Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan Dao
Hi Joan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey starts and is sustained with my mothers nail salon. My mother, a Vietnamese immigrant, owned her own salon for nearly 30 years. I tell everyone that the most important education that I use is not my neuroscience degree but the time I spent in that nail salon.
And through her tragic incident in theft on my birthday, inspired me to create a solution that allowed her peace of mind as she went about her life in the form of a high tech security purse that was elegant, actually secure and discrete.
She, along with my love for early 2000s spy girl tv shows, inspired the an in depth exploration of tech designed by women for women, and on a larger scale, designing effective solutions that center affected community as the customer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh definetly not smooth but for sure an adventure. The struggles include being inexperienced in any industries that my company intersects, COVID in a product business, patenting in COVID, designjng a supply chain that bridges tech and fashion, not coming from money and bootstraping my startup for years.
None of the problems are unique in any business for the last 5 years or even a founder in my circumstance but it was particularly disheartning to feel like things failed before it was even given a real shot to take off. Its a humbling experience and continues to test my faith in myself, my abilities, my fortitude to see this through.
Ive adopted the mindset of “delayed but not denied” and it inspires me to creatively find a way forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Ilesovi creates elegant security solutions that bring peace of mind. We believe everyone has the right to enjoy live thier life fully without fear. We have developed and patented a high end smart handbag that is elegant as it is securely desiged.
What are your plans for the future?
We are looking forward to launching our first line and seeing our product in the hands of customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ilesovi.com
- Instagram: @ilesovi_inc
- Facebook: @ilesovi_inc
Image Credits
Photography Vivian Tran
Models:
Tolo Kerk
Shay Cui
Adriana Dominguez
Catherine Nguyen
Dan Tran
Josapheena Thao
