BY: Jade Leonard
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Nigil Crawford
In 2nd grade, her grandparents bought her a sketchbook. She would always sketch wedding dresses and claim she was the next Vera Wang, but her grandparents would tell her she needed to be a doctor or a teacher. Being from a traditional family, "Everyone had a concrete job." They went from buying her sketchbooks to educational books. But she didn't let her family's opinion prevent her from strutting into her true calling. Fashion was destined to be a part of her life. Today she's Hampton University Alumna and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She worked in the fashion and retail industry for 3 years as management at Nordstrom's, "I have Chick fil A service basically" and recently branched off and launched her own clothing business, MC². Her personal style is bougie, moody, laid back, and sometimes down to earth. Some days she'll wake up feeling glamorous, "If I wanna dress like Monet Tejada from Power, I'm gonna dress as such", and when it's chill? It's still giving luxury. Her fashion inspirations include Saweetie, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Jennifer Lee. She's a fierce, loyal, and driven woman who prides herself on being a great friend and includes God with every move she makes. Marshea shares details about her clothing line, setting standards, the key to successful relationships, and how to advance your career. So without further ado, I present to you Marshea Chanel The "Faithful Fashionista”.
The UpNext: How did you get into Fashion Blogging?
Marshea Chanel: "I started writing at Hampton. I joined College Fashionista and would feature all the fashionistas on campus and write up their looks."
She didn't have formal training; when she went to Hampton University, she majored in Strategic Communications. Before she switched her major, she studied in the 5-year Business program, which gave her background in business, and took an introductory sewing class in one of her theatre classes. The key to jumping into this industry? "All you really need is good marketing and customer service."
"Fashion is a spiritual experience"
TUN: What is the meaning of MC²?
MC: "I always like to brand myself by my name. I know some people wanna be juicybooty21 but no! Since high school, whether it was Myspace, Twitter, Instagram, it was always Marshea Chanel, which is my first name and my middle name together, and it works. I love how my mom named me; it's different; it sounds bougie, a Lil' boug-ghetto, it's a little bit of luxury in it, and I love it, so I brand myself with that all the time. My regular Instagram page was Marshea Chanel, so I said, let me make my business page and business name Marshea Chanel squared, so consider it the best version of me.”
TUN: Who's the MC² girl?
MC: "The MC² girl is for every fly girl no matter the size or the height. This is for the girl who doesn't need an occasion to get dressed. Even if you don't wanna get dressed up, your sweatsuit is gonna be fly. Like one of my sweatsuits, the pack light velour sweatsuit is for the fly girls; it's fitted, giving very much so baby powder blue, 90's, Jay-Z sweatsuit Roc-A-Wear. The girl who wakes up like even though I'm not doing much today, I'm still gonna be fly regardless."
TUN: Period! So, to follow up with that, tell us more about the behind the scenes work of starting a clothing business?
MC: "Well, it's not easy. To be clear to everyone, I am not designing as of yet. I'm getting my feet wet, starting with the wholesale vendor process to purchase my items. I go through pages and pages and pages of businesses; I select everything based on my personal style and what I feel my consumer will receive. And it's a process; a lot of people see you pushing out stuff, and they think it's easy, but it's not; it's a lot of hard work and money. You could order something from a wholesale vendor, and it may not come as you expected it to, so I always like to advise business owners to be careful before putting a product out and saying you're going to sell [it]. Me personally, I like to receive my item in hand; I need to feel it and make sure it looks like the image, take pictures of me in it, and then promote it. I work 2 jobs; I work all day, and when I get off, I'm hustlin' for my business. I know people say support black businesses, and I push that all the time."
The Real on Small Black Businesses:
"Some people are angry and upset with black businesses, but you have to understand they don't have as many resources as your PLT or Fashion Nova. Small black business owners get the shorter end of the stick in business as well. They may give their last product to another counterpart that's not a small black business because they know they'll sell it or because they're a different race. So it's not as easy as it seems. There are diversity-related challenges in everything that you do.”
When Marshea quit her job at Nordstrom's cold-turkey to create the life she wanted, people questioned what she would do next, but being big on budgeting and saving, she saved 6 months' worth of expenses and made it work until she found another job only 2 weeks later. Working as a personal assistant for another small black-owned business, she's had the opportunity to see behind the scenes operations and the back end of a small business: how you interact with influencers, pays your bills, pays your vendors, and an overall hands-on experience. She also works for the state government, which funds the hustle!
"Everyone pushes entrepreneurship but entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Let people do want they want to do; do what works for you."
The UN: So when and what made you create Keep it Anonymous?
MC: "It's something I started in college to give girls a platform to share their problems and concerns anonymously, it's not something I get paid for, just something for girls to come and dump their issues and get genuine answers in return, whether it's from the other followers or me. I wanted girls to have a safety net because sometimes your family can be judgemental, sometimes your friends are tired of hearing your s****, so you just need someone who's non-biased or can't judge you like, you still messin' with him? It's a safe haven where girls can come and chat."
The UN: Tell us about setting standards for oneself and adding tax to your worth?
MC: "Child, how much time do we have? Because I could talk about this all day. Setting standards is so important to me, like SO important. I've been in relationships and friendships where I've settled, sold myself for less, and masked my true self so people could shine, and I just got tired of it. People always ask me how do you set standards and self-worth, and it comes with time and experience."
From a young age, she went through a lot in relationships, from fighting over boys, arguing, and Twitter beef, but after a while, enough was enough, self-love swooped in, and games weren't being played anymore. "I'm 25, but I'm really 35. I'm an old soul, so I don't have time for the things I used to have time for. I always tell girls when you're truly tired; you'll hang it up. You won't have to ask anyone for advice; you'll feel yourself [getting] drained, and you'll want more for yourself. So I set standards with everything. With work, with relationships, with friendships, with volunteering, with my time. I go into it knowing exactly what I want from it, and if I know it won't serve me? CLIP, CLIP, CLIP."
The UN: So, what do you value most in relationships? Friendships or a significant other.
MC: "Communication and transparency. If you're feeling a way -- communicate that. By transparency, I mean no pretending about your lifestyle, the type of friend you are, just be yourself. Let me see you for who you really are. Those are the reasons why I do have successful relationships."
The UN: What are signs of an unhealthy relationship
MC: "There are so many red flags that you can spot, but people just ignore. Poor communication. I'm not going to teach a man how to communicate. I feel like you've had relationships before; you're a whole grown-ass man. Not being forthcoming about what you're doing, where you're at, what you're feeling. The first red flag, "I wanna be with you but let's just take it slow; we don't need to rush.” Girl, ya'll not gettin' in a relationship, you'll be there for 2 years. A man who wants you will show you that he wants you. If he wants to take you out, he'll take you out; if he wants to be in a relationship with you, he will. Everyone's story is different, but people who are in happy, equal relationships, where both of them are putting in the same amount of work-- their man played no games with them. My man saw me and said, "Imma marry you," and in 2 weeks, we were dating and courting and working towards being in a relationship together. If he's not showing the signs, girl, he's not interested, next!”
"You are the catch, you do not need to go out your way to chase a man"
The UN: What tips do you have on advancing your career?
MC: "Prayer; I'm very spiritual. I love Jesus; I'm a Christian and was born a Christian. Once I got older, I strayed away from being religious and more spiritual because I feel like the church is in you; it's not where you go or how often you go but, it's how often you talk to God, how often you're grateful. Everything I do, I prayed on and asked God for answers. If the core vision is there, everything is taken care of. For my non-believers, keep working.”
The UN: What role does faith play in your life?
MC: "Everything; when I wake up, I praise God for being alive seeing a new day because you could've not woken up this morning. Somebody else woke up blind, somebody else lost their senses, poor, or woke up homeless. You're alive; you have clothes on your back, your bills are paid, you're flourishing, you're healthy. There's always something to be grateful for even when you hit rock bottom.
To keep up with Marshea and MC² click here!
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