Workery Apparel’s Leslye Young on Revolutionizing Workwear for Women

Hi Leslye! Please share a brief introduction about yourself and your business:

My name is Leslye Young and I am from Columbia, SC. I am the founder and designer of Workery Apparel. With a master’s degree in Fashion Merchandising and years of experience in college athletics as a Marketing Director, I embarked on a mission to revolutionize workwear for women. Managing all male teams provided a keen understanding of the challenges women face in professional settings. I am on a mission to empower women to own their work and embrace their individuality. I believe in challenging the status quo and rewriting the narrative of what it means to be a badass boss who redefines success on their own terms.

So Leslye, what excites you about being an Entreprenista League member?

Learning from and connecting with other female entrepreneurs!

What made you take the leap to revolutionize workwear for women?

With a master’s degree in Fashion Merchandising and years of experience in college athletics as a Marketing Director, I embarked on a mission to revolutionize workwear for women. Managing all male teams provided a keen understanding of the challenges women face in professional settings.

What was your background prior to starting your own business?

I worked in college athletics as the Director of Marketing.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Yes! For as long as I can remember I knew I wanted to create and design my own clothing brand one day!

Take us back to when you first launched your business, what was your marketing strategy to get the word out and did it go as planned?

Word of mouth. Telling friends and family what it was that I was doing and where they could find our products. No, I quickly learned family and friends will be the last to purchase from you!

Entreprenistas overcome daily challenges. What is the biggest challenge you have encountered along the way and what did you learn from it?

Financing… still working through that. Creating your own clothing line and working with manufactures is expensive and a long process. It’s a huge investment and you have to make sure your margins are in order or you won’t see an increase in profit.

What is the accomplishment you are the most proud of to date?

For creating and designing a pair of pants that has been seen in TLC, Yahoo!, Sunday Edit, and a few other well known publications.

We all want to believe in it…Do you actually believe in work/life balance? What are some of your best tips?

Yes, I do! When it’s time to work – work hard. When you need a break, take a break. Working from home and becoming an entrepreneur, you’re not tied to a 9-5 schedule, so you’re able to get your stuff done whenever the time works best for you. Some of my best tips are:

1. Move your body! This can be running, going for a walk, yoga, lifting weights, etc. Whatever it is that you can do to move your body can help, because let’s be honest, as entrepreneurs we’re probably staring at some kind of screen most of the day.

2. Get on a routine! This one is huge for me. Working from home and working for yourself you’re the one in charge. Get a calendar, whether that’s digital form or the real thing. Set aside work time and me time. Practice that routine every day and do it every day and that will help balance everything out.

3. Take ALL the time you need! If you’re in a funk one day, that’s fine, push your hardest tasks to the next day. Just remember to take the time for yourself because if you’re not at your 100% then neither is your business.

What’s a piece of advice you can share that you wish you’d known when you first started your Entreprenista journey?

You’re not in this alone!

Leslye, you have lots to celebrate! What have you achieved recently that you’d like to celebrate with our community?

We have recently branded our whole company. We launched back at the end of the July and we were so excited to share the new look and branding with everyone.

Last, but not least, what’s next for your business? What can we expect to see over the next few years?

In the next few years, we’d like to expand Workery Apparel into other retailers and/or boutiques. We know it takes a lot of “no’s” before we get that one “yes”, but we know that one “yes” could drastically change everything for us. We’re just excited to see what happens and where we can grow from here.

Learn more about the Entreprenista League and join today!