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

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

Mpoze Fashion has always aspired to not only serve the fashion community but also provide opportunities for the youth. Mpoze Fashion has partnered with a few mentorship programs in MA that has provided real life experience and industry knowledge. We are also affiliated with Suited For Fashion Inc, a non-profit organization with a mission to help elevate the underrepresented and underserved youth in the local arts community. SFF strives to develop long lasting relationships within the arts community, to include higher education, to directly support pathways for our young creatives.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Mpoze Fashion is a woman owned multifaceted product and service company dedicated to providing a luxury experience. The company caters to both men and women’s fashion, art direction and personal styling/shopping. We specialize in designing quality garments, specifically suits and coats, but are not limited to other pieces of clothing. We are a brand that understands the importance of presenting a polished and professional image to the public with a splash of boldness. Our garments are far from the traditional cookie cutter suits, we love to design with a more sustainable and creative approach. We design one of one pieces as well as capsule collections that are fun, fashionable and are meant to be interchanged with one another. Lifetime staple pieces!

While I have always been passionate about the art of making clothing and crafting outfits, I have also always had a major case of the entrepreneurial bug, for as long as I can remember. I started designing at the age of 8 and curating styling shoots at 10. I learned how to hand sew as early as 7 at an after school program in Lawrence Ma, called Latchkey. In high school, as an ambitious teen, I was selling handmade denim bags to my classmates—who apparently, were all for it. Business was growing and hand-sewing these bags was not enough to keep up with the demand. My stepdad invested in my business by buying me my first sewing machine, which was a baby-blue mini sewing machine, now we were in business! I would offer generous discounts to people who would give me their old jeans to use. Recycling initiative, am I right? Small as it may have seemed at the moment, this effort was only a baby step in my future fashion endeavors.

Surrounding myself with entrepreneurial parents made it easier for me to walk this journey for me. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I also knew that once it was said and done, I would be part of the group that provided something that people would want to be apart of. The entrepreneurial journey is not an easy one by any means. It will challenge every bit of you. You will have amazing days and then you will have days that your questioning and doubting if this was the right choice. It is expensive, you have no days off, and its you against yourself. Then there are the moments when you see your pieces on national T.V. or you see an audience reaction in a fashion show and in that moment you are reminded why your doing this!

I am now part of the Boston Arts Academy Advisory Board & Fisher College Advisory Board, where I have implemented a fashion internship program for young, aspiring stylists through Mpóze Fashion LLC. I am now an adjunct professor at Fisher College, where I teach Retail Buying and Retail Product Development.

I am also the founder of Suited for Fashion. A non-profit organization with a mission to help elevate the underrepresented and underserved youth in the local arts community. SFF strives to develop long lasting relationships within the arts community, to include higher education, to directly support pathways for our young creatives.

I am also a mother to a beautiful daughter, Skye Reyna. She has front row seat to this ride. She has been part of my journey. From visiting tailors to running through fabric stores. I hope I am an inspiration to her.

In time, my hopes for Mpóze Fashion is that it will empower women and men to not only be confident in their own skin, but confident through entrepreneurship, and also extend a philanthropic opportunity to connect, provide and grow with the youth and the community.

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

What has helped build my reputation within my market is building genuine relationships with my community and other entrepreneurs that are on the same journey as you. Genuinely showing up to support other brands and community events have allowed people to truly get to know me as a person and my intentions. Those around you will gravitate to good energy and when you believe in yourself and what you do, it’s almost instant for someone else to see that passion and want to be part of it in some shape , way or form. I was told once, “have them fall in love with you, and they will support and follow you anywhere you go with anything you do”, I believe this to be true. People most times will support you before they support the product.

Any advice for managing a team?

I believe it’s important to understand how every level of operations in the workforce operates for you to be able to maintain a high morale. You cannot be a great CEO if you have no experience in being an employee or having gone to through the humbling journey of entrepreneurship, which forces you to wear all the hats in a business. If you have been an employee, then you understand how a working beed operates. You are a specialized skilled personnel for a specific department, and if you are overworked and made felt unappreciated, unseen, and underpaid your efforts will show in the final product. As an entrepreneur you have to learn all the areas of your business so that when you are ready to hire you truly understand what it takes for each area to be successful. Most times though in this role you learn that you cannot do this alone and need to outsource skilled individual who are just as passionate as you and believe in you and the company. So as a CEO having experienced these two tiers will foster an environment where you have the knowledge to invest in the people that are the engine of the company. If you take care of your employees they will take care of you and the company. Treat your employees the way you would want to be treated if you were working for someone else. It’s that simple.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mpozefashion.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_mpoze_fashion/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mpozefashion
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniemunoz1/
• Other: https://www.inherskinloungewear.com/ https://www.suitedforfashion.com/

Image Credits
Photographers: Andrew Dunne (runway show) , JJ Miller (McCourty Twins), Kai Rodriguez (Wedding), & Rachel E. G. Hogan (personal lifestyle shoot)