We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shenora “SHEMAMA” Lechleidner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shenora “SHEMAMA” thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Working in an industry focused on women’s shape wear is a very intimate one. I have the privilege of hearing and seeing stories of strength when helping my clients. My friend’s mom overcame breast cancer back in 2014. Due to a very hard journey, she was unable to get reconstruction surgery after her double mastectomy. Little did I know, I would be able to bring her some comfort in 2020. She allowed me to size her for Ruby Ribbon to see if the cami would work with her prostheses. The cami gave her support in many areas and most of all in her confidence. She gave me a fashion show of dresses she wanted to wear to church. A few months later, I was able to find her “Knitted Knockers” as most traditional prostheses are heavy and uncomfortable. She took a photo shoot for me and when I asked her how she felt and she said, “I feel like a woman again.” I knew then that my Ruby Ribbon journey was going to continue longer than I had expected. She and many other women warriors I have the privilege serve are apart of my “Why”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Shenora “Shemama” Lechleidner. I am an Independent Stylist and Leader with Ruby Ribbon. I am also a wife and mother of 3. My nickname “SHEMAMA” was given to me by cousin many years ago is due to my nurturing spirit. I just love people and helping them find solutions to problems. One of the problems that most women have is a painful underwire bra. and they come to me, “The Underwire Slayer” for solutions.

I offer supportive wireless bra replacements know as camis and demiettes for women in all stages of life, sizes 26A-56Q cups.
July of 2019 changed my life in a way I never expected. I suffered a back injury in a shallow pool while with my 3 children. I was unable to walk upright which lead to many weeks of healing and chiropractic visits. The impact had exacerbated my previous back issues due to diastases recti, c-sections, and a hernia. While healing, I was gifted a Ruby Ribbon nursing cami from a family friend named Carmen. I had never heard of a bra replacement without wire that actually worked!

July of 2020, I became a stylist, created a Facebook VIP group called, “The Underwire Slayer Suite” and it was one of the best decisions I had ever made. I have been able to personally help women and successfully free them from painful bras from the comfort of my home. Though my business is primarily virtual, I make it a priority to really connect with the women who come to me for bra freedom if they allow me in. I am huge on customer service and since my business began in the middle of the pandemic, I knew that genuine connection is what women needed the most. My VIP group is supportive and a safe place for women to “unhook” their bras and lay their cares down. We laugh, we cheer one another on and save space for those who are battling. When I share via live videos, I always end them with, “I love you and I mean it.” You just never know who needs to hear it. When my clients receive their products, we have fit checks via pictures or video chat. I love hearing, “I never thought I would be sitting on camera with a stranger in my underwear.” It is an honor that is to be trusted to come into that intimate space and change a woman’s life forever. Some of those women loved their transformation so much they joined my team. It has been a privilege to partner with these dynamic women as they work their own businesses with our amazing products.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Social media grew my clientele, but the way I treat my customers is how I keep up the momentum. I have always been on social media, but when I started this business, it required me to get the word out in unique ways since I was unable to have in person events. My Facebook VIP group is where I connect with most of my clients, but TikTok and Instagram have been effective tools to get the word out that bras are no longer essential. My clients are also great with advertisement both on and off the internet. When people experience great customer service along with great products, most of them cannot help but to share with others just like I did! My advice to others is show up authentically no matter what your field of expertise is. Your life is your content. I also have to give honorable mention to the men in my life such as my husband, brothers, and friends who share my business unapologetically because they know the benefits of what I have to offer.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Before I was a stylist, I was a preschool teacher at my kids’ school in Indiana. The plan was to work there until they graduated and then maybe once they were established, we could retire in Georgia. The global pandemic brought me home and about 2 weeks after I started Ruby Ribbon, I made a reluctant choice to homeschool my children until we could “return to normal”. With mostly all of our loved ones being in Michigan, we did not have family who could care for our children if we got sick and I did not want to put the school in a stressful situation by not being a dependable employee. My children being home allowed me more time to cultivate an online community by just sharing our life and journey. That success gave us the ability to move into a bigger home in 2021 that would give my children the freedom to play while I worked my business. I would record reels during break and sometimes they would join in. My chef cousin Antoinette Alexander who named me “SHEMAMA” years ago one of my best clients. When she would interact with my live videos and posts, my clients picked up on the name and it has become my internet identity.
January of 2022 changed my life forever. I was helping another stylist, Kathy Tschudy who had gone viral and she told me to import my TikToks over to Facebook to see what would happen. Well, it unexpectedly took off and I was viral within 10 days without a clue as to how to handle it. Thankfully, I had systems in place to help women get sized on their own and soon I was met with help from other stylists who had come to help me in my vip. My small group of 800 women quickly turned into the thousands. Women thought that it was a product I created and just started shopping with “SHEMAMA” on the Ruby Ribbon site so much so that I had to change my link name because no one knew who Shenora was. Life changed for us in such a way that we were able to go on our first Spring Break trip in 2022 as a family. Before we reached our destination, we stopped in LaGrange, Georgia which was my late father’s birthplace. I have always wanted to live in Georgia since I was a little girl. While driving in what I was told was my dad’s neighborhood, I met a stranger who was the catalyst to me meeting my father’s childhood best friend. He told me parts of my rich history and we just connected instantly. When vacation was over, my husband and I began praying over if we would move. We had briefly entertained the thought while on a trip back in 2008 and it just seemed like the right time to make a choice for our children. We took the faith move in 2023 and even though our journey has not been the easiest, it has been worthwhile. My Dad’s friend welcomed us on moving day and assured me that we made the right choice. Our children are happier, our family is stronger than ever, and my online business is now becoming my hybrid business as we have been welcomed into different in person communities. The flexibility of my business is huge part of the reason why we even had the courage to move when we did.

Outside of the preschool job, I really had not been able to work because I was a stay at home mom with physical limitations due to childbirth and that back injury my son blessed me with back in 2019. My husband and I made an agreement that I would always work and in places that allow me to be me to walk authentically in my soul purpose of serving others well.
This business I did not want to have has given me the opportunity to do that and so much more. I could not have gone through all of those changes and still kept my business going if had not been for my late friend and sister stylist, Krista who managed my VIP group while she battled breast cancer one last time.
I was not left without support though. Donna and Karen who are dynamic stylists themselves saw how heavy my plate was with our move across the country and without hesitancy took over marketing in my VIP group to keep my business afloat without ever allowing me to pay them. Multiple clients stepped and the referrals did not stop. That is how beautiful the Ruby Ribbon community is. The sisterhood is not like any other and gave me the confidence to make big life changes I never thought to be possible. It all started with me stepping into a nursing cami in a moment of despair and now I am on this beautiful path of living out my childhood dreams in beautiful community on and offline.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.myshemama.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrsshemama?igsh=MW1mbnI3Zmw2dmo0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shenora.lechleidner?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mrsshemama?si=LLhwmOMUfNCb5-lu