Interview with Monica Warren: Founder of Pretty Perfect Style

Written by Sonia Pacheco Mejia, Andrea Volkodav on Sunday, 07 May 2023. Posted in Interviews

Monica Warren is a jewelry designer and the founder of Pretty Perfect Style, which is a small business that helps women to express their unique style and wear handmade jewelry that showcases their personality without the mass-produced jewelry currently widely available. It's not only a jewelry brand, but a fashion lifestyle.

Warren’s background as jewelry designer is being from Ohio, and she is currently based in Charlotte NC. She also has a degree in Mass Communications.

Girls For Business had the chance to interview Monica about her career journey as a small business owner, and get some insight on her business as well as the future of her business!

Q: What is the best career advice you have ever received?

The best career advice that Monica has received is that you should be passionate about your career. There are many career paths that you can take to have success, but you should pursue the thing that you are passionate about. You don’t want to end up stuck in a career that doesn’t fulfill you, because you are going to dislike it—instead, you should find something that you love to do, something you would be willing to even do for free. 

Q: How important is it for you to be able to define yourself? 

It is very important, because similar to the last question, you need to figure out your skills, and what you are good at. Knowing what you are good at will help you to be confident in yourself. She believes that everyone is good at something, so you should figure it out and stay true to yourself.

Q: What inspired you to create Pretty Perfect Style?

Before starting Pretty Perfect Style, Monica worked a desk job in the social services field. However, she decided it wasn’t a good fit for her. Since she has always been creative, she decided to take a jewelry making class as a hobby, and the rest after that was history. She is a mostly self taught jewelry designer. 

Q: What sets Pretty Perfect Style apart from other businesses in this field?

What makes Pretty Perfect Style unique are the jewelry designs that combine various colors and its heavy emphasis on color. They are mostly statement pieces that combine beads and gemstones that are not typically combined, which create a piece that captures the eye and draws attention. 

Q: What is a typical work day like at Pretty Perfect Style?

A typical day of work for Monica depends on the day, since she breaks her week up. For example, she will have a design day, a social media day, a marketing day, and a day to put batches of products together. Order fulfillment is her priority, as well as answering emails. Managing her website is another part of her day since she is doing backend work to keep it running properly. In addition to website maintenance, she needs to update her products, copyright, and create daily social media posts to promote her products.

Q: How were you first introduced to business? What motivated you to pursue a career in business?

She was first introduced to business by her entrepreneurial family. When she was a kid, she had exposure from family to seeing business as a possible career route. Knowing the option of starting something of her own was there, she felt that she had so much to offer. Also given her skillset, she wanted to be creative and take advantage of that skill.

Q: What were some of the struggles you faced as a small business owner?

Monica says that starting a business is a lot of work—initially, she had some trouble finding an audience and customers. Additionally, time management was something she needed to figure out while balancing time between her business with her  9-5 job. 

Q: What most surprised you about working in your industry? 

Warren first highlights the misconception and myth that if you have a good product when starting a new business, you will automatically bring in large profits. In addition, she mentions that the amount of hard work that goes into beginning the business is not really the hardest part, because after that you need to be consistent. In order to stay consistent, Warren states to never give up and maintain faith in your business.

Q: As a female minority in the male-dominated business field, what are some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced in the industry?

One of Monica's biggest challenges has been being taken seriously. In her industry specifically, people have certain assumptions of her, and in actuality she has a legitimate business and quality products. Since she is a jewelry designer, people have assumed that she’s just an arts and crafts business. Changing people’s mindset, through showing people her work and website, has been a way that she has overcome these challenges in the industry.

Q: What is the most worthwhile lesson you have learned as a business owner?

The most worthwhile lesson has been that hard work does not go unnoticed, and also having the mindset of never giving up. She learned through the struggle of having a business, that you can either throw yourself into pity or to learn to have a positive mindset and use that to be successful.

Q: What are your words of advice for girls who would like to start their own businesses?

Once you figure out what area or what kind of business you want to be in, the biggest piece of advice is to find another entrepreneur that is where you want to be. Ask them questions, interview them, volunteer or intern with them, because those experiences will be beneficial. Real life experience working with an entrepreneur is so good to figure out if you want to go into business. 

Q: In one word, what is the greatest challenge you have faced this month? 

The biggest challenge that Monica has faced this month has been pivoting because of economic issues— there are things that used to work, but don’t work anymore. She says that it’s important to adapt to changes quickly  and experiment in your business. In addition, she places emphasis on challenging your normal habits because things that have worked in the past won’t always work in the future. Being able to change things is part of having a business. 

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years? 

In five years from now, Monica wants to own a major and accessory fashion brand. She plans to not only own a brand, but to employ young men and women as a way of giving back to the community. Ultimately, Monica places heavy emphasis on being able to give back to the community.

 

About the Author

Sonia Pacheco Mejia

Sonia Pacheco Mejia

Sonia is a Business Education Writer at Girls For Business.

Andrea Volkodav

Andrea Volkodav

Andrea is a Business Education Writer at Girls For Business.

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