"It’s all about function" she explains. "You’re going from one lifestyle where it was all about you and what you wanted to wear that day and how you wanted to look and now if I want to wear something that wants to be dry cleaned it needs to be on a day where I don’t have the baby." there’s just a lot of things that you have to think about.”
Before Jade got her start in her dream boutique, she moved to Washington DC to work in a consignment shop.
“I just was making them a lot of money, I just was bringing in a lot of new business for them and it just was kind of taking off I was very interested in it.”
When asked about her thoughts on the success she was creating Jade clarified her goal, “I loved it and I was making them so much money that it got to the point where I was thinking, ‘why aren’t I doing this for myself?’, so after that is when I started Jade’s Closet.”
Two years after graduating Villanova, with a degree in Humanities and minor in Communications, she began Jade's Closet in 2010. “Yeah, it happened very fast" she exclaims. After renting a space for $200 a month in Manayunk where she did appointment only and got her brand out into the Philadelphia fashion scene by going to shows, Jade got her own storefront in Wayne in 2013. Quickly adapting to her new ownership, Jade stopped doing a lot of shows and naturally gained customers.
Unexpectedly, Jade's Closet attracted a
different kind of crowd with stylish designs.
"Our most frequent customer is the
customer between their 50s and 70s, you know, and it was really surprising. I
was really surprised because that’s not what I was expecting coming into this
area you know I was definitely expecting the mom, someone like me.”
When
asked about her thoughts on such an interesting demographic she reveals a
secret!
“It’s so cool to see because that’s what I want to be
when I’m that age, it’s like I’m looking at myself in forty years.” She fads
over their leather jackets and sharp style, “it builds me!”
Older and still shopping at Jade’s Closet?
“I still hope I’m in my leather jacket, my
high-waisted jeans, and a button down. Classic. If I’m still doing that at 60 I
will be like in my prime.”
Surrounded by a luxurious yet fun boutique setting with pink, grey and fluffly pillows Jade fantasizes over her future self. I admire her outfit as she’s rocking the ultimate classic/edgy style with her black and white chiffon button up, black leggings and stylish flats. All from Jade’s Closet, of course! By the looks of her fashion forward yet classic undertone, she will be working her signature style for a long time.
For all who are looking
for that classic, stylish, always-on-point outfit, Jade’s Closet carries
designers (Mara Hoffman, Alexis, Joe's Jeans, 3x1
Denim, Day, Shae, 2nd Day, Sen, Asilio, Rails, and ATM) outfitting your
every need. Newcomers become returning customers, but, more importantly, a
friend of the Jade’s Closet family.
Building a business that ensures customers become
friends and the environment is welcoming and comfortable, Jade hopes to pass
down Jade’s Closet to her daughter Jasmine. Inspired by her love of flowers,
Jasmine is quite the stylish 15-month old taking after her mother. Listen up
new moms! Get all the trendy baby clothes from Gap, Zara Kids, J. Crew and vintage
classics at Shop Sweet Threads, don’t forget to support local boutiques!
How does super-mom, Jade Okere maintain a healthy
lifestyle balancing a booming boutique and mommy life?
“As I put my kid and my husband first, it also helps
to take care of myself. I want to feed my daughter super healthy so it’s
actually encourage me to start and I’ve actually fed my daughter avocado and
hummus on pita bread, if she was never born that would’ve never even came to my
house.”
Get on it mothers! There’s no McKy D’s runs for a
treat, rather healthy alternatives and the occasional chocolate chip cookie. Seems
like baby Jas is creating a healthy-eating lifestyle into the Okere household, “If
I introduced her to McDonalds or something like that she’s not going to eat
hummus anymore, so it’s all about what you introduce to them you know what I
mean?”
Yes, we do!
Completing an all-around life, momma Jade gets in her
exercise simply by carrying around Jasmine and chasing her around on her most
energetic days (which is a lot)! Don’t be fooled, Jade isn’t your normal
stay-at-home mom, she is a dedicated business woman and in doing so works hard
(loving what she does, of course!) so that her legacy lives on when she reaches
her prime 60 years of age!
“For me, and I think and it’s funny because I was just
watching a video with Jada Pickett Smith and her daughter asked her ‘what’s it
like to be a wife and a mother?’ and you know her answer in a sum of words is,
‘society expects women to be okay staying at home and women who are not okay
staying at home, they make you feel bad’”. Who needs that?! Frankly, Jade is a
tough business woman who knows what she wants, setting an inspirational persona
for females in the workplace.
Bold, ambitious, composed, Jade feels fulfilled
creating an eclectic boutique for a wide range of visitors. And for the
5-year-old who used to change her outfits three times a day, she definitely has
her eyes set on a goal, there will be nothing stopping this stylish
mom/boutique owner/fashionista from her dreams!
“Slow down, when an opportunity comes, you have to
take full advantage of it. You have to take full advantage of any opportunity
you have in life because you don’t want to look back and say, ‘I should’ve done
this, I should’ve done that, I should’ve worked harder’.”
Keep on keeping on, Jade! And always doing it in
style.
