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WEATHER ALERT
Tiffany Browne, Producer
Published:
Tiffany Browne, Producer
TAMPA, Fla. – “Cat’s out the bag, I have a large foot,” says Vaila CEO, Ahriana Edwards.
The Tampa entrepreneur said her business was born out of necessity
Edwards said the problem started when she was just a child. At 9 years old, she said she already wore a size 9.
“When it came down to just finding a nice pair of shoes for school or just some tennis shoes it was always like hard to find the girlie stuff,” Edwards said.
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Her foot ultimately grew to a size 12 and when she graduated from college, her options were limited.
“I was shopping for shoes, and I was like ‘Oh no!’ I need to be fly. They need to see that I came out of this pandemic surviving and still thriving. So, I definitely couldn’t find the shoes then,” she said.
So, she used her entrepreneurship degree and decided to open Vaila, an online shoe company that caters to women who wear sizes 9 – 14.
Edwards said things are going very well and that she is working with a large retailer that plans to carry her products starting in Spring 2023. She couldn’t talk a lot about it but said there is a location in Orlando.
Edwards said her business is about serving others and making sure the next generation has access to the things she did not.
“I always said that when it is time for me to have a child myself, I don’t want my daughter to have to go through an identity crisis or feeling insecure for something that’s not on the shelf,” she siad.
You can check out her shoes here.
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Tiffany produces the 4:30 p.m. newscast and has been with News 6 since January 2019. She also produces Florida's Fourth Estate podcast. She graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in radio/TV. Tiffany has lived in Central Florida since 2004 and has covered the Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman trials and several hurricanes.
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