Name: Soph Mosca
Business: Loungewear by Soph Mosca, which sells beach-inspired clothing
Founded: April 2021
Follower count at the time of writing:
Success metrics: Mosca saw almost $15,000 in sales through the first three product drops, documents verified by Insider showed. The first drop sold out in 22 hours, and the second sold out in less than 20 minutes, Mosca said. Her third drop, which includes more inventory than before, is for sale on the company website.
Mosca has not released a new collection since November 2021.
Backstory: Soph Mosca downloaded TikTok at the end of 2019 for fun. At the time, she was a Division I dancer at Southern New Hampshire University, and her friends encouraged her to take her skills to the app.
When COVID-19 reached the US, and TikTok usage soared, Mosca saw an increase in followers every day. She found her niche with LGBTQ+ TikTok and started sharing more about herself and her personal life with followers. By the end of 2021, Mosca's 1.7 million TikTok followers gave her the perfect fan base for her newly launched loungewear brand, she said.
"When I was little, I used to draw outfits in a sketch pad and tell myself, 'I'm going to be a clothing designer,' but I never seriously considered it," Mosca said. "But I've always had a little fire inside me to be a business owner."
Mosca studies psychology and remains an online student to leave more time for her content creation and business. Today, she's active on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and she launched a podcast called "Happy Human Club," where she shares her life experiences as a 20-something.
Advice on creating authenticity in your brand: Mosca is able to connect with her followers through her social content and loungewear brand because they're authentic to her, she said. She advised other entrepreneurs to focus on what's important to them when launching a personal brand.
While it was sometimes helpful to have someone guiding you in a specific direction, it could also muddy your vision, she said. When Mosca started listening to herself, that's when she made the most progress in brand growth.
"Especially with young girls, people are going to want to tell you what to do and tell you that they think they know better," Mosca said. "But as someone who has been through it, I can tell you that you know what's best for you and your business."