Jennifer & Jasmine

What is your connection to the San Gabriel Valley?

Jennifer has been around the Valley from a young age. She would ride the avocado heights trail on horseback and attend city industry annual management course events.

Jennifer just loves the area and continues to bring her children here to explore and experience the valley.

Jasmine’s connection is that from 8 to 18, she lived and grew up in Bassett, and she graduated from Bassett high school.

What is it that you do?

In July of 2021 they launched an online boutique that tries to cater to most sizes for women. Their goal is to empower women by giving them a way to feel good about themselves.

It’s not the most common thing for online women’s stores to have that size inclusivity. That’s what they thought the market was missing: that women needed more choices.
 

How did the business come about?

Both Jennifer and Jasmine have always loved playing with clothes.

Jennifer was out of work because of Covid, and then Jennifer asked Jasmine to come and help.

Something else that really inspired the business was this fashion show that Jennifer attended that was for homeless women.

Different stylists donated clothes to women in need, and Jennifer got to do the make-up for the women in the show. She got to see firsthand the transformation the woman went through.
 

How would you describe the single most important purpose of your business?

The value of the business is empowering women in feeling good about themselves.

When Jennifer got to go to that fashion show, she was working as a sales executive. She was working in skin care.

After all the sales dried up because of Clovis, Jennifer moved on to other things.
 

What does Jasmine do?

Jasmine wanted to start a children’s boutique, but it was a bit much to do alone.

Jennifer and Jasmine were kind of estranged cousins because of divorce and moving.

Jasmine works on marketing and the tech behind the boutique.

The online Boutique is basically where the designs help women make outfits from the clothes online. They’ve learned a lot because this is all new to them, so they need to learn fast.

This is also their side job. They are also full-time moms as well. They have both committed to this passion project.

Thankfully the platforms they’ve been using have been really user-friendly. They also have been partnering with women-run businesses, and that support has been helpful.
 

What was that difficult time in your life?

Jennifer had a point in her life when she experienced homelessness. Thankfully for her, it was not a chronic condition in-like thousands. After she entered a homeless shelter, she got help.

It was a mix of mental health and youth. There were several factors involved, and they just moved to California with 800 dollars.

After they spent time at the shelter, one of Jennifer’s cousins helped her get an apartment with a small loan. After that help up, they were good.

Pain is not a thing to compare. Both Jennifer and Jasmine have had hard times. Though they were different, they were both very valid and led to their partnership.

One goal for Jennifer and Jasmine is to have the ship fully online and to start to come to events like farmer’s markets and do live events and places where they can do these experiences.