Meet the Six Sellers from Depop’s Latest Now / Next Initiative

By Depop
20 Sep 2022

September 21, 2022 (New York) -  Community-powered fashion marketplace, Depop, has announced its second instalment of the Now / Next series: A program dedicated to developing the skills of young entrepreneurs and sellers on Depop taking them from where they are now to where they want to go next. The program has been renewed following the success of last year’s group of sellers, including Forbes 30 under 30 Josephine Phillips and Cierra Boyd who will be starring in HBO Max’s The Hype . 

This year’s Now / Next’s 2022 initiative will focus on the support of Depop’s Black community of sellers across the United States. To facilitate the initiative, Depop worked with Quartz Wellness Collective to develop and curate a curriculum aimed at delivering tangible support for Black Sellers, providing them with the inspiration, knowledge, tools and access that fuels and accelerates their success on Depop. The eight-week programme focused on a series of topics across personal and professional development including building your brand, how to define and leverage trends, personal and professional SWOT analysis, and goal setting. Each week involved a series of workshops, expert guest speakers, and hands-on projects including an in depth review of Depop’s brand strategy, individualised Consumer Value Propositions, financial planning, and more. The initiative wrapped earlier this month with each seller presenting a personalised business plan to key stakeholders and spokespersons within the company. 

“The second iteration of our Now / Next initiative enhances our mission to develop and educate Depop’s community of entrepreneurs who wholeheartedly make Depop the world’s most diverse and progressive home of fashion,” says Jumoke Adekunle, Depop’s Global Brand Marketing Lead. “In addition to the projects built into our workshops, Now / Next participants had the opportunity to meet up in New York City for a two day ‘boot camp’ where they met with Top Sellers like Emma Rogue for first hand, peer-to-peer mentoring.”  

In addition to the workshops, each seller participating in Now / Next has received a $2,000.00 grant from Depop to support their continued business growth. Depop brand partner, PopTarts, has also awarded $1,500.00 to each participant upon completion of the program along with an additional $1,000.00 to be shared across the group for sustainable packaging and shipping materials. 

“When Depop approached me to create a seller growth program for their Black community, I was instantly intrigued as my work is dedicated to uplifting and enriching underserved communities,” says Quartz Wellness Collective founder Amber Forrester.  “After getting a deeper understanding for Depop’s vision, creating the Now/Next curriculum required building from core elements of Depop’s Level Up Training to intentionally develop a program that would include strategic planning, goal setting, brand building, organisation, relationship building, financial literacy, and presentation skills as the core business education pillars. My intention was to teach them how to go from doing this as a hobby or a side hustle, to understanding how they could strategically plan to create a substantial, sustainable income source.”

Check out this year's Now / Next participants, and their shops, below and our Now / Next content here.

Now Next

Krystina 

@SoulfulThreads 

Krystina has been thrifting since she was 10 and has been selling on Depop for 10 years. After leaving her job as a social worker, Krystina has turned her focus to selling on Depop full time and currently splits her time between Connecticut and NYC. Krystina is a self described social activist and advocate for the marginalised communities.

 Ana 

@LittleBug

Ana joined Depop less than 2 years ago after hearing about it via a Youtuber. She grew up in Cuba and moved to Miami in 2015 to finish out her senior year of High School. She currently runs her Depop shop whilst also obtaining her Masters in biomedical science (which her Depop helps pay for). Initially selling her own clothes, she now sources much of her inventory from abandoned storage units.

Isaiah 

@ISO_Supply

Dallas-based Isaiah rejoined Depop early 2022 following encouragement from a friend who is also a Top Seller on the platform. Since then he’s been selling alongside a full-time job at a local hospital and has already had enough inventory to warrant a separate storage unit  to house his 7,500+ items. Isaiah’s creative side also involves customising sneakers which helped him pay for college where he was a Basketball and Track student athlete.

Skylar 

@skylarjas 

Hailing from Mississippi, Skylar learned to crochet and sew as a child thanks to her crafty mom. She picked it back up during lockdown but was making too many items to gift - that’s when she decided to open her Depop shop. Skylar focuses on the intricate design of each of the pieces she creates and is therefore very careful about the number of orders she accepts while balancing her Depop career alongside a part-time job. 

Marie 

@marieangele

Originally from Cameroon, Marie came to the US at the age of 12. She has just graduated from college and believes her love for Depop comes from the fact she has relied on thrifting to outfit herself for as long as she can remember. She has been on Depop since 2018 and has been selling for 2 years. Her shop includes items and trends from the ‘90s and early ‘00s styles.  

Karissa 

@LovelierInVintage

Currently living in Sacramento, California, Karissa is a stay-home mom to her 2-year-old daughter, Bella. Raised on the island of Guam, moving to California is where she discovered her love for shopping secondhand clothes. Prior to being a Depop seller, Karissa has enjoyed working in retail across visual merchandising and at a thrift store as a manager and buyer. She loves being able to utilize these skills to run her Depop shop.

ABOUT DEPOP

Depop is the community-powered fashion marketplace to buy and sell unique fashion, with over 30 million registered users in more than 150 countries. Depop is a place for anyone to discover and celebrate their style on their own terms, and to feel good about their fashion choices by extending the lives of millions of garments. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in London with offices in Manchester, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney. Depop has approximately 400 employees dedicated to its mission of building the world’s most diverse progressive home of fashion, that’s kinder on the planet and kinder to people. In 2021, Depop became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Etsy - the global marketplace for unique and creative goods - and continues to operate as a standalone company. https://news.depop.com/

About Quartz Wellness Collective

Based in New York and New Jersey and founded by Amber Lee Forrester, QWC is  a multi-generational positive lifestyle company dedicated to the well-being, personal and professional development of people of color and the communities in which we live and work. They provide live workshop series, coaching, on-demand courses, training, and mentorship frameworks to students, teachers, parents, professionals, and entrepreneurs and have worked with Harlem’s Children Zone, Dress for Success, Howard University, Institute for Educational Leadership and more to create uplifting and empowering programs to improve individual and collective well-being, happiness, and success.