Charis Jones, founder of Sassy Jones, started her online fashion retail business in 2013 with money she got from selling her car. The company brought in $14 million in revenue last year. Photo by Caroline Martin
Charis Jones, by any measure, is a major success.
Her online retail brand, Sassy Jones, was the top-ranking Virginia business on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing U.S. private companies, based on its 2019 growth. The Richmond-based fashion accessories and beauty e-commerce company reaped $14 million in revenue last year, three-and-a-half times its revenue from the previous year. In 2021, Jones plans to roll out new cosmetics, clothing, shoe and home décor lines.
“We’re just waiting to see how good it can get,” she says. But when she was starting out in 2013, Jones had to sell her Mercedes C320 for $3,200 to launch her business. She didn’t bother to seek a bank loan because she didn’t think she’d be approved.
