Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabrielle Wilks, MBS.
Hi Gabrielle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story with heels started when I was young. Growing up, my family members like my mother, my grandmother, and my grandfather always had a large collection of “going out shoes” or just church shoes and they always had a pair of shoes to match a particular outfit. I can remember moments of my childhood where shoes played a significant role. For example, on Saturdays or on slower days during the week, I would sit on the stairs with my grandfather and my uncle and watch/help them clean and shine their shoes. From that, I learned the importance of caring for real leather shoes or just shoes in general. I also remember sneaking into my mother’s closet and making a seat in the corner to sit and admire her collection. I’d always rub my fingers on the different patterns and even at a young age notice the difference in hues and shades and it was extremely intriguing to me. With all of that growing up, whenever it came to me buying new shoes, my favorite part was never sneakers for back to school it was always shopping for heels (or a fancy boot). The household I grew up in was very Christian and Sundays were the highlight of our week. I always wanted to be in some sort of a heel or dressy shoe like the adults I was surrounded by. That constant admiration for footwear stuck with me throughout childhood well into my teenage years.
Fast forward to college, I attended Virginia State University an HBCU in Virginia where that same “Sunday’s Best” outfit experience from the royal court was familiar to me. I got to dive in even deeper and start my personal heel collection. Every weekend I looked for a new heel but it had to be something that was unique mechanically or visually. With that now becoming a hobby, I left my first semester of college with 13 new heels. One thing that always bothered me in searching for the perfect heel to buy was that the styles I initially wanted would rarely go as high as a size 11/12. Even when stores had my sizes, I would still wish to alter them in some way. After that experience, I told myself one day I would design my own heels with a focus on making sure my size was always in stock for others like me. After college, due to the pandemic we were rushed home and I didn’t unpack fully until the summer of 2020. I was finally able to sit back and see the large number of heels I had acquired over the years and quickly realized I never kept count even though the running joke among people that knew me was that I have 100s of heels. With nothing to do after recently graduating and a pandemic, I decided to count my heels and I had 123 pairs. That catapulted me into making my own design based on the things I noticed that I would change of my own personal heel collection.
Throughout the process of designing, sampling, manufacturing, etc., I knew that my goal with the shoes would be very simple. I wanted my designs to be one of a kind, I wanted them to be multipurpose, I wanted them to encourage people to not conform to a certain standard that a type of heel puts you in.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing worth having is ever easy. It was by no means a smooth road. Right up until the night of my launch, I was in my garage praying and wondering if I should even continue with it. Some of the greatest struggles for me was quality control and building a genuine rapport with my customers without all the fluff of today’s “luxe” social media. I conducted about five walkthroughs the week I finally got my first collection shipped in and ended up losing 51% of my first batch of inventory because I knew I only wanted my customers to buy 100% Shihirah. It was heartbreaking to say the least but I knew it would pay off in the long run because I was true to my brand and to my customer’s experience. As a business owner, specifically a small Black business owner, I wanted a priority to be great customer service by all means. I’ve seen so many horror stories about small business boutiques I was hellbent on always providing my customers with not only a quality product but a quality customer experience.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In 2020, I graduated from Virginia State University with a double major in Biology & Mathematics and I went on to graduate with a Master in Biomedical Sciences from Geisinger Commonwealth University in 2021. Currently, I work at a Consulting Firm in Atlanta as a Business Technology Analyst. In addition to my occupation, I also hold several board seats for organizations based in community service, leadership development, and alumni relations.
My greatest goal is to pursue a medical career that will hopefully subside the barriers of health care literacy in overlooked and misunderstood communities. Studies regarding cultural differences have found that, unattended to, cultural differences between doctors and patients can result in conflict, decreased patient satisfaction, or misdiagnosis. Often, representation is misinterpreted as being just for people that look alike; however, I believe it is to offer help to those that may not be able to relate or understand. I want to represent patients by making people feel comfortable expressing themselves regardless of cultural boundaries.
As I continue to pursue my many passions, I intend to build a trusted team for Shihirah that will run the everyday operations this will allow me more time to focus solely on designing heels and making key decisions.
As I reflect on my accomplishments, I am most proud of my work ethic. My work ethic has allowed me to not just be a designer visually but ensure that my heels are being designed with comfort in mind from the outsole to the insole. I equip myself with the knowledge that makes me the perfect source for my product. Although my work ethic has come with a lot of responsibility, it has allowed me to manage gracefully and has placed me in positions my 13-year-old self could only dream about.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Many times people aren’t sure how to pronounce the brand or the name catches their interest and they want to know what’s the story. It’s pronounced “Sha – he-ra”. It derives from the Arabic Word “Shahirah” which means Popularizer or to bring popularity to something. My mother was given that name by an acquaintance who believed that the child she was carrying had something special about her and so she included it in my name. I believe its power has spoken volume over my life and I pray that God allows its power to generate volume for my business in the same way.
Pricing:
- Maiya $120
- Joan $120
- Lynne $145
- Toné $115
Contact Info:
- Email: info@shihirah.com
- Website: shihirah.com
- Instagram: shihirah
- Facebook: facebook.com/shihirah
Image Credits
Chad F Lucas Photography Inari Briana (Tre Native) Jhadee Gordon Da’Shunnda Hayward-White Rhesa Smith Caleshia Dunstan
