Today we’d like to introduce you to Krystal Moreno.
Hi Krystal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My Brand “Dioza” was created in 2022 with custom waist chains I was constricting just for fun. I’ve always loved styling my outfit with the finishing touches of jewelry, so I felt to urge to start something I didn’t really find in stores or online shopping. It eventually grew into constructing unique pieces I would put together from charms to chains and really just creating what came to mind when I saw certain pieces. After getting feedback from some friends, I started to venture out and began doing “Popups” around the city of Houston. Mainly at places some of my friends were DJing at that day / Night. When things started to take off with selling my items, I started to have visions of wanting to create my own piece of jewelry, something I can release in Honor of my city. After having much thought of what I could do, I remembered looking at the Champ Ring Souvenir I received one astros Game and thought to myself, “I would love to create one of these rings of my own”, Then, I said, ” Well why not?”. So, I began to do research on manufactures to begin the process. After a few inquiries, I started the design process of creating the first customed made, “Screw Champ City Ring”. I received such great feedback from that release. I did my first marketing campaign that pretty much went viral. After I released the ring, My Job, Premium Goods, which is a legendary staple boutique in the city, offered to purchase a handful of them. Thus, led to my first product being sold in a store. As I continued with the brand and moving forward, Rodeo season was upon us and I thought, maybe I can create a Buckle for Houston Rodeo and see where it can go. Being the first time I released, even create a buckle, I was afraid of the downfall it could’ve possibly had. But I pushed forward and continued on with directing the marketing campaigns. Premium Goods again, offered to buy my inventory which led to my first Sold out release of all 5 styles that were designed.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This journey hasn’t been a smooth road at all; there was and is, a lot of fear and doubt from releasing pieces that hasn’t really been created within the city. So, I never knew if it could be something a person might want to purchase from such a small business. After the first release of the “Screw City Ring”, I released a similar version just a different colorway, and it didn’t really sell at all for a while. It was a wakeup call because of the investment I put into it. Doubt started to creep in, and worry was on my shoulder. There were moments of, “Was it a One hit wonder?” But eventually, I just had to think outside the box and revolve my next release around the season we were in, which was the rodeo.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work for Premium Goods, as a sales associate at the moment, but I’m in school studying to become an Emergency Medical Technician. I’m known to be an all-around creative person. I used to dance in different teams throughout my life and play sports like softball for a community league. So, I was pretty much a hobby hopper you can say. I was modeling for clothing brands and even throwing events of my own at one point. I’m most proud of my resilience to overcome the obstacles life can throw at you and remain positive in such a graceful way. I see the good out of every “bad” situation and don’t let the fear take over.
What I feel sets me apart from others is that I try to visualize art that can inspire people to have creation of their own. Especially as a woman, there aren’t too many in my city who are creating items such as myself, and I take pride into that. I want to inspire other women that you can be a creative and push forward despite Houston being a male dominant community when it comes to owning a brand,
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I mainly use music and brands I’ve dreamed of working with to help me do my best in life. I’ve always had the thoughts of, “I hope one day I can work with them” type of mentality. When it comes to music, there are artist I hope I can create for or style using my jewelry pieces. Even with brands, I hope one day I can collaborate designing something with them also. So I use allot of resources to inspire me when I think of moving toward with my brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://krystaldioza.wixstudio.com/my-site-2
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystaldioza
