We recently connected with Nia Chantal and have shared our conversation below.

Nia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

They say your 20s is like a waiting room but I choose to see it as a dressing room. A time where I can try on different careers and experiences to see what suits me best – and I’ve definitely done that over these past few years. From hosting interviews on a red carpet to creating and establishing Atlanta events for Bumble to managing a nationwide team of on campus influencers for countless major brands, the thing that is common amongst them all is the connection and interaction with people. Throughout all the mediums I’ve tried on, I’ve found a true passion of mine is cultivating relationships and storytelling. Finally, I’ve found the courage to tell my own stories through passions I have suppressed for years. Now that I have more confidence in myself, I feel like a complete starting over. That I am new individual in this creative entrepreneur game. What’s different from now and my beginning of my journey is that I actually know myself, which changes my metrics of success.p and motivation. I’m only looking to prove myself right no live the life I desire.

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

I am Nia Chantal and I am an actress and style curator. My business first started off in 2018 as a personal blog documenting my times as a PR, marketing, and media professional in the entertainment industry. Quickly, that blog turned into a magazine where I was running a team of 15 people from across the nation. As I looked for ways to raise capital I sought to Create a fashion boutique. Even though I wanted to create a boutique, I definitely was not confident in my own personal style and my personal style choices so I took what I thought was the easy way out and start off with selling T-shirts. Thus Lilac Reign was born in 2019. I quickly found that T-shirts were not my passion and launched my first collection of ready to wear items in October 2020. Still not confident in my fashion choices, the collection featured items that were more consumer focus instead of brand mission and vision focused. After taking 2021 off to realign with my style goals and vision, I reopened Lilac Reign in April 2022 with our largest collection to date, with pieces that felt more timeless and purposeful.

Through fashion and style, Lilac Reign strives to influence women to embody a luxurious lifestyle to promote stronger self confidence. We focus on helping women identify their personal style signatures to make them more confident in their style journey and create a timeless wardrobe that adds to their legacy. We also work to democratize fashion by educating our clients on style history, terminology and trends to provide a full perspective on the beauty of the art of style.

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

Building a community has been the best route for my business and brands. In a world of e-commerce and consumerism in general, your clientele wants to know they feel valued. That’s how you differentiate yourself. I believe in sharing information for free. A brand should be holistic. Your clients should understand your passion and your why. We choose to build Lilac Reign’s community through education, engagement, and enrichment.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The “rules” are not real. Everyone’s path is different but that messaging is often lost to the the masses. So to streamline processes, humans have come up with the method of creating rules and procedures when it comes to life. First you graduate, get a good job, find love, start a family, retire then die. But that isn’t always the case. There are an infinite ways to live life and be. Once I realized that and found that to be true, I was able to retake my life and fearlessly pursue my inner desires without the doubt of failure. Because I only know my path. No one is me, and that’s my super power so only I can follow my inner voice to get where I desire in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: Lilacreign.co
• Instagram: Lilacreign_ and niachantal
• Other: My business TikTok is lilacreign and my personal TikTok is niachantal

Image Credits
Dimitri Bassey
Ace Parry