We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Topaz Peeples a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Topaz, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Charlene’s couture helps you to embrace self love through fashion, fedora hats, accessories and more. Our brand represents being cute, comfortable, classy and confident. Our mission is to help your identity, boost your confidence while embracing self love and freedom. We strive to be able to provide quality service and products that will allow you to be able to look and feel good while continuing to bring Charlene’s legacy to life.
This is so meaningful to me because my grandmother(Charlene) always taught me that no matter what you go through in life, when you look good, you feel good and that is so important to me because this is how one can enhance their self love journey by wearing an accessory that will make them feel better and it will improve their overall health as well. This is what helps drive my company because I’m excited to help other people embrace their greatest self and to be confident at the same time.

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

As a multi-faceted entrepreneur, I am a Speaker, Author, Communication specialist and Life coach. One of my greatest desires is to enhance the lives of others in various ways. Whether it’s baking a sweet delectable for a special occasion, providing nail services, creating personalized unique gifts, speaking life into you, I am determined to excel in everything that I touch. I truly believe that your gift will make room for you. Recently, I embarked on a new journey which is Charlene’s Couture which is an boutique that provides fedora hats, accessories and more and with this brand we want our clients embrace self-love and enjoy being in a place of freedom and complete peace.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When it comes to resiliency, that is something that I often feel like I have mastered at times. There are so many situations that have occurred where I honestly didn’t think I would make it through. One story from my journey that has truly had a true impact on me was the day my granny passed away. She passed away the day before my son was born, and I literally felt like my life had ended but at the same time it was really just beginning. Words can’t even explain the pain I felt at that moment. Can you imagine such a transition? On top of that, it was at the same time the pandemic started so it was simply a lot going on and a lot to process. Now imagine running a business on top of all of that. This actually pushed me to keep going and don’t give up. A lot of times we don’t think about the impact that this can have on our business, but one thing for sure is that you are the face of your brand and you have to know how to balance everything out and make sure you have a good self care regimen in place. If you are not one hundred percent together, you cannot effectively operate a business and a few gems I want to share is to keep your personal issues out of your business, allow yourself some time to simply breathe- everything shouldn’t be about money and business only. Embrace your journey and know that the trials and tribulations essentially help mode you to who you are today. If it had not been for the tragedies, I wouldn’t be able to pivot and maneuver to the capacity that I am, you have to use what has happened to help elevate you to the next level and that will help you to grow and glow in your business.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Consistency is what helped build my reputation. We always say and hear “consistency is key” and it truly is, I remember a time when I first started out, I didn’t really know anything about marketing etc., but what I did know is to be consistent. To keep showing up and pushing the brand and keep working. Even when you don’t feel like it, you have to understand and know that people are still watching and you never know who you are inspiring in the process. People will begin to identify and associate your consistency with your brand. For example, they will say statements such as your the nail lady or the cake lady etc. The gem here is just stay consistent and faithful to your brand, and pretty soon you will be a household name and people will began to book with you and that is what’s going to grow your business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @topazspeaks @charlenescouture