Exploring Life & Business with De’Ja Gordon of Black Diamond Drill Team and Drum Squad

Today we’d like to introduce you to De’Ja Gordon.

Hi De’Ja, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Shopwithdeja is a collaborative fashionable items for both boys, girls, women and men. I am a young business owner (17) striving to provide the best for all my customers and providing all your fashion needs with the latest styles and of course affordable prices. No matter what age, we cater for you at a reasonable / affordable price. My business started in January 2020 during quarantine, I was (16) when I started this business. I always shopped with other people’s small businesses, but I just felt like I should have my own. What motivated me to start my business was myself and my father. Me and my father had the same thought but I brought out the vision. At first, I was just creating slippers and selling them for $13. Then I moved to selling glasses and it went up from there. I started doing pop-ups to get more exposure, I created business cards I just promoted myself whenever I can. I started doing deliveries as well because certain customers didn’t have a way to get to me. So I made a way to get to them! A year later, I created a website so all my clients across the world can shop with me. Starting my own website was challenging, I had to count my inventory, figure out shipping. It was just a whole new learning experience for me. I started gaining more followers and more clients because of my prices and the way I treated my customers. I always do my best when I’m dealing with any customer, I also give out deals sometimes to show my appreciation/ love. I work hard every day to make my business better.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, this has not been a smooth ride. I’ll say I do make it look easy, a major problem that I have sometimes is cash flow management. Sometimes I do not have the funds to do certain things for my business like getting new inventory for each season (fall, spring, winter and summer). I also do all the inventory like ordering products, putting the products up, keeping track of the products and making sure I’m never running low on products. Choosing what to sell is also another trouble, one time I spent 300 dollars on inventory and it did not do so well. That was a huge loss on me and my business. It’s a lot you have to do to keep a business running especially when it’s a small business, only 17 years old and still in High school. Since I’m in High school, I can not dedicate my whole time to my business, so certain nights I stay up late past 2 am sometimes just to make sure everything is fine with my website, customers and inventory. It’s a struggle but it’s a beautiful one and ill never give up on my business.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Black Diamond Drill Team and Drum Squad?
This is my mother’s organization, it was created November 30th, 1991. This organization is called The Black Diamond Drill Team and Drum Squad. I started when I was four, this organization has kept me busy and gave me many opportunities. It allowed me to travel and see new places, it showed me that I can be a leader and grow as a person. I am a captain on this team, and members on my team look up to me. We compete against other teams and battle for trophies, medals and cash prizes. My dedication, my motivation, my leadership, my focus and how I continue to push my team when they’re feeling down separates me from others. My brand is turning youth into feeling confinement about talent thats within and on this team I taught people from scratch how to drill and thats an amazing feeling to see someone accomplish something that was hard to them before. The Black diamonds accept kids ages four and up. We do parties, baby showers and so many more events.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I would say I don’t think they know everything that I’m involved in so many educational programs. For instance, I have AP classes, I’m in WIE (Women In Entertainment), I’m in the nursing field, I’m a co-captain for the Drill-Team at my school, I have honor classes. Also my religion, I pray heavily every day and night. When I’m having a hard time I pray, when something is going good I pray, I just pray about any and everything. I recently presented a statement for West Angles church on their platform that was going. Lastly, every week with some money I made, I will feed homeless people and give back to people in need.

Pricing:

• Bonnets $10
• Ethikas $14
• Ethika sets $25-$30
• Nike sets $30
• Self defense keychains $32

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://shopwithdeja.online/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopwithdeja_/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-Business/shopwithdeja_-116753273568856/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/shopwithdeja