Jayda Cheaves’ entrepreneurial journey started as a social media celebrity. She gained popularity by posting pictures of her everyday school outfits on social media and caught the attention of young women who had fallen in love with her style and appearance.
“I had all of these girls asking me where [I bought] this from, where [I bought] that from. So that’s when I was like, it’s time for me to turn these followers into some dollars,” she told Revolt.
“I started using my Poshmark. So all that stuff that I was wearing to school and on the weekends, I started reselling on Poshmark. And my stuff would sell out in seconds.”
Cheaves was working as a waitress and decided to quit so as to commit herself fully to her entrepreneurial journey. Instead of selling clothes on Poshmark, she decided to launch her own website, marking the beginning of her journey into entrepreneurship.
In addition to selling clothes, she also sold hair. “[From] 2016 [to] 2018, I made $2.5 million, and that was just off of hair,” she said. “That wasn’t my clothing website, other people, nothing. My numbers always change though.”
Four years down the line, Cheaeves, who was born and raised in Georgia’s Savannah, says she wants to be a billionaire in the next five years.
“I just see so many young people doing it. I feel like I could really do it if I stay with this mindset I have now and this path that I’m on,” she noted in her interview with Revolt. “I really see it happening for me because I look up to people like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna — they’re young. They’re not far-fetched from what I’m doing now. Hopefully, I can just have what I’m doing now amplified times a thousand in five to ten years from now.”
In a 2018 interview with Rollingout, she gave a hint of how she intends to achieve her billionaire status. According to her, she wants to have stores all over the world. “I want a hair salon, a store [and] a spa, all in one. I want it to be, like, two stories. That way it will literally be a one-stop shop,” she noted.
For young entrepreneurs who want to be like her, Cheaves’ advice is that they should remain consistent and be themselves.
“Focus on you and you only,” she stressed. “Don’t let the hate distract you. Don’t even let the positive distract you because sometimes [if] people [get] caught in the positive, they get ahead of themselves. I was at that point one time.”
