Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Leyes.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’m Kevin Leyes, a 19-year-old Argentine and Italian entrepreneur from Buenos Aires, Argentina. With a complicated childhood, without much money and a very small family, at the age of 17 I founded Team Leyes, my main company, a brand and online jewelry store, which today has managed to consolidate as a leader in Argentina (with almost 50,000 organic followers on Instagram) working with internationally recognized celebrities and artists, including: Khea, Ecko, Seven Kayne, Alex Caniggia and Blunted Vato. In 2019, Team Leyes has finally expanded to the United States, specifically Miami, Florida and Los Angeles, California. Since we started the business in Argentina we had this great ambitious idea in our mind, and now it is becoming a reality.
Throughout my life I have had the great honor of representing my country in the world through several opportunities: being selected as a Youth Ambassador by the U.S. Embassy in Argentina with a U.S. State Department full scholarship, in the TrepCamp Entrepreneurial Simulator program in Silicon Valley (where our team recently won a Demo Day for our startup called Tempo) and in Mexico City through the Latin American Leadership Academy.
I am currently working on some new projects, startups and upcoming businesses: Cohetify, a PR, marketing and social media agency, and Tempo, a web app and platform that connects people who share their talents and passions with others looking to experience new things in their free time to break with their routines through a new and disruptive business model called pay-per-experience, in which the user pays in order to the quality of service they received.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not! As I mentioned, I’ve had a tough childhood and far from perfect.
I’ve been working since I was about nine years old, when I started to offer and have my first paid clients as a web designer and developer, as a freelancer. At the age of 13, I offered to mow the lawn and maintain the house gardens of my city next to my cousin. Later, at the age of 16, I tried to start businesses and ventures related to fashion, clothing and accessories (caps, and a brand of clothing), which were not successful. At that same age, I sent resumes to Burger King, a bookstore and even a supermarket in my city.
Finally, at the age of 17, and with a lot of accumulated experience, constant failures, but still an intact hunger for success in me, I began to resell sneakers. Something simple, but it grew exponentially, to such an extent that I began to think that I should transform this informal business into something more serious and solid, with an identity: to start selling as an established brand.
Thus Team Leyes was born, where the main focus of products was also changed. They stopped being seakers, and became accessories: jewelry, to be exact (staying in the category and fashion category).
If you imagined that the obstacles and challenges were over, and from the creation of Team Leyes everything was a purely happy story, this is never the case. Behind all the success that one can see in a company or a simple person hides great work, effort and dedication, and surely a lot of perseverance and resilience. Some challenges that we face from our company in Argentina have been:
1. Geographical location
Team Leyes was originally based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Unlike many entrepreneurs who are located in the United States or Europe, those of us in Latin American countries are affected by many socio-economic problems and bureaucratic government policies:
1.1. Purchasing power
In Latin America the average purchasing power of the population is much lower than in countries such as the United States or Europe, obviously the cost of living is also more affordable, however, this tends in some way to affect and limit your income and profit margin. It is common for many companies to market their products at different prices depending on the region or part of the world, adjusting to their different markets with audiences and potential customers.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Team Leyes – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Through Team Leyes, we sell and provide jewelry of all types and different models: chains, bracelets, charms, rings, earrings, watches, grillz and much more. We work with all materials (from more affordable products to silver and solid gold) with a great commitment to the quality of our products. We also design personalized pieces, any design that a client has in mind, we can design it and produce it turning it into reality in a luxury jewel. We also tend to partner and work constantly with influencers, artists and celebrities from all over the world.
However, behind the basic purpose and commercial concept of most businesses (in my case, the sale of jewelry), through Team Leyes we offer young people, mostly insiders or interested in urban music genre (“reggaetón” and trap), the possibility to look like their favorite artists. Psychologically speaking, idols, in general, impose patterns of behavior, ways of speaking, and among all this, also ways to dress or look. That is where Team Leyes has the role of satisfying and covering that need.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I have had the opportunity to visit Miami repeatedly for tourism and business and it is an incredible city, with a great cultural diversity, people from all over the world centralized only there, which makes it possible to interact and connect constantly. I also love the tropical climate and it is undoubtedly characteristic of Miami. Something that I also consider to be very linkable with my business (and also very useful) is that there is a large market and consumers of urban music genre: artists, celebrities, reggaeton, trap, and the like.
As for what I don’t like about the city, nothing comes to mind right now, and maybe I should stay longer to identify something like that. It’s always said that when you’re just traveling as a tourist, it’s all pure fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kevinleyes.com / https://www.teamleyes.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KevinLeyes / https://www.instagram.com/TeamLeyes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevinLeyes / https://www.facebook.com/TeamLeyes
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KevinLeyes / https://www.twitter.com/TeamLeyes
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevinLeyes / https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamleyes
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