We recently connected with Melissa Marshall and have shared our conversation below.

Melissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I began Accentuate the Positive for many reasons but the ones that stand out and are my whys is simply to make a positive change for girls and women so that they realize how truly amazing and beautiful they are. I have three beautiful daughters, and as a mom you are very aware of the pressure to guide your children on the right path. As a mom of girls your are also a reflection almost of how they look at themselves by your very own self love and feeling of self worth. To be truthful I never had much self confidence growing up, and I was worried that the girls would see that reflection and within themselves. Accentuate the Positive started as a way to try to give them positive reinforcement in a fun way. The more I dove into ideas I wanted to share with them the more I realized girls of all ages need these messages. The industry is saturated with positive messages but our designs and messages are geared to girls and women, a way to strengthen their very own journey into self love and worth. We aim to inspire and empower through our messages and designs. To change one persons prespective or make one girl feel powerful with our shirts is more then I could ever ask for.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi everyone! I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. I moved to Maryland over 20 years ago because I needed a change. I met my husband a few years later and have been married for 15 years. I come from a human resources/office manager background with no real corporate ladder goals.

Owning my own business has been a goal for a while now but I never knew how to bring to life and encompass a why or meaning to it until becoming a mother. I originally started ATP by creating the designs and posting to TeePublic, but that didn’t not allow room for the growth that I wanted. I saved up money and started printing our shirts out of my basement in order to maintain the quality of our message.

This thing I have created has forced me way out of my comfort zone for sure. I am extremely proud of our mission at ATP, this world is truly a tough place to live these day. So much negativity and unmeasurable standards that can break a person down. If we can change just one person’s perspective, put a smile on one person’s face then our mission is accomplished, I think that is what sets us apart. Of course company success is important but helping make this world a little better for our customers far outweighs financial success.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When I started I was simply coming up with our messages and having independant artists from Fiver capture the design for theh message based on the ideas I had in my head. I published on TeePublic at first to cut as many business costs for our start up. TeePublic is a great way to showcase your items but leaves little in profit as well as quality of the material in which we were printing our designs. Through research I learned of how to manufacture our shirts with sublimation. I also found a quality shirt brand in Bella Canvas that offers color choices as well as comfort and style. Who wants to wear something they don’t feel comfortable in? We are still very much a trial and error company as I learn something new with every order or partnership with retail owners.

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

My best source of customers would still be through vendor events, fairs, and craft shows. We are popular with teachers looking for their very own ways of inspiring students with positive messages. The feedback we have received when customers see our messages are always expressed with gratitude. Our customers thank us for trying to spread meaningful messages, things they often times wish they could do better on for themselves. The encouragement is so special and energizing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://accentuatethepositive.shop/
• Instagram: @accentthepositive
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Accentpositive123
• Linkedin: Melissa Marshall
• Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/eDr6GpyW1lgW8PhKc1U4JA