Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shamiyah Hood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shamiyah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Starting 2 cute is meaningful to me because I worked at retail stores and enjoyed helping people find outfits and seeing the excitement on their faces. I love shopping for myself as well but sometimes some things aren’t available, whether it is pricey or the customer service weren’t the greatest. Why not create that wonderful experience that I wish I had sometimes while shopping.

My mission of starting 2 Cute Fashion Boutique was to provide a new level
of an experience of shopping. Everyone deserve to look good no matter the age or size! We provide quality items at affordable prices. My top priority is to provide excellent customer service to keep our customers returning. Next year we will remain online and adding a new location for pickup. Styling is now also available.

Shamiyah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello my name is shamiyah and I go by Miyah. Since I was younger I always knew I wanted to own several businesses. My first thought was to either become a family lawyer or a social worker . I spent my summers at Law and Leadership program at University of Cincinnati during high school. I was able to job shadow at KMK law firm and was more then confident I wanted to practice law. I did become a mother in my senior year of high school and didn’t allow that to slow me down. After high school I went to Cincinnati State and obtained my Associate of arts degree. During my adulthood I worked at retail jobs and learned that not only do I have a passion of helping others but also Fashion. I enjoy styling people. It was like shopping instead of working!! This made me want to start my own clothing brand.

I started my own business called 2 Cute Fashion Boutique. I started doing my own research to figure out how to even start a business. After 6 months of careful review I took the steps of starting 2 cute. The paperwork was the easier side
Of things. Finding vendors and making sure the quality was good was a main priority. The next step was ordering supplies to keep the business running. Making creative content, posting all social media platforms etc. Gaining customers being a newer business can be overwhelming but I never gave up. I stayed consistent and 1 year later I started selling out of items.

2 Cute is online only and we sale women clothes, accessories, and shoes. Currently the sizes we offer are Small-extra Large. We’ve been asked to sale men clothes, plus sized women and kids and we will do just do that beginning next year. We currently offer pickup, delivery and shipping. Everything about 2 cute is professional with a personal vibe of course.

I learned once you run a business you will have to be hands on everything literally. Keeping the money flowing, keeping customers satisfied, new inventory coming that keeps everyone attention and more. One thing that keeps me separate is I never look at other women as competitors because we all get up every day to do what we love and enjoy. I always look for a new trend to set for my boutique. The hardest part is keeping your website and everything updated while working a full time job. My support system my mom, Mikiah (my brand ambassador) and my cousin kiara gray really keep me motivated.

I’m most proud that I never gave up and that 2 years later im blessed enough to be able to expand.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

To fund my business I did use my own money I had 500 to start with. That was including my website cost, inventory and supplies. I chose everything carefully to make sure that I didn’t go over budget. Over time I was blessed enough to find a private investor to fund my inventory, supplies and content. I create a budget plan for every single month and is very strict about it. The budget plan consists of keeping task of anything that’s purchased for the business. Starting off I knew that I will lose
Money more than make money. My goal was to have an overall productive business.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

This year life was really taking a toll on me in my personal world. My brand new car was totaled, I felt that I wasn’t where I wanted to be with my business and it literally made me take a step back and shut down. I started to feel very overwhelmed trying to satisfy everyone with giving 100 percent that I just didn’t have at the moment. I realized with me slowing down my business journey would also. My drive wasn’t there and I had to find myself all over again. I took a 3 month hiatus from the business which did hurt me in the long run. This taught me to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.2cuteboutique.com
• Instagram: 2Cutefashionboutique
• Facebook: 2 Cute Fashion Boutique
• Tiktok: 2CuteFashionBoutique