We were lucky to catch up with Ariene Bethea recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ariene, appreciate you joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of being an entrepreneur or creative is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?

There was this lunch spot I wanted to try with my husband for months. On the way to lunch my husband noticed a building on a street we had never been seen, he asked me “did you see that building?” and I replied “no but we can look at it on our way back.” So on the way back from lunch we stopped. It was a colorful building and it was for rent, so we wrote down the number can called the landlord. Turns out the location is an incubator for small businesses. We set up an appointment for later that evening to see the space. It was small, needed a lot of vision but it was an interesting space. I was already imaging it painted and my items on the shelves. We discussed the idea over dinner and the next day we made an offer. We paid rent 6 months of rent up front to test my dream of a storefront and within 2 weeks we were open! How in 2 weeks? Well I had written down everything I wanted in a store, I found a painter, secured signage for the outside and I already had inventory. It was exhilarating and scary at the same time, but most of all it was a great test space. Had we not gone to lunch on that day – at that spot – we would have never saw the space.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was living in Boston and working in human resources as a Training & Development Manager at a college when I discovered my love for designing spaces. Studying for my HR certification led me to realize I didn’t want to work in HR anymore. I’ve always believed knowing what you don’t want to do is just as important as knowing what you want to do, so my new revelation wasn’t concerning but empowering. My VP was going out on vacation and I took this opportunity to volunteer to “redesign” her office. We had weekly team meetings in her office and I always thought it could be arranged to accommodate our large group. She reluctantly agreed and I began contacting the college tradesmen to build and install wall shelving. After the shelving was painted and installed, I changed the floor plan of the office and upon return she loved it. Her exact words: “You should do this for a living” – this was my Oprah “Aha Moment.” A few corporate human resources jobs later, and in 2011 Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio was conceived and executed.

Founded in 2011, Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio (DRIS) is a minority-owned women-led brick-and-mortar vintage furnishings store offering a modern collection of furniture, lighting, art and decor in fresh color combinations and graphic patterns. I was driven to open a brick and mortar after my first online retail sale. After selling on multiple online platforms for several years, I quickly realized there was a market for vintage curated finds in the Charlotte area and all across the country. My strategy was simple: sell online, participate in local pop-up shops, secure a booth at a mult-merchant furniture store and then open a shop. This allowed me to build a presence and following online, on social media and with in-person events to launch the opening of my brick and mortar.

We call our shoppers ‘guests’ and they are welcomed into the store by our signature smell of scented candles, soulful music playing, plants/flowers in planters and vases, bowls of candy, shoes tucked under benches and vintage handbags left on chairs. We want you to feel like you are visiting your friend’s home and everything you love, you can purchase. We have garnered the attention of national publications, including House Beautiful’s List of Best Home Stores in America, AD’s “40 of the Best Home Decor Stores in America”, “One of the Best Vintage Shops in North Carolina” by Apartment Therapy.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

My work in corporate environments taught me to not trust my gut, to methodically verify everything. I had to unlearn this an an entrepreneur because all you have are your gut instincts to make decisions when you starting out. It was a gut instinct that led me open in my first location.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When the pandemic started I didn’t know if my business would make it. Then things took a turn because everyone was working on their homes and wanted home goods. We were selling a lot online and it wasn’t possible to get in new vintage items. Estate sales, auctions and markets had stopped. So, I started selling new artisan made items to fill in for the vintage pieces. This actually increased my revenue because I was able to sell multiples instead of just a single one-of-a-kind item.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dressingroomsinteriorsstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dressmyroom/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DressMyRoom/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/dressmyroom