We recently connected with Noreen & Tatyana and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Noreen & Tatyana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

When we started Naturally Me Tees, we wanted to advocate just how important it is to embrace your beauty from both within and on the outside. A lot of times it can be hard for you to see what others might see when they look at you, no matter how much a person tells you how special you are, you have to be able to believe it for yourself more than anything. From the moment we came up with the name for our business, we had this mission in mind. We came up with designs for our apparel and accessories that would be able to inspire and empower people to be proud of who they are NATURALLY! Our designs include the sayings, “Brown & Beautiful,” “Naturally Me,” “Curly Swagg,” “Self Love,” “Free To Be Me,” and many more. We know the world has its critics all around, but the biggest critic by far would have to be yourself! The mission that we have set forth for Naturally Me Tees has been a constant reminder that this is what we want and that this is what we are striving for every time someone sees or wears our merchandise. We want people to not only see the message, but we also want them to feel a sense of empowerment and inspiration that allows them to see themselves in the best way possible because at the end of the day you are your biggest critic and it all starts with you!

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

We are a mother-daughter team that have our own separate skills that we bring to the table, but when we work together we strive to use all those skills to bounce ideas off one another and eventually come up with great ideas as one. We’ve both worked alongside people and have also had a chance to deal in customer service, but one day we just felt like we wanted to do more on our own terms. We felt by starting this business, it was a way for us to use our voice and create something that was positive and spoke volumes for anyone that came across it. When we came up with the idea to sell apparel and accessories, we felt like this was the best way to get a clear message out there while also getting the chance to reach people in ways we never could’ve imagined. What started off as an idea suddenly grew into so much more when we were able to get the means to actually make it a reality, a sign showing that it was truly meant to be! This idea blossomed into a name, Naturally Me Tees, which then turned into a website and so on. We felt by creating Naturally Me Tees, we were setting ourselves apart from others because we had a mission from the beginning that was driving us entirely, and it made the journey even better when we were able to share that together as a mother and daughter duo. We’ve always been like best friends and have shared in both our ups and downs, but in the end, we’ve always found a way to persevere and lift one another up. To be able to go through this as a team has made us incredibly proud. Being able to extend our love for one another to our business has made us feel incredibly blessed for this opportunity and ready to face whatever comes next!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Even though our Shopify website has been good for showcasing our merchandise and putting our name out there in terms of our e-commerce, we would have to say that pop up events have been very helpful in building our reputation the most. We enjoy being a part of pop up events because we have the chance to socialize with new and returning customers. We get the chance to see the look on people’s faces when they first walk up to our table to the very moment they leave with our merchandise and a smile on their face. We like how personable the pop up events are, and when we do participate, it makes us feel like we’re able to reach even more people while building our brand. It can be hard at times to find pop up events to participate in but we’ve learned to use our Instagram account to make connections and stay up to date with what events are going on around us. We have valued every platform that has been given to us and have taken every opportunity to heart while continuing to build our brand and emphasize our mission of loving oneself and all your natural attributes!

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

A lesson we had to unlearn would most likely be overstocking. In the past we would get so excited for an upcoming event that we would over prepare. We would purchase a lot of supplies we felt we needed for an event thinking it was better to have more than not enough, but we came to realize that by doing this we were spending more money than we needed to at the time, so we had to come up with goals of quantity and profitability. We started deciding ahead of time the amount of merchandise we wanted to sell, as well as its price, which helped us map out a more organized plan of what to bring and the necessary supplies that would be required. When we think back to those times, we learned that sufficiency, planning, and organization would’ve been the key to not overexerting ourselves. It’s lessons like this that teach you to learn from your mistakes and aspire to improve in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://naturally-me-tees.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturallymetees/

Image Credits
Photos shot/provided by Naturally Me Tees (N. M. T.)