Today we’d like to introduce you to Sankan Nyanseor.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m 5’11 and I wear a size 12 in women’s shoes. I was pretty tall for my age as a child and I’ve always had difficulty finding nice clothes and shoes that fit me correctly. Growing up, the lack of stylish clothes and shoes available in my size used to affect my self-esteem.
Because they weren’t making many of the fashionable clothes and shoes in larger sizes like mine, it made me feel like being my size was a bad thing and that it wasn’t attractive. I used to hate my body and I was embarrassed by the size of my feet. I remember avoiding certain types of shoes, like wedges, because I felt like they brought too much attention to the size of my feet. I just wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. It was very discouraging because I loved clothes and I loved shoes, but I couldn’t really enjoy shopping for them. I used to tell myself all the time that one day I would open a shoe store that catered to women with larger shoe sizes.
Fast forward to the present, the clothing industry has come a long way towards being more inclusive of people who wear larger sizes; however, the shoe industry still seems to be behind. So last year, in 2018, I decided to start my business, The Shoe Slay.
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I’ve had many struggles along the way mainly because I’ve never owned and operated a business before, and I don’t have a business background. My background is actually in Public Health. So basically, I’ve had to do a ton of business research on topics such as business structures, business taxes, business registration, trademarking, marketing, accounting, etc. There are so many components involved in running a business. It’s definitely an ongoing learning process. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, but I’ve learned from them and I’m becoming a better businesswoman every day! Currently, the most challenging part is that I’m still a new business and until my business begins to grow, I have to do pretty much everything myself when it comes to the operation of my business. I wear many hats! But I don’t have any complaints and I love what I do!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Shoe Slay is an online shoe store that specializes in providing fashionable and affordable women’s shoes in larger sizes 10-13. I understand that shoe shopping for women can be a very frustrating experience when looking for larger sizes because I go through it myself all the time. I personally have had to stick to mainly shopping online for shoes because most physical shoe stores don’t even carry a size 12. And even if by chance a shoe store offers large sizes in women’s shoes, there usually isn’t much variety in styles. With The Shoe Slay, I want to be able to provide those options for women who wear larger shoes sizes in an industry where there seems to be very little focus on extended shoe sizes for women. I hope to inspire confidence in women like myself and let them know that beauty is not limited by size and that includes shoe size. There is nothing wrong with having larger feet. In fact, many of the world’s most famous supermodels have larger feet! A great pair of shoes can do wonders for a woman’s self-esteem and I believe that all women should be able to experience that feeling regardless of their shoe size. I also want to make my customers happy by making their shoe shopping experience an enjoyable one!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely! Atlanta is the perfect place for a business like mine. Atlanta is a growing city with so much diversity. There’s plenty of opportunities and resources for new businesses to get started and to grow. In my opinion, the networking opportunities are really great in Atlanta.
Contact Info:
- Website: theshoeslay.com
- Email: theshoeslay@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshoeslay
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theshoeslay/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theshoeslay
Image Credit:
Pheauxtography by Blair Devereaux, The Refinery Loft Photography by Achsah Taziwa
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