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May 10, 2022

How to Prepare Your Shop on Instagram for Pride With JZD

BY: Instagram Business Team

San Francisco, CA

In 2016, JZD (@shopjzd) launched its now-iconic pink “Latina Power” tee. Today, the apparel and lifestyle brand continues its mission to support and empower the Latina community.

Here, we speak to cofounder Jen Zeano (@jenzeano) about what it means to be a queer-owned business today, how the brand is getting ready for Pride next month and how Instagram shopping has helped the brand reach more customers.

the @shopjzd team smiles for Pride

Tell us about how you started JZD.

JZD started in 2016 because we felt like we needed a reminder of our power. Our first successful product is the now-iconic Pink Latina Power Tee. When that tee blew up, we realized that so many people felt the same way. At that moment, we decided to focus on creating products that made us feel represented, celebrated and connected to our roots.

What’s your business mission?

Our mission is to empower the Latine community and remind us all that our ancestors are always cheering us on! We bring this to life by creating products that build community and celebrate our cultura every day.

How have you weaved your identity into the business? Why is this important?

Being a Latina and Queer-owned business is at the core of what we do and who we are. We always strive to be transparent and share our stories with our community. Yes, we are a lifestyle brand that creates products, but the most important part of our business is our community. Being completely open about our stories and daily life has allowed us to build connections and share similar stories with the Latine community.

Quote from Jen Zeano, co-founder of JZD

Pride is fast approaching. How will you be celebrating as a business?

YES! We cannot wait. We have several things planned. We are working on a super fun photoshoot and will be launching 6 new products!

What does Pride mean to you personally?

Pride is so many things, but I think most importantly, it is a way for us to celebrate and honor the impact that LGBTQIA+ people have had in this world and how they have sacrificed so much for us to live the lives we do today.

What’s your approach to how you curate your shop on Instagram?

Honestly, it just is! For so long we focused on creating these perfectly curated images and planned out our posts for them to look great on the grid, but we realized that people related much more to unfiltered and raw images. Our approach is to be as honest and raw as possible. We share it all—our family, our team, our customers, everything!

Will you be curating anything specific for your shop on Instagram during the month of June?

Yes! We can’t wait to highlight some of our favorite LGBTQIA+ businesses and share all the imagery and products created, photographed and modeled by LGBTQIA+ humans.

Quote from Jen Zeano, co-founder of JZD

How can the wider community support LGBTQIA+ businesses during Pride?

I think the greatest support is sharing our stories! And if you’re going to buy any products, we recommend supporting LGBTQIA+ businesses.

What advice do you have for other small businesses looking to use Instagram shopping?

Start now and start with whatever you have. We tend to always want things to be perfect, so we overthink, but the greatest advice I can give you is to just start. Be authentic and consistent.

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How do you get your brand message across on Instagram?

Have fun and share that fun with the community. We used to overthink our strategy, but the truth is that now we post what brings us joy and that tends to bring others joy as well. We promote our product,s but we also try to share a bit about our lives, our team, our community and non-business related stuff. Our followers aren’t just people we sell to—they are our friends, and so we treat them that way. We engage with them and have open conversations with them constantly.

Learn more about how to prepare your shop on Instagram for sales during Pride and celebrate year-around.

BY: Instagram Business Team

San Francisco, CA