Meet Teacher Jess
There are endless opportunities in China to pursue your dreams outside of teaching. So we thought, why not interview teachers for at least the next month who have awesome hobbies and side gigs?
Our interview with Jess
Us: How do you feel about living in China?
Jess: Moving to Shanghai 2 years ago (with the intention of only staying for 1 year!) was most certainly the best decision I have ever made. Since working in Shanghai as a teacher, I was promoted in my second year to Head of Grade and then decided to open up a small clothing boutique this year.
Us: Why did you decide to open up a clothing boutique?
Jess: Although I enjoy teaching, clothing and fashion is what I love! I attempted to open up a boutique when I was 21 (but failed miserably as I had no idea about the quality of clothing and had very limited contacts!).
However, since living in Shanghai, I have been able to access clothing suppliers and I’m able check the quality of clothing before shipping out to the UK. I’m also very lucky as my sister acts as my distributor in the UK, meaning customers don’t have to wait 2 weeks for their item to arrive!
Us: What is the name and how did you come up with it?
Jess: The name of the boutique is ‘Blossom Boutique’. We chose this name as we believe it’s important that women empower eachother to quite literally ‘blossom’ and ‘bloom’! We not only promote clothing on social media, but we try to promote self-love/care and empower women to become the best versions of themselves (and we also like to share the cutest animal pictures!)
Us: Who is the target market and has it taken you long to set up?
Jess: The boutique is very feminine based fashion and is still pretty new! It’s taken quite a few months to organise stock, marketing, logos and packaging and we’re finally ready! We’re based mainly on Instagram and we’re currently working on marketing the products and gaining interest.
Us:What is your goal for the future?
Jess: Our goal is to ensure that we are able to run an efficient clothing line, ensuring the clothing is high quality and something different than what you’d expect to find in high street stores! My dream is to make Blossom Boutique my full time job, and I think we’re definitely on the right tracks. It’s a slow process but we’re so excited for the future of Blossom Boutique!
Thanks so much for talking to us Jess! Your venture sounds awesome and we wish you a ton of luck here at Totally China!
You can find Jess and Blossom Boutique on Instagram at: bb_blossomboutique
and Facebook at: Blossom Boutique