We were lucky to catch up with Catherine Gulley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Catherine , thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Well how I got my name for my business was from the Lord. I was thinking of some names and the names just didn’t sound right to me. So I prayed and asked the Lord to please give me a name for this business you want me to start. Poise came to mind, so I looked to up and poise is me. The Lord was giving me something that describes who I am. So when the Lord showed me that. I put it together and got Poise by Cat.

Catherine , 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?

I’m Catherine Marie Gulley, I was born and raised in Pontiac Michigan. I am the oldest of 6 boys and sisters. I have always been a quiet shy person. Started to myself a lot growing up. But I always wanted to do great things. Things in the fashion world and I wanted to dance. I wanted to do ballet but I was so shy I never said a word. My mom dead when I was 19 years old. It was the worst thing that every happened to me. But God had me and he took care of me. Praise dancing saved my life. I started praise dancing at my mom’s church and after that God moved me to my dad’s church. I started praise dancing there by myself and also become the praise dance teacher there. I never saw that for myself, but I think God for it. Because if it wasn’t for the Lord God where would I be. I’m a up and coming designer, I model, teach and show different people how to model walk. How I got into my was the Lord. I love lip gloss! So one day I was watching TV with my niece and I hear make lip gloss. “I’m like what”, so I heard it again. So I looked up how to make lip gloss and I went to Amazon bought me a lip gloss kit and I started from there. I was tired of working for other people and really wanted to start just working for me. And so God made a way for it to happen. So Poise by Cat we sell lip gloss, lashes, body butter, body oil, and body scrub. All home made. It’s all about confidence. I want people to feel confident when they see me and use my products. I’m all about confidence because growing up I didn’t always have it. This is why I do the thing I do. And this is why I’m different from everyone else. I use what I’ve been through and that can and does help people to trust me and see that I’m not fake. Everything I do means the world to me. I’m very proud how far I’ve come, because I gave up so many times. So I’m in the beginning stages of my businesses. But big things have been happening and there is more to come.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

So growing up I was a follower because I always wanted to fit in cause I always felt left out. And after losing my mom I didn’t know what to do. So I had to pivot. I had to find out who I was. I had to let go of people. So many of my friends, family would tell me who I was and I would believe them and listen to them because I didn’t know who I was. So the pivot came when I got tired of people. When I realized it’s okay to be alone, it’s okay to be a little selfish sometimes. I prayed and asked God to show me, me and he did. Everything changed after that. I slowly started backing away from people and things that just didn’t excite me anymore. God freed me.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

For me when it comes to getting new clients is having pop-up shops, events. I’m not the best when it comes to marketing, so social media right now until I get the help I need is not my friend. I’ve noticed when I go to pop-up shops or different events I get more business that way than social media. I love meeting new people.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Poise_by_cat
• Youtube: Poise by cat