FashionABLE: beautiful products by women who have overcome
Hello! We are Lauren Dekleva and Katie Scholl, interns with the Nashville chapter of the Social Enterprise Alliance. Our mission? To interview each of our fantastic social enterprise members and understand the hearts behind their social purpose businesses. Already, these companies are changing the landscape of impactful and sustainable social innovation here in Nashville, and throughout the world!
This week, we visited the gorgeous, trendy headquarters for FashionABLE, a Nashville based retailer that works with “women, both locally and globally, who have overcome challenges ranging from prostitution to addiction to a lack of opportunity.” Their products vary from scarves to jewelry to home goods to leather bags, and are either made in Ethiopia, or as of last summer, made locally through a merger between FashionABLE and jewelry company Miriam Designs {check out their amazing website here!}.
We got to sit down with Gracie Moakler {Brand Experience Manager and Founder of Miriam Designs}, Jen Milam {Director of Merchandising and Finance}, and April Walker {Business Development Director} to talk about why they love FashionABLE.
Lauren & Katie: Thank you so much for having us today! To start with, what is each of your roles within FashionABLE?
Gracie: Originally, we [Miriam Designs] would go in and teach [the women] how to make jewelry while they were in recovery, and then hire them after they graduated. We merged with FashionABLE last summer, so my role has transitioned a bit to doing content creation for the whole company. I schedule the photoshoots and that kind of stuff, but also I help a lot with Miriam to keep it running, by doing inventory and managing the girls, things like that. And as far as the whole brand, I do brand experience, like when a customer comes to the website, or when they experience your brand, how do they receive that? And what are ways we can interact with them better? So, that’s what I do.
Jen: I do all of our high level financials, all of our income statements, and all that good stuff. I do ordering analysis as well, so if you see something out of stock, I’m the one to talk to. I also do all of our ordering and all of our vendor communication with our designer as well, and working [with them] on price negotiations, ordering production timelines, and shipping and tracking.
April: I do a lot of operations and operation development as the company is growing. That includes customer service, all of our inventory management and fulfillment, and managing all in house operations.
L&K: [to Gracie] So you were with Miriam Designs, and then you all merged with FashionABLE this past summer?
Gracie: Yes!
L&K: [to Jen and April] And how did you find your way into FashionABLE?
Jen: So I actually worked at Target’s headquarters as an analyst for two years out of college, and my husband and I were very interested in moving back towards this part of the country, towards our families. I was a big fan of FashionABLE and had followed them pretty much every way I could. I was on the newsletter, had the Twitter notifications, all that, and when I was starting to look for new jobs, there was an opening here that actually aligned really well with what I had learned how to do at Target, and so I applied. And a couple of months later, I was in Nashville working for FashionABLE, so it was a really fun transition.
April: And I feel like I kind of stumbled into FashionABLE. I moved from North Carolina to Nashville, where I had worked in the insurance industry for a long time and decided it was not what I wanted to do. [Before I moved] I spent about two and a half years taking teams down to Haiti on the side, and that was really eye-opening for me to see. There’s just so much more going on in the world, and I wanted to be a part of that after seeing an economy that didn’t have opportunity. So I decided [that after] life in Charlotte — I had been there for nine years after college — it was time for something different. A friend met our founder and CEO Barrett [Ward], and I had customer service experience, and FashionABLE was in need of that. And he said, “I might have a couple hours a week for you,” so I stumbled in, and it turned into a lot more. I’ve loved being a part of all this.
L&K: So awesome, thank you for sharing! So, the NSEA is focused on using business as a force for good. What does that story mean to you, and how does FashionABLE fit into that ideal?
Jen: When I first started here, obviously Miriam wasn’t a part of this yet, so we were just importing leather and woven goods from Africa. The really cool thing is that as we grow, and as our fan base grows and we sell more, we order more and then they hire more people [in Ethiopia]. That’s kind of the main mission of our company, to provide more jobs for people that are overcoming obstacles, or might otherwise have a hard time finding a job. So, it’s been really encouraging to me, as I’m sending over orders, to get some emails back that say “Great, we hired a couple more people to fulfill this order.” [We are] intentionally buying from people that a lot of Western markets aren’t buying from, [and it] is really creating some opportunity in these communities that’s owned by that community. We don’t own our production, for that purpose. We really want there to be a sense of ownership and we want that community to continue to flourish, no matter what happens with FashionABLE. And so, we’re trying to help build these businesses into people that can do partnerships with Western marketplaces really well. Another [time] that was really encouraging to see that our buying power can make a difference [was when] I went to Ethiopia this past September, and we were able to give projections to one of our largest partners there for what we expected to do over the next few months. They were actually able to take that to the Ministry of Industry in Ethiopia and get a commercialized connection to the electricity grids, which doesn’t sound like much, but we were having a ton of production delays because the power goes out all the time on the residential grids there, which when you’re trying to run a business, is a huge problem. And so that has been really encouraging to see, with the the numbers that are coming from our fans and our kinds of tribe members. We’re able to really make a difference in these businesses and how they operate day to day.
Gracie: And I think from the local side, we start as a way for women here to have jobs. [These are] women who’ve had hard situations, or [who don’t have] a college degree, or even [one from] high school — one of our girls dropped out of school in fifth grade. It’s hard to break the poverty cycle, and it’s hard for them to have opportunity. Miriam started as a way to create opportunity, and to not only give them a job, but to help them get back on their feet — help them find an apartment, help them get a bank account — and that’s continued through merging with FashionABLE. So really, we just want to help these women get their life back. And they’ve obviously made the huge choice to go into rehab, and to do that for themselves, but we want them to have a loving environment where we can encourage them and they can come in and feel championed to become who they are. So, now that we work with FashionABLE, it’s been cool to be able to have that impact around the world. I think that’s our goal, to create business for women all over the place, and to love on them.
Jen: And I think having the local piece come in has really changed our office culture, in the best way too. It really has just changed our office culture, so much for the positive.
April: I know, I’m getting teary eyed!
Gracie: Aw April, you share, tell us what you’re thinking!
April: You know, I get to sit down here with these women everyday, and being a part of their life… It’s a good thing. They’re able to see globally too, the impact that they’re able to have, and that the work they’re doing is honorable. And it is! [We get to be] a part of their life, and unite them into something that, whether because of their history or their choices or whatever, they’ve not had the opportunity [to do until now]. So, I just get emotional thinking about it. These are the women that we love, and we get to walk and do life with them everyday at work, [and that] is really cool.
Jen: It is just like a big family.
Gracie: And there are days when it’s hard, days when don’t know how to handle [something]. But we all come from different stories, and when we rebranded as “local and global”, something we came up with was that we all have overcome. [Our new branding is] “Beautiful products by women who have overcome,” because that’s all of us. We didn’t want it to be an “us and them” thing. But I think we’re also learning how to handle things, like if someone relapses, which we’ve had happen. But it’s all made us come together as a team more. And I think we’ve learned so much from them and their vulnerability, and we’ve grown so much as people from having them around us. So it’s super cool. And then they get to feel like a [part of the] bigger picture: they want to go to Africa so bad! They went from “I don’t think anything of my life” to “I’m helping women in Africa by doing my job here.” Which is so true, they are. And for them to feel like they are part of a bigger story by helping women all over — and even just women in the US, making them feel beautiful, and making them feel good about their purchases — that’s really cool. We love getting to do that.
April: And I think, from a customer side, it’s an awesome opportunity to tell people. There’s a new wave of understanding where people are really thinking about what they’re purchasing, and we get to be a part of informing and educating people. And it’s like, “You actually thought about where your stuff comes from, and the impact it has on a culture or an economy or the people, and that the [person] who makes your stuff matters.” So even from a customer side, it’s been really neat. We get feedback from people who say “I didn’t even know this was a thing!” or “I was reading a magazine on an American Airlines airplane and saw you and looked you up online, and you guys make really cool stuff, but the story behind it is [even cooler].” People really connect with that. So I think as far as doing good, it’s the people that we work with globally and locally, but also our consumers and customers, and having the opportunity to educate them is really cool.
L&K: That’s really amazing. Jen, you touched on the company culture a little bit. How would you all describe that?
Gracie: Laid-back, honest.
Jen: Casual.
Gracie: I mean, we’re all friends, you know? And that’s what makes it awesome. I think having the girls here does make it really special. I’m trying to think of what the word is, for what they add. They add like, a new layer… What’s the word for it?
April: There’s just authenticity.
Gracie: Authenticity, that’s the word.
April: I think here, you come in the door, and nothing else defines you. You’re here, you know? Like you’re accepted, [this is] a place of acceptance. And [we have] very open communication, and we love each other really well, but challenge each other too. It’s a place for growth. But [we also have] fun!
Gracie: Yeah, we also try to add in fun!
April: Dance parties!
Gracie: We have a first Friday breakfast, we have dance parties. One of our girls from the mission, she’s got some soul, and she’ll teach you all how to dougie! It’s so supportive.
L&K: So fun! It sounds like such an incredible work environment. Clearly, you are a very value-oriented company, but what would you say is FashionABLE’s most important core value?
Jen: I think providing opportunity to those who haven’t been given the opportunity [is our central value]. Cyclical poverty is so important to figure out how to break, and we’re really trying to [create] opportunities in ways that is going to do that, and in communities that we care about, whether here or in Ethiopia. We’re hoping to get to more places than that, too. It’s all about opportunity and creating a sustainable way for someone to support themselves safely and with honor.
L&K: So where do you see FashionABLE headed in the next three to five years?
April: Sky’s the limit, baby! Last year was a really big year for us, [a lot of] unexpected growth. I always describe the last quarter of last year as drinking from a fire hydrant. For us, it was so hard and challenging, but so exciting to see, we’ve created some beautiful products that people want to buy, which is kind of crazy to think [about]. So I think in three to five years… Jen briefly mentioned that we look to expand our opportunity outside of Ethiopia, in the global part. We don’t know where that could be yet, but definitely expanding outside of [Ethiopia] to create opportunity in other countries… And who knows, product-wise. We have some really fun things with product development! I’m drinking out of my mug, my “shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars” mug. [laughs]
Katie: I had that quote in my room! It was a giant canvas above my bed.
Gracie: That’s awesome, I used to love that quote! High school posters on the wall…
April: But it’s true!
Gracie: It is true!
April: We had a dream session, really before we even merged…
Gracie: Yeah, it was like right as we were talking about merging!
April: And [the question was], what do you want? I mean, Barrett challenged all of us [to think about] this is your company! What do you want it to be? So I think it was a really fun opportunity for us to dream big, without limits.
Jen: And the cool thing is, looking back on that session, some of the stuff we dreamed about has already happened too. I don’t think any of us realized how fast we were going to grow last year, and, at least for me, with the financial forecasting, it makes me realize how fast we can continue to grow too. It was an awesome year, but it’s also like, buckle your seatbelt!
April: Here we go!
Jen: Yeah, that’s definitely the feeling!