This episode is an introduction to the forever fashionista Shauntae and her Why of starting a fashion brand House of Merci.

Transcription:

Hello hello hello and welcome to our very first episode of Lord, Have Merci. This podcast is for all my Fashionistas. It's also for those already in the Fashion/Beauty industry, as well as updating you with the latest fashion trends for the year 2022. I'm your host, Shauntae Benton, the Forever Fashionista, and I'm so excited that you're here.

So for today's episode we're going to talk about who am I. Who is Shauntae Benton and what is House of Merci?

So who am I? Who is Shantae? Normally, I would give you all these amazing words and add fluff to it. But really, I am a creator. That's it. I love to create things. I love beauty. I love things that are unique and different. I love creating pieces that make women feel amazing and beautiful. That's who I am. That's who and what drives me the most, is creating beautiful things to make people happy.

Along with being a creator, I'm also very emotional. I am a cancer. So I love things that make me feel things that are happy things, that are sad things, that are beautiful things, that are ugly. I love to feel. I put my emotion into my work, into my art, into my thought process. Anything that has any type of emotion does something to me, which I think is a great thing because you always know how I feel. You'll see it in my face and you'll see it in the pieces that I create.

Last but definitely not least, I'm a wife and a mother to some amazing human beings. They allow me the freedom and the space to be creative. They also allow me the grace when I'm going through those difficult times in this business, as well as uplifting me and bringing me joy. So for that I'm very thankful.

So now to the good stuff like what is House and Merci? And where did you get the name Merci from? Well, House of Merci is a styling company that consists of a lux, feminine boutique, styling, blogging, and now podcasting. I wanted House of Merci to be a one stop shop for all women coming to House of Merci for fashion tips and coming to us to buy that fly outfit. Either way, I wanted to make sure I covered everything for your fashion needs. The word Merci actually is an homage to my supporters and to my customers. It's thanks, thankful house of things. You are allowing me to live my dream in this fashion business. And without you, it wouldn't be, I wouldn't be able to exist. So it's me saying thank you. Thank you for supporting me. So House of Merci is the name that I came up with. And to be honest, House of Merci actually was an idea 10 years ago. At the time I was graduating college, I had just got married, I was entering into the corporate world. And so fear actually kept me from pursuing House of Merci 10 years ago. But four years ago, it came right back to me and I knew that it was meant to be because it was something that kept nagging at me to go ahead and pursue. And so I pulled, you know, the lever down and said I'm doing it and House of Merci was created four years ago. And so for me, it's a place for women to come to feel amazing, right? I want them to smile. I want them to have confidence in their sense of style, no matter what it is. All women are beautiful and House of Merci is a place for them to go to fill that. And so that is why House of Merci was created.