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Luckily for me, my parents still lived in the Middle East and my go-getter mama was on a mission to help me make this work.
As fate would have it, in a humble plaza along her daily route, she found a conservative tailor of the Islamic faith and asked him to do a few resort pieces for us. It took some time as this fellow had never done anything so risqué before, and to be honest, as far as he was concerned these pieces were clothes to sleep in. Back and forth my mom went, attempting to convince this sweet and humble man to ‘cut the front two inches deeper’, ‘make the wrap shorter…no shorter….still shorter than that’, and so it continued. The story came full circle as our conservative, and well, not-so-conservative, worlds clashed. Despite how clear my mom would be with specific drawings, measurements and pins, the growing pains were countless. My heart sank on a daily basis as each piece or prototype not done correctly was money out of my pocket.
To give you some backstory, my dad raised me to understand the value of money. In fact, I could probably recite every “back in my day…” story of his childhood and how he worked hard for what he has. While we laugh each time he gears up to share another story (that we’ve heard 600 times before😂), I wanted the opportunity of annoying my future kids with stories of working hard to find my own success as well.
That initial loan had to work, and any blunders would be on me.
Despite my determination to succeed or fail on my own, I had one special tool in my back pocket: A protective mama bear who would not allow failing to be an option. She loved the business concept and was 100% on board. Our business meetings would be through the phone, and I noticed that she would only start telling me when a piece was completed AFTER she dealt with the sever back and forth. She thinks that she has no patience, but boy oh boy! Does she ever!
While she was working closely with our tailor to get our fabrics and looks just right, I was back in Trinidad working on design, marketing and a plan forward. Name? Logo? Wholesale? Retail? Online? Pop Up Shops? There was so much to be done!
#FuctFact : The brand was first called Meraki meaning to do all things with love, but when it came down to it, Couttsea (my childhood nickname) just felt right.
Yet I must tell you, I was warned that I shouldn’t name my brand after myself. I was advised that it could be limiting as people who may not like me personally would not shop the brand, whereas if there was a general name I could fall under the radar.
Well to that I said….
STAY TUNED FOR OUR NEXT POST If you can relate to the madness of being a small business owner, you're currently facing the world of #adulting head on, or you simply just enjoy a good story...Make sure to stick around, as the journey of Couttsea continues 💃🥰😁.
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