What according to you makes one a powerful woman? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?
According to me, I feel that if you are a woman who truly knows what she likes and pretty much can identify it when you see it, can be a very powerful thing. It can save a lot of valuable time! I also truly believe that it is very powerful to be blessed in feeling accepted wherever you go, in so many different settings or situations.
I am the kind of person that chooses to share and teach by example. By presenting questions first and then moving on into conversation.
Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader/entrepreneur that you remember?
From a very early age I have always loved being outdoors and playing sports. I was part of a lot of different sports teams and, more often than not, did very well.
I do remember very clearly starting my sewing class in home economics in the seventh grade and falling in love with it. I loved working with fabric, patterns, and embellishment so much so that I took it all the way through high school.
I would love spending so much time in fabric stores searching out fabrics and patterns to begin a garment design. I would also love drawing on newspaper sketches to create my own design for what I was envisioning. Eventually stepping away from what I truly loved doing, I entered into the workforce.
At the age of 70, you went on to pursue your life-long dream of designing clothes. What prompted you to take this route?
It came to a point and time in my life that I really did want to know my true purpose and what I was here for. So, I put everything on hold and took time off to try and find the answers to my questions. After a few weeks had gone by, I was on my way out the front door to go on one of our last walks with my dog who was dying of cancer.
Walking across the front lawn, a strong revelation came over me. I was to apply my designs to fabric. Suddenly there were so many pieces of the puzzle of my life falling together in my mind. It all seemed to make so much sense.
That evening I shared my experience with my husband. The coming January we attended our first textile convention in New York and that was seven years ago, and I was in my early sixties. For the past two years we have been working very hard to bring my new collection to the market as Louise Lynette.
What is the vision of the Louise Lynette brand? How are ensuring optimal client satisfaction?
My vision for the Louise Lynette brand is to help make women feel comfortable and beautiful in so many different settings. With many choices of colors and fabrics and embellishments for their choosing for the event they would like it for. I would love for it to be spread across the United States, Canada & International as well. But as a real dream come true, I would Love to be able to use some of my earnings for supplying clean water to people who do not have this.
As for us ensuring optimal client satisfaction, we strive very much so, to stay on top of good communication with our customers and send things out as soon as we can and make sure packages are received. As for my design styles and optimal client satisfaction, it is very important that my garment pieces are as comfortable on the inside with wonderful linings in most pieces and the embellishments are not scratching the skin. We try our very best to supply size charts on our website for the best possible fit for our customers. It also means so much to us that we share really nice pictures of the garment designs so that you can have a wonderful idea of how it is looking.
What does life look like for Lynette Williams look like? How do you ensure work-life balance?
As for what my life has looked like over the past two years, it has been an awful lot of late-night work hours, energy, thought and heart and soul. Truly a labor of Love! Learning so many new things, and it would be an understatement to call it a learning curve. But loving all that I do!
In asking about the work- life balance, this is quite the struggle, especially when starting a new business. So many hours are truly required of you and sometimes you just don’t think that there are enough hours in a day or a week. But I do believe that we must take good care of ourselves, eat well and get exercise as often in a week as we can. We are able to work better if we do!
What have been the biggest challenges for you in your entrepreneurial journey?
My biggest challenge in my entrepreneurial journey was when I started my collection, Louise Lynette, and the pandemic hit. There were so many decisions that needed to be made and things needed to be scaled back and new ways of meeting with people had to be achieved.
My factory is in India and as you know, India was hit very hard by the pandemic. The factory lost many of their workers and ultimately put timelines way behind. But you have to try and make the best decisions possible with the information that you have at the time and stick with your true calling and passion and keep moving forward.
Looking back at your journey, what would you have done different when starting out?
When looking back I wish that I would have had a little better view of how much everything was going to cost me. Because this has not been an inexpensive journey. It is expensive! Try to know exactly what you want to do and the cost of what your endeavor might be.
Finally, what would be your advice for aspiring women entrepreneurs struggling to take that leap of faith?
Delve into all the information on the internet about what you are interested in, talk to as many people as you can that are in the business that you would like to pursue, attend conventions or tradeshows and most of all be prepared financially as best as you can. Seek the Lord’s guidance as to what his plan is for your life and follow it as best as you can!
Read Digital Version of the Magazine.
Visit Louise Lynette Facebook page
