Cinderella's Closet Lingerie Client Highlight

 

Cinderella's Closet Lingerie
9033 Base Line Road, Suite C,
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
www.cinderellasclosetlingerie.com

Dana Walker is the owner of Cinderella's Closet, a post-mastectomy bra, and breast prosthesis company. “My journey as a breast cancer survivor led me to open a business that addressed the emotional well-being of women diagnosed with breast cancer,” Dana said. Dana opened on March 3, 2020, and two weeks later, COVID put the world on lockdown but was able to get five clients in 2020 but was still in the red. Dana received help from the Inland Empire's Women's Business Center and was formally introduced to the University of La Verne SBDC shortly after.

Challenges

Dana’s first challenge was managing the business financially and having enough working capital to keep it open and running without struggling as the business did in 2020 due to COVID-19. Dana’s other concern was marketing to grow the business to become self-sustainable and communicate the value her business had in the lives of women. Dana’s final hurdle was to take everything she needed to learn and scale the business in the way she envisioned when opening the business. 

“I love that my advisor does not make me feel like I’m a number. He takes his time to listen to my concerns and offers solutions that, when implemented, have led to the success of my business.” 

Solutions

Dana first met with Sean Snider, who took the time to show her the financial projection services available to SBDC clients. Dana was able to see month after month if her business was operating according to her budget. Sean also showed Dana how much revenue my business would need to generate when I was able to pay myself and/or bring in an employee.

For marketing and brand awareness, Sean recommended that Dana reach out to SBDC's Digital Marketing Lab, where they were able to create a consistent brand template that I am able to use across print and social media outlets. “Currently, Sean and I have been working on how to scale my business. It has been 3 years since I opened my doors, with a year and a half of that time being in a pandemic. Today, I am profitable and ready to scale my business,” Dana explained.

Results

Since opening, Cinderella's Closet Lingerie has grown its sales revenue from an $18,000 loss in 2020 to $109,000 in sales in 2022. “His (Sean's) assistance has allowed me to create budgets and see where I may need to increase revenue in certain areas in order to #1 pay myself and #2 hire an employee, which will enable me to start the scaling process.” Dana plans to have a new employee who will start in May 2023. Cinderella’s Closet was able to receive $17,000 through a private grant, which she was able to invest in her business and put some proceeds toward a non-profit, Pink Pamper Party, that sponsored 20 breast cancer survivors to a day of pampering. Cinderella’s Closet Lingerie plans to add a new product line of surgical compression garments this year.