Business knowledge in 3 questions with entrepreneur Alexis Nicole.
Alexis Nicole is an archivist, fashion muse, and documentarian but above all, she’s a businesswoman. She specializes in fashion, life(style), wellness, arts and culture. She focuses on community, creating safe spaces for other artists and collaborators.
Her latest offering to the world, Casa • Kilos, is an archival platform that allows the user to engage with their senses and see the world she sees. Her second collection of artifacts and collectable antiques sourced mainly in Europe and Latin America is set to release soon. Curious about entering a new space with new ideas, she gave us a few answers about where she is in the world of curating and female entrepreneurship.
1.With new brands coming to life everyday, why build one yourself? What’s your inspiration?
Casa Kilos was built on a legacy and my need to express myself after years of building brands for others (big and small). We’re creating our own stamp on the Miami map. This is artistry with an influence of 6+ decades, starting from my family archives and my continuation of that same practice – document everything.
I am inspired by the experience of life itself. Seriously, waking up everyday and connecting with myself and moving through the world. But in a tangible sense, I love references to the timeless and classics, primarily in Latin culture, but my artistry and the brand are defined and shown through detail and lenses highlighting the 5 senses. Think about walking into a room where you see, smell, hear and even taste the experience of that collection.
You have to live out the vision to experience it for yourself. As an artist, I will always take you on that journey and that is the real raison d’être – a real labor of love.
Being a female entrepreneur comes with its challenges, but what are the upsides for you?
You know, it’s such a wonderful feeling being a woman in the new space and in this day and age. With so much more agency than ever, we’re positioned to do it all. But, it’s also very eye-opening, it keeps me sharp and quick because I have something to prove (to myself and my grandmother and her twin sister), and it does contribute to an exhaustion level I haven’t had before. Not just balancing both masculine and feminine energies in this space, but truly moving fearlessly and trusting my own instinct!
I am soft to the outside world, and when it comes to business, I am steadfast and specific about what is allowed. I feel as a woman, God already gave me the advancement with a unique set of traits (efficiency, focus through detail, guidance through intuition, creative reflexes, and even execution and delivery) that play such a significant role in how I conduct business.
As a brand, we strive to move past ego-based thinking as it leads you somewhere sacred and to actually feel something worth transacting with.
Do you lean more into the digital space, or are you still keeping things analog? In what ways?
There is no other way now than to take up digital space with a consistent presence; however, my approach is still committed to analog style with a formal process that allows me to create without too much pressure. Obviously, posting, blogging and updating are at the front of my mind, but there is something so pure about the “in real life” experiences, after all, as I mentioned, my business is meant to speak to the senses and that’s where my real “marketing” happens.
Connecting digitally is tough, and because I work better with a physical copy of anything; the final version gets printed bound, scenes by frame, etc. — the entire process is a sum of chicken scratch and graffiti on napkins or scrap sheets of paper anyway. I also don’t limit my ideas to being in one place — I like to physically see things mapped out in front of me – it helps me articulate my craft. Each project is a case study, and I love keeping a momento of each launch of product, any bit of writing I’m putting together and even treatments! My work is always based on feeling and after my work has been released, the ultimate question to my audience is, how did that make you feel?
From Alexis’ set of still images while on the road and curating her latest collection.
Portrait images courtesy of Luis Alejandro Marquez, (@vombagram)
