We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Norma Darnell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Norma below.

Hi Norma, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I actually took over the business 10 months ago and I knew the first thing I wanted to do was to scale up and make a greater impact with the fight against sexual exploitation and trafficking. The mission of our business is what drives me because growth for us means greater impact. The first thing I did was pray for wisdom my faith is the foundation to who I am. I actually didn’t have a budget to do marketing, so I gravitated towards this truth “the greatest of these is love” . So, we hosted a fundraiser to raise funds for a safe house that is housing children and minors that are victims of sex trafficking. We asked bridal shops to donate dresses to us for this fundraiser and we invited the community into this sale. The team posted on social media, Facebook groups, asked friends to share the flyer, and I spent many sleepless nights working after my children were asleep. We raised a lot of money for the safe house and we gave them the money from the fundraiser even thought our business could of benefited from that money we instead sowed and worked long hours for this sale. The fundraiser resulted in increased in sales and increase in people discovering our shop. So we continue to host sales where we give 100% of our all ours proceeds to those organizations that are helping victims of sexual abuse. One could say our strategy was love , sowing, and community. We have made more sales the past months than any other time the shop was built.

Norma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was a social worker for many years and then transitioned to being a stay at home mom. Once my kids got older I started to host conferences to bring awareness about Human Trafficking. It was during this time that the founder of the bridal shop approached me about buying the shop. I didn’t know anything about the bridal industry, but I wanted to buy the shop because they are mission driven. I have always wanted to play a vital role in ending sexual exploitation. Once I really learned about the bridal industry I developed a love for being a part of a bride’s life for a moment. We are a very cute small bridal shop that don’t operate out of commission or feel the pressure to make sales. When a bride comes in we are so excited they have found love and want to help them find their dream dress. We have a large variety of dresses , styles, and sizes and all of our dresses are 60-70% off retail price. We are so proud of our genuine kindness and fun environment. When a bride find their dress or a customer finds a formal dress they play a role in investing financially to help victims of sexual exploitation. We also have an internship program for survivors of sexual exploitation where we teach about the bridal industry and career skills.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

The founder of the bridal shop is amazing.!!. I was a Free Ever After bride myself and I remember thinking how amazing it was to be able to turn my special day into a tangible way to impact others. Years later I started hosting conferences on my own with a team of volunteers raising awareness about Human Trafficking. I was really involved in bringing awareness and plugging people in with other organizations. The founder and I met over coffee to discuss the transition in her life . Cynthia worked so hard for many years to build the business and build community that I felt so honored she would entrust me with it. The bridal shop was her dream that became a reality, and she was going to pass the torch of all future dreams and new dreams to me.

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

Pivoting is one of our favorite terms to use in the bridal shop because we know that pivoting is vital in business . We had an idea to create bridal packages for court weddings that would provide brides with photography packages and the opportunity to rent a bridal dress. We invested in court style dresses, marketing, and the idea didn’t work. We processed as a team and knew we had to just place the dresses we set aside for court weddings on the floor for sale. Pivoting has given us the ability as a team to try an idea and know before hand that if it doesn’t work out that we will pivot and turn it into something else. I really believe that when you embrace the idea of pivoting it gives you permission to dream big and take risks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.freeeverafterbridal.com
• Instagram: freeeverafterbridal

Image Credits

Lauryn Ashlee Photography
Krystel Wilson