Meet Jael Roumain

Jael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up, I was always interested in fashion and beauty. Throughout high school and college I worked retail to not only make my own money but to be more up to date with what was trending in the fashion world . I met my husband in 2005 and he never failed to remind me how much of a diva/fashionista I was. He was always calling me out for my obsession with styling my own hair and dressing up to attend the most casual social events. In 2008, we got married and I also enrolled as a student at University of Phoenix for healthcare administration. Clearly we knew this was not my passion so my husband encouraged me to become a hairstylist and pursue something that I loved.

I enrolled in Empire Beauty School in 2010, completing the cosmetology program and became a licensed hairstylist in 2011. We opened our own salon and operated it as a hairstylist and owner for three busy years. In 2014, we decided to sell our salon, and I became an independent freelance hairstylist, working with celebrities and elites of South Florida. WIth a lot more free time on my hands, my husband encouraged me to also tap into something to express my love for fashion. Before I knew it, I became the face of my own clothing boutique- Muurswagg. Muurswagg quickly gained popularity for the latest and hottest African-print fashion designs, such as dashikis, bathing suits, scarfs and headpieces. The trend remained popular for about two years until the market became over-saturated and other vendors started using my (Jael) likeness to sell their brand. Being forward thinkers, my husband and I decided to shift the brand, Muurswagg, from African attire to trendy street fashion. From 2015 to date, we’ve received so much love from the black community and even celebrities such as Taraji P. Henson. This has always been our motivation to keep going and growing. Fast forward to 2021, Muurswagg is now a multi-million dollar lifestyle fashion brand that not only focuses on fashion but lifestyle, community and love.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
For the most part, it has been a smooth journey. From 2015-2018, we operated Muurswagg out of our condos as a two-man show. In late 2019, we outgrew our workspace in our two-bedroom condo and had to think bigger. Knowing we had to invest in a warehouse, we also had to invest in creating a team and hiring staff to successfully operate the business. We opened our new warehouse in September 2019 and at the time, it was my husband and I shipping and processing orders. Keep in mind, we also managed customer service, merchandise buying, stocking, marketing, and everything else one must do to run a business- all by ourselves. We hired two staff members in October 2019, right on time for the holiday season shopping. By the time Black Friday and Christmas came, we were slammed with training our new staff while trying not to fall behind in processing orders.

By February 2020, things started to settle and our staff became acquainted with our business operations. This was such a relief for us as we also started our new business endeavors in Costa Rica. This opened up time for us to travel back  and forth from Costa Rica to ensure operations were running smoothly there as well. Then the pandemic hit. Although the pandemic was a rough time for the world, it impacted our e-commerce business, Muurswagg, tremendously (in a good way). Since many of our customers were stuck home during the quarantine, they were home online shopping. This increased our demand and workload, so we hired more staff. In May 2020, we added two more staff members to the team, helping us meet the demand and processing orders by the bulkload. As the pandemic prolonged, our e-commerce sales increased and the local post office was extremely behind in global shipping. This caused a major setback in our customers’ satisfaction rating and increased our loss prevention, as the post office was not only backed up but understaffed and undertrained. Packages were getting lost in transit, stolen and some never delivered. This affected us greatly. However, with such a great team, time and patience, we were able to overcome this obstacle. We added more staff to our team and now have a team of eight at the warehouse, including us.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an entrepreneur, model, wife, traveler and goal-getter. I specialize in beauty and fashion. I am known for being a great wife, a dog mom, a loyal friend, and running a successful brand – Muurswagg. Additionally, I own multiple, international businesses that the world will soon recognize me for. I am the face of a popular lifestyle fashion brand. I am most proud of the image and reputation of what my husband and I started and I am proud of how far our brand is going. As a team, we never gave up when faced with challenges. Rather, we kept going, creating, and building.

What sets us apart from others is that not only are we a fashion brand, we are also a lifestyle brand. We keep our audience engaged with all aspects of life – beauty, fashion, love, health, and community. We love to keep our audience engaged, whether it be with content, shopping events or networking events.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was always a social butterfly. As a young girl, many couples would ask my mom if I could walk in their wedding as the flower girl. I was very smart, mature and very responsible. In high school, I was known as a hustler, go-getter and very fashion-forward. I was one of the popular kids for sure. I always had an independent spirit- wanting to do for myself and others. As an adult, I still have those same traits. In my early years as an entrepreneur, I was popular for being a great hairstylist who loved what she does, whether it be with my hair techniques or the different hairstyles I would create with color and cuts. I was known to be expressive, different and fierce. And now I can express all that in fashion and business.