesses with a small amount of help, so it is a challenge and it is very time-consuming. I lose a lot of sleep to make sure that I can plan events and new collections and finish orders. Some people are not willing and ready to make sacrifices. It is important to take care of yourself but it is also important to understand that sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get things done.

I am so proud of all of my businesses because I remember the day I started working on each of them. I am grateful that people enjoy what I create. And I am happy that I am so hands-on with everything because that was an important factor for me. I am the face of all three of my businesses and I have truly created things that I am proud of. I think I am most proud of the fact that I never gave up and I kept pushing to learn more and continue to make my products better.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t think I really believe in luck. I have been learning more and more each day that the universe knows what it is doing. I believe that everything happens for a reason, not just by luck. I am also a spiritual person and I believe that God does not make mistakes. So I am really starting to understand that there are meant to be good days and bad days because I have to learn from both in order to be well rounded. It is a blessing for me to even say that I graduated college and have three businesses. I don’t think I have ever experienced anything in my life or my business that I would consider to be luck, more like blessings!

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Image Credit:
Devin Gaston, Nicole Cosby, Gregg Perry, Cam Kirk Studios

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