On this week’s Let’s Talk About… episode, Elise sits down with Kim Hickman.
Kim Hickman has been devoted to empowering women by way of her company, DIOSA Designs Inc. As the founder, she is conscious of her leadership role and thoroughly enjoys all aspects of owning a business with her daughter, Katie Thompson. Along with being a thriving businesswoman and devoted philanthropist, she is the Executive Director of her family foundation and stays connected to My Melody School in Guatemala.
Elise and Kim talk about her entrepreneurial journey, promoting sustainable fashion and empowering women all around the world.
“It’s all about supporting women on many different levels, In our own backyard and globally, my thinking is that everybody likes to have a little bit of support. Everybody’s to have a little bit of recognition.” Kim tells Elise on Let’s Talk About.
Check out the show transcript below.
[00:00:00] Elise: Hi everyone, and welcome. This week let’s talk about Diosa with its founder, Kim Hickman.
Hi Kim.
[00:00:07] Kim: Hi Elise. How are you?
[00:00:08] Elise: I’m good, thanks. Thanks so much for being here today.
[00:00:11] Kim: Oh, thank you for having me on your podcast.
[00:00:14] Elise: Super cool. Yeah, I I love doing this series with Behind the Brand and talking to the founders of the brand that are in the popup. So for those listening, Kim’s Line Diosa is in our Niagara on the Lake popup.
For the month of October when this podcast goes live, and she has some amazing products, and we’re gonna talk about the products today as well. But what we really wanna hear about is about the brand story and about Kim, your story. So why don’t we start there with, you know, how you got to this place of designing this, this line with your daughter.
[00:00:49] Kim: Okay, great. Thanks. Yeah, we, I mean, everyone loves to tell their story cuz you know. Yeah. It’s such a fun, wonderful story, that I love sharing because it really does, um, make people feel like warm and fuzzy because it’s a mom and d daughter, you know, kind of idea that came to fruition and, you know, I, I feel so proud to love that.
Yeah. And it’s a feel for, you know, and, and the easy thing is I’ve started a business. Like 25 years ago with my mom and Oh really? They didn’t know that. Had a franchise called Once Upon a Child and I think,
[00:01:23] Elise: oh my gosh, that’s you and your mom. That’s so, I had no idea. It’s funny. I was gonna say, people, whenever people come to the store and we tell them about dso, one of the first things we say is it’s a mother daughter team.
And you’re right. People like. Love that kind of family coming together and female coming together, but I had no idea that You’re like a generational mother and daughter. Uh, story .
[00:01:43] Kim: Yeah. Yeah. So it’s kind of what we do. Mothers daughters get in business. Yeah.
[00:01:47] Elise: Oh, tell us more about that. Sorry, I interrupted you, but go ahead.
I’d love to hear more about that.
[00:01:51] Kim: Yeah, not at all. Uh, yeah, so, you know, my mom, my kids were one and three and that’s when I really started my entrepreneurial journey. Uh, cuz I had always worked in kind of the social helping, um, kind of environment. And then mom and I decided to buy a franchise and we knew nothing about business. I’d never taken a business course I did sociology, which I figure is still useful. It’s a study of human behavior in society. So yeah, I think that all works into the business mode, but I never took a business course, so it was all new to me and, we had so much fun. It was seven years my mom had had this new and used children’s, Store and it was, you know, from clothing to, Well, if anyone’s ever been there, you’ll know that it’s, you know, all kinds of different things.
So it had a life. By the time, you know, my kids were eight, they were, they’d grown outta the store. , I couldn’t dress them before.
[00:02:38] Elise: So ,
[00:02:40] Kim: there’s no clothes coming in to fit them. Yeah. But anyways, and then I took, you know, other different journeys. Starting businesses and I worked for government and so I’ve had like this really interesting kind of life of careers, but this particular business, um, was really, it was, while it’s the mother daughter one, it’s a little bit different in that we started with an idea, you know, like it really was 2017.
I kind of called up my daughter. And I said, Katie, you know, what are you using for a backpack? And she said, Oh, I don’t know. It looks like a boy’s backpack. It’s not very nice. And I’m like, Oh, I’m going to meetings. And cuz I had another business at the time, I rented office space and did virtual offices in St.
John’s, Newfoundland and I rented boardroom. So I had a, a business going, but I was always going to meetings and didn’t feel like I had anything that looked professional and, and classy. Mm-hmm. . And, uh, anyways, we just started talking to women and then I had. In my living room, backpack Yaks, and I went on Facebook and I put out there to, I think it was 120 women who I had somehow connected with on Facebook and said, I’m having a backpack yak in my living room.
Would you like to come? 60? Said, I wanna talk to you. And 30 women showed up in my for no reason, came to talk about a back. Oh my gosh. And I went, Oh my God, there’s my market research. Because yeah, they, they, they want to talk about it. Right. It was great.
[00:04:02] Elise: How often is it that you find people that are, that like, willing to give of their time?
Like, so there’s a passion there in terms of Well, cuz the, the backpack is like, so has like a functional place for a woman too, right? So anyway, keep going. That’s crazy. So backpack y you just meant like, we, we wanna come and talk about backpacks.
[00:04:21] Kim: I said, I’ll give you some wine . Yeah. Have some wine and picks.
And I put them into focus groups cuz I, I kind of knew I better get a bit organized about this. So I had a list of questions, you know, what do you use currently? What would you like to use? What’s your favorite brand? You know, if you had a backpack, what would you want in it? Uh, what don’t you like about backpacks?
And we did a really good solid survey and then we went to work. So I found a designer. Actually a Newfoundlander, funny enough lives in Quebec. Lean Avery and super talented woman, uh, she’d been living in Quebec for many years, but we have a lot of connections. Her mom knew my mom, her mother had a store Da
Okay? Cause Newfoundland’s very small and we’re all connected somehow. And I said to Leanne, Would you help me design a tech pack? Cuz that was. That’s her background. And, uh, she had just left a j um, finished with a, a job she’d been with a company. So she was kind of ready for work and, uh, she helped me brand it and I, she said, What, what do you want this to be?
I said, I want it to be an amazing, the ultimate backpack for women. And I want something that. Is like a purse, but it’s bigger than a purse. I want like a piece of luggage, but I want it smaller than a piece of luggage. And it just had to have a whole bunch of things going on, which was, you know, the functionality as you described.
So there’s a USB port, so you can put a little battery in there to charge your phone if you’re on the go train and all of a sudden your phone’s dying, which happens to me all the time. All the time. And there’s a key leash. Your, your keys stay in the same little pocket. They’re on little leash, so you never lose them.
Your laptop. Fits in there up to a 15 inch and the, the backpack straps, you know, that was something that I was really conscious of because this was gonna be, you know, a nice size. And women were gonna be carrying it on their shoulders. And we use a lot of the metaphor of, you know, let us help you carry the load.
Mm-hmm. , we use that a lot because this bag does a lot of things, uh, using it metaphorically and literally. I had an occupational therapist help me design the, across the, the, the breadth of the woman’s back. She helped me, you know, gave me, we got measurements and it doesn’t make any difference what size any woman is.
We still all have a similar bone. We have a bone structure, female bone structure. Okay? So this, this padding and this distribution of weight across the back of the strap was really important to me because women do carry a lot. And if we’re mothers or if we’re, you know, working, if we’re gardening, if we’re physical, you know, We carry a lot of stuff.
So we wanted this to be a, ergonomically fitting bag as well. And then, you know, we talked about, well, how do we give back? Because, you know, I do a lot of volunteer work in my life and I spend a lot of time Guatemala. And I had, uh, a company that I started with two other women, like a Habitat for Humanity Company and it was called Give Get Go.
And we took teams of people to Tanzania and Guatemala to build orphanages and classrooms. So it was set up like Habitat for Humanity. The only difference is we would carry on afterwards and build in an r and r tour, and I met these two partners. One in Chile on a Habitat for Human Bill and another one in Malaysia, uh, on a Habitat.
We became really good friends, three of us, and they happened to be from Toronto. Like what are the chances?
[00:07:40] Elise: Yeah!
[00:07:41] Kim: So we, we go to Guatemala quite a bit to Bill’s school. So when I was down there, you know, many times, uh, you know, I said to the principal who’s a friend of mine, Igor, I said, I wanna give back to the women in Guatemala.
Like, cuz I’m really close to the women and. He said, Well, you know, weaving is a way of life and it’s a tradition and they’re, we’re trying to, you know, teach it to the young children so we can keep the tradition going. It’s called backs strap weaving. So I went down and met with one of the empowerment centers and, well, I went to a bunch of them, Katie and I went a couple of times.
I went a couple of times and I found one called Ka Hoya and it’s in the Lake District and, uh, it’s a little teeny weeny town and. There. I met the women and sat on the floor when they were weaving and saw how they wo. So we asked them to design, make a design, and make some little bags for us, and with those bags.
Um, actually I think when I told you when we first met that we had, uh, ve at the Niagara, uh, uh, the cat and show, um, Yeah, yeah. There was a, an event that, you know, I had been there and you were of course working with the Pearl Pink, Pearl Pink Pearl. Canada. And so we had sold some of these little Guatemala bags and that went toward Pearl, right?
Yeah. So I’m trying to, it’s like a big circle. I’m supporting the women in, in Guatemala by purchasing their product. Then we sell it, and then the proceeds we get back to Pink Pearl or other organiz. Yeah. So it’s, it’s all about supporting women on many different levels. So it it, you know, in our own backyard and globally, that, that’s kind of my, my thinking is that everybody.
Everybody likes to have a little bit of support. Everybody’s to have a little bit of recognition. And I think if women don’t do that for each other, you know, I, I don’t think you’re a good person. You know, I think, I think that’s what we need to do. No, I think, you know, Yeah. And everyone feels good about giving back.
Like no one ever feels crappy cuz they
[00:09:35] Elise: Absolutely. And I think now, like we all, are happy to buy pro, Everyone needs to buy products, right? For whatever. Reason it is. And so that storytelling behind it mm-hmm. of this is who it’s also gonna help. Um, it has a feel good effect Absolutely. When you’re approaching that product.
And I think oftentimes will make, at least for myself, I know like, Will make me buy product A over product B. Mm-hmm. . Um, there’s another vendor in our store right now, Carly, with Paper Script, who has a give back to, um, a, a charity that I believe helps women who’ve lost, uh, children during pregnancy. I forget what it, I wish I remember what it was called, but.
I like went online to buy those, even though we have other cards in the store, I went online to buy that specific set this weekend. Right. Because I think there’s that if I need, and especially if I need the product anyway. Mm-hmm. , can I pick like A over B? Right. Like is is that kind of, for me, that becomes a decision point in my purchasing journey, I guess.
But it seems like for you, Also was just very much weaved into the person that you are. Right? Like, so can you tell us a little bit about that? Like how did you, did you just, was your growing up, was your mom very kind of charitable? Like where did that come from? Cause you, you gotta start somewhere with
[00:10:58] Kim: it, right?
Like Absolutely. Yeah. My mom was a very big volunteer. She was stay home mom, but she was involved in everything. And my dad, uh, was a business owner. He had a career franchise. And he was all about giving back to the community. It was always that, because, you know, my parents said, you know, we’re very fortunate, we’ve done very well, but it’s because of the community of people who support us in business.
Right. And, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just the right thing to do. And that’s how I was, I was raised, you know, it’s, it’s good to do. Things for other people because, you know, we should thank ourselves every day for what we do have. And, and yeah, why not help someone else? So, so the whole name Diosa, which means goddess in Spanish was, came from, of course, Mike Guatemala.
Uh, experience and love and, and my designer, you know, Leanne and I, you know, she said, Well, let’s, let’s use a Spanish influencer or Spanish words. And so DSA means goddess and Spanish and went, Oh my God, that’s so perfect. We’re all goddesses. Why not? And uh, yeah, everything kind of. But the symbol inside the O of Diosa is taken from the mine symbol of the star.
And I had asked the, you know, my friend Igor, to give me some symbols, may symbols. So I try to weave into this, you know, kinda western kind of Latin, um, feeling, because that’s, . That’s my, that’s all my love. Like mm-hmm. , you know, anybody else that may not mean as much. Although, it’s funny when people see my bag oza, they say I’m Spanish.
That means
[00:12:30] Elise: goddess people. Yeah. People do notice. I feel like, yeah, people do ask that. Um, some people ask what the meaning is, and then some people already kind of know, which is very cool. Yeah. Yeah. And so how did it come to be that your daughter, obviously, you know, you mentioned the conversation that you had about her needing a backpack, but then how did it come to be that she was involved in the.
[00:12:51] Kim: So she, uh, she’s a journalist and communications really is, you know, she’s a great communicator and beautiful writer. And so she was, doing some marketing for a startup. And then she kind of said to me, cuz I was starting, it was just, you know, didn’t, startups never have a lot of money. So in the beginning it’s like, you know what it.
Can I pick your brain or you know, let’s you know if I need to make some decisions, do you wanna help me make them? And yeah, so it started off kind of organically and then she came on board for a year and a half. And so now we’ve kind of looked at the company and she’s like, I think I wanna get some more experience, like doing account management and some other things.
And I said, Will you go and do some of that? She’s always gonna be with Diosa and always work with me. So now she’s kinda learning some new things that she thinks you. Maybe down the road she’ll bring back to DSA or maybe she’ll move on and, and do that. So, you know, the, the company is based on my passion, you know, it was me who wanted to start it and just, she was just such a, a beautiful support for me along the way.
And an inspiration because I, you know, I wanted her to see that, you know, this can be so much more like the brand Yeah. Is, yes, is a backpack, but it’s really. Supporting people. And I don’t even like too much the the women thing, although we use it cuz I’m a woman. I’m a woman. I designed the bag for woman.
I’ve designed it for me. But we like to give back to everyone. And now we find that there’s actually lots of men buying our bag because Oh yeah,
[00:14:22] Elise: they’re very. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The styles very much unisex, I would say are for everyone. Exactly.
[00:14:29] Kim: Yeah. Yeah. So even though I do a, you know, it’s, it’s a women focused, um, brand.
Mm-hmm. , you know, I, I do like to say that we’re inclusive of all genders, you know, that we don’t exclude anybody, obviously. Um, so it’s interesting cuz Katie, you know, every now and then I’ll just say, Hey, I gotta, you know, what are we gonna do about this? Or do you get an idea? And she’s like, Yeah, yeah. Okay.
How about this and that. So, uh, Business center. She’ll always be part of Diosa. But it’s interesting, like anybody who’s gone into business, I started with a lot of stuff going on and now we’re. So we started in 2019 and it didn’t get going till 2020, right in the middle of Covid. I carried a very big staff all through, through Covid.
Mm-hmm. , and, uh, I’ve kind of skinny the company down a little bit now because I think everybody gave me what I needed to get the brand out there and get it going. Yeah. And now I’ve got a few people on staff. Uh, we’re just kind of running it ourselves and, you know, see what happens. It’s an e-commerce company.
Uh, but of course with your. Shop was beautiful opportunity because it’s a touch and feel bag. Yeah. And people, you know, you see it online but you have no idea until you, There’s
[00:15:36] Elise: so much to talk about with it. Yeah. I, I was in the store the other day and talking to someone about it and I was looking at AJ just saying, Did we cover everything?
Cuz there’s so much to this. I forget. I love to, Can you talk, you know, you’ve talked a lot a bit. The support you give to other women’s groups in in Guatemala, and I’m personally really interested in Guatemala, so we’ll maybe come back to that. But you also have a big focus on the environment and you, a part of your give back is there as well.
Can you talk to us a little bit about that and why that was so important
[00:16:08] Kim: to you? Absolutely. So the whole sustainable, uh, product was, was important. And, you know, recognizing fast fashion and, you know, I, I would never want someone to buy this and go, Oh, I don’t want this. Oh, and I’m gonna throw it away, or whatever.
You know, we have a one year guarantee, like, you know, you, if you’re not happy with this, we want to know, because I, I don’t want people clogging up their, their, you know, closet with all these bags they never use. That doesn’t make sense. So that’s why we made it such a functional bag cuz we hoped it would maybe solve the problem of a lot of carry bags that we’d bring it all together to one.
Mm-hmm. . And so when we looked at, you know, the types of textiles, uh, you know, we looked at vegan leather because, um, there’s many types of vegan leather and this one is a PE source. Now I’m not an expert in textiles, but what I do know is, Of all the vegan leathers, it’s less chemically treated. And so we try to go with that.
We, you know, we strive for sustainability. We’re not perfect. Uh, but the liner inside the bag is made out of, 20 water, recycled water bottles. Mm-hmm. so that, you know, we, we felt good about, Okay, we’re. We’re making efforts to make this bag the best possible bag we can make right now. And it was our first one, so, you know, we got lots of learning.
Uh, eventually I would love to have a hundred percent compostable bag. Like if I thought the zippers and the buckles and the textiles, if it ever wore itself out, ended up in landfill, it would just go right into the ground. That’s my dream eventually to do that. Very cool.
[00:17:39] Elise: Yeah, so we. Did I tell you that? I know, I think I mentioned to you that I have a friend who has a compostable, clothing line.
Yes, yes. Since I talked to you. So the line is called Kent, and since I talked to you, they actually went on Shark Tank and got an investor. So I feel like this idea of compostable clothing, accessories, et cetera, is very much in our, you know, Maybe in clothing is already here, to your point about zippers and buckles in the future in some capacity.
So not an unachievable thing. Right. Very cool that you’re thinking already towards that.
[00:18:15] Kim: Yeah. So we’re, you know, we’re getting there. It’s, it’s like anything, you know, even buying organic produce is more expensive. Yeah. Because, It’s not the run of the mill. Right? Yeah. And so buying, you know, organic materials or textiles is always more expensive because it’s not the run of the mill.
So, Yeah. You know, it, it’s, it’s been a challenge for us to kind of look for the textiles that we, we think we’d like to have. The, the other thing about the, um, Oh, oh. So we just got our B Corp certification, which is amazing. We’ve been waiting to get that. And for those people who don’t know what it is, you should look it up.
So it’s B Capital B C O R P. So the B Corp certification basically is businesses for Good, and there’s about 4,500 in the world, I think right now. Patagonia, Eileen Fisher. Ben and Jerry’s like all these big name brands, they’re B Corp certified, and it was quite a process. We were a year and a half.
There’s a lot of work. I don’t know if you know more. Yeah,
[00:19:16] Elise: I’ve heard, well, just through that same friend I mentioned, they’re B Corp certified as well, and so I’ve heard. It’s quite a process. ,
[00:19:23] Kim: it’s, but you know, I, I did it right when I was building the company, so it was great cuz my pillars and, and my values and, you know, mission statement and, and vision is based on the pillars that we got from becoming a B Corp.
Oh, amazing. Yeah. So, you know, everything we do, we think about people, planet, profits, that, that’s kind of the three piece of B Corp. So when we make a decision in a meeting, we’ll say, okay. How’s it affecting, affecting people? How’s it affecting planet? How’s it, how’s it affecting our profit? Cause all those things are what you need to run a business.
And, and the, the, the whole thing about the B Corp is we need to commit 2%, give back of our sales and we give 1% back to women. So this could be in any kind of form, could be product, could be my, my staff are, um, are volunteering. Like we take all these kind of hours and we kind of make it a 1% give back.
Women Guatemala, the Pink Pearl, we’re doing something now with breast cancer awareness month this month. Um, the other 1% is 1% for the planet. And we actually joined that as a member cuz they’re, they’re an actual entity. And so we give 1% of our. To this organization and we get to pick where this goes.
So we pick, Oh, cool. A water source in, in a country. It escapes me now what the name of the country is. I didn’t look it up before. Now . But anyways, it is our, our, our give back to, the environment. So B Corp does keep you, What I like is the accountability, right? Like we said, we’re gonna do it and we’re gonna do it.
Mm-hmm. , cause we corp. Mm-hmm. , there’s no lip service. We actually will follow through. So that’s, that’s our environment. Kind of give back and, and, you know, Yeah, we we’re, we’re pretty conscious about that.
[00:21:12] Elise: Yeah. Very conscious when you were going through not only the vegan leather, but there is the one backpack in the line that’s made of all pieces of leather that would’ve gone to waste.
Right. And it’s, it’s recycled in a way that causes the least amount of, I think you mentioned the least amount of chemicals as well. So very cool. And that you’re kind of going through that whole, that whole cycle. Right. Which is awesome.
[00:21:35] Kim: Yeah. And, and that product, So, you know, the, the Maya backpack is made from the vegan leather and we have it made in Asia, cuz that was where we could find a manufacturer who knew how to work with vegan leather and could access and get the, you know, they had the resources to get the buckles and the this and the that, and the sewing technology and, and course factory, um, structure for it.
I never had it made in Guatemala because I just knew. They weren’t gonna be able to produce what I, I was looking for. Right. So, because Covid just, you know, backed up our supply chain. I mean, I was waiting, I wait a year to get my product. It’s crazy. Oh my gosh. Wow. Yeah. And so we went to Mexico to. Because we knew we could get product faster.
So we said, Hey, let’s go with leather this time. And I didn’t do leather in the Maya backpack because it would be too heavy, you know? You know the bag, It’s a big bag. It’s a bigger bag. Leather is very light, it’s very durable and cleans really easy. Mm-hmm. , we just thought a big leather bag would be very heavy.
So Mexico was great because we found a manufacturer, uh, a gentleman in San Antonio. He owns it and, uh, they. Collect these hides that would go to the landfills. So they’re from the byproduct industry. You’re right. And they treat them with less chemicals and they’re vegetable tanned. So again, we’re making efforts like, is it a perfectly sustainable bag?
Well, what’s perfectly sustainable this, unless it’s an apple and it goes into the ground, that’s sustainable and organic. But you know, we, we make all efforts, like I said, to be. Um, you know, using less chemicals and, um, you know, making sure that we’re dealing with these factories that are treating their staff properly.
Are they being paid? Um, you know, there’s this a living wage. Yeah. Uh, you know, is that happening? You know, we, we source out the best people who we feel are. They align with our values and if we feel comfortable, then we work with them. So we’re pretty picky about that part too.
[00:23:35] Elise: Yeah, there’s so much to think about in a product based business versus, not that there’s not a lot in a service based business, but a product based business.
You’re thinking about all those components, right? And how they all fit together to make kind of the most, whether it’s the most sustainable or the most ethical product out there. And it sounds like you all have. Definitely thought through the process of that and take it very seriously, which is amazing.
And I’d love to hear just what you know, I know we’re coming to the end of 2022, but what the end of 2022 and into 2023 has in store for the brand?
[00:24:10] Kim: Well, we just launched uh, another product called the Boob Bag and uh, that’s made in Mexico, although we’re looking at other kind of materials, but right now that is using the five star leather, which is leather.
It’s less chemically treated. Mm-hmm. and vegetable tan. Uh, this bag is, is really similar to the, um, the belt bag that people are wearing, the fanny packs. So you can wear around your waist or cross your chest and we coined it the boob bag because it sits under your boob. Yeah. I’m
[00:24:40] Elise: just like, I haven’t seen, I haven’t seen, um, we don’t have this style of the story yet, so I’m just, I don’t know if it’s on your website yet, but I was just looking to.
Pull it up on the website. We
[00:24:50] Kim: just did a presale. Okay. And some of our products, we, you know, we don’t wholesale some we do, It just depends on, you know, how much we have in stock and if we think, you know, it warrants being wholesale and, uh, so yeah, you haven’t seen it yet. And it’s not to say it won’t be in the stores, but we’re, we’re just testing it now on the, on e-commerce.
So during the month of October, we are committing 1% of our sales to women and breast cancer, uh, awareness and research. Um, and, and trying to get involved in some, uh, some of the events going on this month about breast cancer awareness. Yeah. And we wanna actually educate our followers on things they should know about breast cancer, cuz we we’re again supporting and empowering women.
In all different forms, whether we provide a product, you know, good health information, um, you know, uh, just, just women’s stuff. .
[00:25:41] Elise: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to, obviously, you know, I have the, the cancer charity, so I’m excited to, I just saw it online. The bag looks great, by the way.
Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. And, and hitting. You know, on a, on another note hitting a trend, I think too. So I would imagine it, it will do very well. Yeah. Um, but yeah, a very, a right time of month to, to launch or right month anyway to launch something like that. So I’m sure you’ll see a lot of success with that.
That’s very exciting and I, I’d imagine a lot takes going into putting a new style together, so,
[00:26:14] Kim: And we launched, you know, uh, three new products this year. So we launched the mini Maya, which is the, the leather one from Mexico. We launched the noche, which is our full colored Maya vegan backpack. Right. You have in your store the Yeah, the noche, which is full color, means dark and Spanish, and then the two tone color in your store.
Yeah. And then we launch now the, uh, boob bag. So we’ve had a lot of product out the door this year, So 2023. Really honing in on what, what do people want to purchase? And we want feedback. Like as soon as people buy a bag, I would say, Please gimme some feedback. Good or bad. You know, do you like the style?
Do you like the functionality? Do you like the price? Do you like, you know, we need to know these things. So if there’s any listeners out there have DSA bag, uh, yeah, it’s really important for us to get the feedback. So next year is kind of what is our bag? You know, is it, who’s our demographic and what do they really.
So I’m, you know, I’m fortunate that, you know, we can keep the company going cuz Covid was hard like every other Yeah. Business person and everyone in the world for God’s sakes. But, you know, we’ve got a chance now to kind of look at next year we have a lot of product on the shelf and who, who wants to buy it and, and you know, what’s what, what works for our company?
[00:27:31] Elise: Yeah. Yeah. And um, I guess what I was gonna, what I was gonna add to that, I think too is when I hear from people, I think people are always blown away, especially by the back, the backpack specifically, and like all the different features in it. I haven’t heard anyone say like, Oh, it’d be really great if it has this.
Cause I do feel like you’ve, from a functionality perspective, thought of like all of the things. Absolutely. Um, but yeah. Good, good to know. If people wanna give that feedback, where can they find you and find more on Dios?
[00:28:01] Kim: So we are diosadesigns.com, uh, on the website. And of course you wanna go check out the product at the edit in 223 King Street in Niagaran the Lake.
Did I say that right?
[00:28:12] Elise: Yes. You did. Yeah. That was for Better Than Me. .
[00:28:15] Kim: Uh, yeah, like touch and feel and people need to try it on and they need to go in and. What is this thing? I wanna see it. So we, the, in Newfoundland, we have another two stores that we carried as well. Kind of like you, uh, Elise, is that people can go in and see it if they want to really touch and do and see what functionality is.
And that’s the travel bug and Wink in St. John’s, Newfoundland. But we’re in the edit in ni Run the Lake. So people are interested, they can go and have.
[00:28:40] Elise: Well, this was so nice. I mean, nice to speak with you. I know that I, I’d heard your story before. I didn’t know some pieces I didn’t know about you and your mom having a business together, which is very cool.
But we appreciate you taking the time to give us, uh, more of the background and, and what you’re obviously so passionately about with
[00:28:56] Kim: Diosa. Oh, thanks so much for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
