Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalyssa Richardson.
Jalyssa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I own two small businesses and both were birthed out of my own need. As a teenager, I loved fashion but didn’t have the means to keep up with the trends. Thrifting wasn’t trendy in Cali at this point and it embarrassed me to have to go shopping that way. My grandmother had some really dope clothes from the 80s and I started digging through her closet to recreate her old pieces… make them a bit more trendy. I’d take scissors and new buttons and rock those vintage sets as if they were 2000s trendy. This became a passion and thrifting to recreate vintage was my hobby. I loved it so much I decided fashion school and creating my own fashion line were the goal. As I have gotten older, I have developed a love for sustainability and saving my coin. Pairing that with my love for fashion and style led me to often creating unique looks out of old clothes. Turning someone’s trash into my treasure. My personal wardrobe has been filled with recreated vintage pieces but I always dreamt of making that available to other women. Women whom, like myself, weren’t afraid to stand out and set a trend.
During the pandemic, I finally found the time to dive into building my small shop and Xo Threads was born July 2020. Seeing women of all ages, ethnicities, and body types slay my reworked vintage clothes; truly makes my heart happy. Photography… when I was becoming a mother, I was so bothered that I didn’t have many memories from my own childhood, especially pictures. My husband got me a camera and I taught myself photography and editing. I loved creating memories with my son and started reaching out to friends to create memories for them also. What a blessing to give families the very thing I longed for! At this point, it was all for free and for fun. I simply wanted to freeze moments that families could gaze upon for a lifetime. Little by little, opportunity after opportunity, Xo Jalyssa Photography was birthed. Still fun, same heart and vision, but now it is a part of my entrepreneur journey and every single client I photograph I fall in love with their story. I think you can see that in my captures.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Hell naw, to the naw naw naw. Haha! It has been a journey. Being self-taught is always a challenge. Having very little resources to build yourself into a self-made entrepreneur is definitely a challenge. Now let me add I am a homeschooling mother of four (+ one in the womb), and a military wife that has to move when the Air Force says go. The road has been anything but smooth. I have had to learn time management like never before. How to be financially literate and responsible. Make so many sacrifices to sow into myself and my vision. There has been a lot of L’s. But truly, I have turned them into lessons. God has really kept me sound-minded through this journey and whenever the bumps make the road seem too dreadful to trek, He reminds me of my vision because I truly believe the vision came from Him.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Xo Threads is all about conscious, vintage fashion. It was birthed from a place of wanting to stand out and wanting to stand up. Stand out because each piece is uniquely its own kind. Vintage pieces reworked into something new. Stand up because I believe in making conscious choices. Shopping resale or vintage is very sustainable. When I am sketching up the reworked design for my seamstress, I have the everyday woman in mind. The working woman that is tired of the same ole work attire. The curvy woman that wants her curves to be accentuated. The petite woman who wants that perfect fit. The mama who wants to slay even in the thick of motherhood. My clients that I style and the customers that wear my clothes are these women and so many more. Seeing them feel confident and slay in every season of life is why I love what I do. Xo, Jalyssa Photography is truly about freezing a special moment for a lifetime of memories. I read this quote once that summed up my heart for getting behind the camera. “A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.” -Annie Leibovitz whether I am styling an editorial style shoot, taking product photos for a small business, capturing the beautiful moments of childbirth, photographing a family, whatever it is that is in front of my camera… I have fallen in love with telling that story.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Networking and having community is so important as an entrepreneur/small business owner. I am always eager to learn and so I seek out the wisdom of the seasoned. Men and women who have been where I am. We can always find someone who has a similar heart and desire to ours. Even when the vision and the purpose are unique, because YOUR vision & purpose is always unique, the heart and the drive can match up. I have shadowed many photographers. I have sat with a notebook on zoom or at a coffee shop in front of incredibly hard-working entrepreneurs. Seek them out. Find someone that is seasoned with wisdom and experience. Be a student of their lessons and steward well the golden nuggets they lay before you. We always hear that we should surround ourselves with like-minded people… but I’d add that we should soak in the wisdom of the seasoned.
Contact Info:
- Email: Jalyssa @xothreads.com
- Website: xothreads.com
- Instagram: @xojalyssa @xothreadsvintage @xojalyssaphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xothreads https://www.facebook.com/xojalyssaphotography
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XQktuVFFk4
Image Credits
Xo, Jalyssa Photography
