Something’s been bothering me. I feel like a poor figurehead for my brand. I’m supposed to be a tough, sassy, straight-talking action figure of a bra lady, right? Chewing up challenges! Obliterating obstacles! Making snap decisions like a quarterback about to be crushed under a 300 pound linebacker! The only thing I fear is STANDING STILL–that’s always been me. Well, as I mentioned last month, I’ve hit some kind of old lady wall and I’m
Lately folks have been seeking my advice on starting their own business or scaling up an already existing one. In all modesty, they’re not wrong. We just passed 15 years in business this weekend (an anniversary that I nearly forgot), and I have learned some hard lessons over that time. Stuff happens (it always happens, it never stops happening) and you have to deal with it. It’s all-consuming, like having a kid or a spouse–you can’t walk away. Actually
April is a month filled with Jenette Bras anniversaries! Our fabulous employees are the heart, soul, and funny bone of this company–because bra fitting is a very serious business. Congratulations go out to Miss Jennii, Head of Operations (3 years), Miss Sharon, Bra Fitter (3 years), Miss Sabrina, Bra Fitter (7 years), Miss Sasha, Head of People (9 years), Miss Barbara, Bra Fitter (3 years), and Miss Nicolette, Bra Fitter (2 years).
We don’t take ourselves too seriously, just the fit of
“So where are you living now?” This is a question I get asked a lot. For those of y’all new to this newsletter, let me enumerate the bullet points of how I came to live in two cities at once.
Timing is everything, eh?
Needless to say, those other parts of the plan were slightly delayed. So here we were, locked down in this strange house, in a new city with only a suitcase of clothes and, thankfully, our car (we had driven across
Fifteen years ago I was in a hotel room in Las Vegas giving myself a pep talk between sobs. No, I had not just gambled away my children’s college fund, though it certainly was feeling that way. Surrounded by lingerie catalogues and linesheets, I was at the Lingerie Market trying to place my very first order for Jenette Bras which–fingers crossed–would be opening in a couple of months.
Now, five stores strong, I have a crack buyer dealing with
In 1984 I was living in East London married to a veterinarian. We lived in a small flat over the PeeDee clinic on the ground floor. PeeDee stands for the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, charity-run clinics where London’s poor and unemployed receive free care for their animal companions. Our clients were elderly widows with their even more elderly dogs, gypsies with sick horses, bikers with ailing snakes, and the infamous Mr. Crowder who shared his small
“…But that’s not fair!” I whined in response to some outrageous, now long-forgotten injustice. “Life ain’t fair,” growled my dad, as usual. Not much an eight-year old can say to that, is there? Maybe his Bronx-born attitude made me what I like to think of as a pretty straightforward person, or maybe it’s just genetic.
Possibly I may at times come off as a bit brusque or impatient with employees, kids, husbands…what
New York, 1964: I have just descended concrete steps into a clammy hole in the ground with my Grandma Bernie for my first subway ride. Born Basya Shapiro in 1905 in a Russian shtetl near the Neva River she was the last of her family to be born in Russia, landing at Ellis Island in her mother’s arms. She holds my hand tightly as we push into the crowded car which had just roared into view with an unholy squeal. “Hold on to the pole, Nettie!”
In a couple of days I am flying off to Spain, my luggage filled with a pair of good walking shoes, sandals, a few skirts, dresses, and tops and my head filled with questions about the current state lingerie industry and ways I might improve and strengthen Jenette Bras. This yearly excursion is to attend the Empreinte Circle, a weekend of learning (and a lot of eating and drinking!) with a tight-knit group of independent lingerie boutique owners from around the world which was
Hurricane in Florida, earthquake in Turkey, cyclone in Myanmar, wildfires from Maui to Greece. These days the world seems tethered by threads, fraying and snapping with each storm or strike or economic pendulum swing. In good times these frail connections may go unremarked, but it is at our peril that we ignore the way our small individual actions re-weave the netting of the world.
I have a very good friend named Terri who ran a small bra fitting shop on Maui.
