Meet Janelle Desirae | Creator of Sincerely, Desirae

We had the good fortune of connecting with Janelle Desirae and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janelle Desirae, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I had a few thought processes before starting Sincerely, Desirae. The first was my love for sneakers; I thought I should create a dope brand that would allow women to wear sneakers with any and every thing from the Girly girls to girls who are more like me who dress Tomboy Chic. I moved to Duluth, Minnesota and when I noticed there was no place really for me to shop, I knew I had the right idea. After moving back to Chicago and seeing a surge of online boutiques, I wanted to pivot and create my own designs. Still something for the Girly girls and the Tomboy Chic just more-so every day essential pieces every Sneaker Lover would wear.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’m always excited when I see my ideas come to life, from the sample to actually going through with productions and when the box hit my door steps, its exciting. Nothing in business is easy from learning how to manage all that goes into it, running and designing your own website; it’s one band one sound at Sincerely, Desirae, I do it all. I would say what sets me apart from the rest is, I’m just myself, I love sneakers, I buy what I like and have never strayed from that. I just want the world to know about Sincerely, Desirae, that I’m doing it scared, I’m doing it nervous, but I’m doing it and ready for those who are for me to find me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I hope it’s nice outside when they visit because Chicago in the winter can get a little brutal. My go to areas would definitely be Hyde Park or downtown Chicago, I feel like you can have a good time in either of those places. Hyde Park for food, we definitely would hit up Chant for some Asian fusion cuisine. Downtown if they wanted to just walk around and do some sightseeing, we can hit up Osaka Sushi they have the best smoothies, pretty sure that’s how I got through college. Then hit up Michigan Ave for some shopping, always have to visit a sneaker store to see what I can add to my collection, so I would take them to Nike Chicago just to explore.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Dad, I run all my ideas by him before I put them into production. He was the first person to ever tell me one I would touch a million and would gladly tell his friends at work the same thing. Before he retired, he would always ask me for some of my business cards to keep on him and in his work truck just to let the people know. I’m not at a million yet, but you can’t buy that type of faith these days and I always appreciate that in him.

Website: www.SincerelyDesirae.com

Instagram: @SincerelyDesirae