Some people spend a lifetime searching for their soulmate. Keida Dervishi was lucky enough to meet hers the moment she was born.
“Soulmates are not just one person. It does not have to be a love interest,” the 21-year-old says. “It’s definitely my mom. It could be your dog who you have a really close connection with. We meet people in life that touch the strings in our heart differently and that makes them platonic soulmates.”
For her mother Rezarta Dervishi’s 50th birthday, she drew the outline of a special photo of them on the beach and embroidered it on a sweatshirt. Upon opening this heartfelt DIY gift, Rezarta got emotional and suggested they launch an embroidery business.
On July 1, 2021, the mother-daughter duo co-founded Soulmate Customs. The company blew up on TikTok and received 4,000 orders in the first two weeks.
“The people who understand the power of TikTok will be the lucky ones,” she says. “It will either consume you or you will benefit from it, and if you do choose the route of [benefiting from] it, you can grow more than your dreams.”
To strike while the fire was hot, the family purchased four commercial embroidery machines and rented office space in Los Angeles, where they were living at the time. During a trip to Boca Raton, Dervishi saw the angel numbers (a sequence of repeated numbers) 5-5-5 and took it as a sign that the universe was telling her to move to Boca, where the family now works out of an expansive office that includes large inventory and production rooms.
Soulmate Customs embroiders and engraves images on T-shirts, sweatshirts, framed artwork, keychains, dog tags, jewelry charms, tote bags, teddy bear shirts and more. Customers worldwide submit photos of family memories, graduations, weddings, pregnancies and sonograms, pets and even risqué photos for a love interest.
Dervishi loves learning her customers’ stories of love and loss. She’s reached for a tissue on multiple occasions when asked to add angel wings or a halo to an image of someone who is deceased. She’s dreaming of the day when she sees someone walking down the street wearing one of her pieces.