Fashion and lifestyle content creator Jeneé Naylor turned her attention to an eyewear brand that’s made millions.
Before becoming a creator, Naylor worked as a director at a Target store, using her background in marketing. While working there, she started posting on Instagram, sharing her outfits and blogging. As her following grew, she backed many launches, brands, and products of others, with a particular flair for sunglasses.
Through her content, she recognized that she had built a trusting relationship with her audience and could drive sales. She was even able to “sell thousands of sunglasses,” making them her highest-converting product.
“That kind of put the nail in the coffin for me of like, this is probably a good business decision,” she said on the Product & Innovation Stage at AFROTECH™ Conference 2026.
Naylor also recognized that there were people in her audience being priced out of designer brands, some of which charge up to $1,000 for sunglasses. That realization prompted her to research the actual costs of producing and manufacturing eyewear. Through that research, she found no legitimate reason to justify the steep markups associated with designer brands, she shared on stage during “How Creators Are Building Million-Dollar Businesses” on Friday, Nov. 6.
In July 2025, Naylor launched luxury eyewear brand 12PM Studios alongside her husband, Joshua Prieto, who serves as chief financial officer, AFROTECH™ previously reported.
“My brand is made in the same factory as a lot of your favorites. I pride myself on great quality, great craftsmanship, the packaging, the boxing, top to bottom, the experience is 10 out of 10. You actually get more from us than you do from most designer brands,” Naylor (CEO) told the audience.
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She also shared the cost of launching 12PM Studios, revealing that she secured $275,000 in investor funding. Her decision not to bootstrap the business was intentional. She refused to “sacrifice my comfort and way of life to build this business.” Outside funding also gave her more flexibility to make decisions that prioritized the brand’s quality.
“I knew if it was my money, I’d be like, ‘Maybe we don’t need that, maybe we don’t need another sample, maybe that box is fine,'” Naylor revealed on stage with Jodie Taylor, corporate strategist and digital creator. “But I want the best possible product. … When we got our packaging, everything had to impress me like it was a designer brand. That took a lot of trial and error. The thing that cost the most was definitely samples (which she revealed were between $300 to $500 each). That was the bulk. It took two years to even get six styles to launch with.”
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Within two weeks of launching, 12PM Studios generated $400,000 in revenue. AFROTECH™ previously reported the company anticipated reaching $2 million in revenue within its first year.
When asked at the conference whether she was working toward an eventual exit and how she planned to scale the brand, Naylor focused her response on the present and continued product development.
“I am only building to be better than we were yesterday. That’s really with everything that we do,” she said. “That’s my only goal right now. Every frame that we make, every campaign that we do, I’m like, ‘How do we make this better? How do we get the cinematography better? How do we get the pictures to look better? How do we elevate, you know, the details, the quality of the sunglasses? How do we get better hinges? How do we get the gold arms to look better? How do I make the packaging better? What can we do with the marketing that’s going to elevate us?’ That’s my only goal right now, because I want to see what the ceiling is to get people the best quality product at the price point we’re at, because I know it’s possible.”
She added, “I’m continuing to challenge us in that way, but I don’t really have a plan beyond that because I’m like, I feel like there’s so much room for us to, to go in just that area of like, how good can this get.”
