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Speaking of Curves: Meet Melissa of Chic and Curvy!
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Oct 31, 2024
Join us as we are supporting plus size businesses, brands, designers, and infleuncers, with our latest series, Speaking of Curves! Today, we head to California, to support Melissa of chicandcurvy.com! We also get an uber special guest, Janna, the Ambassador of the brand! Join us in supporting the plus size small businesses!
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0:00
hey girl hey welcome back
0:03
- speaking of curves I'm readin a the
0:05
creator of the curvy fashionista and we
0:08
are back with this series so I don't
0:09
know how long you've been like following
0:11
along we've been doing this for two
0:13
weeks now and I'm really excited because
0:15
we've been showcasing introducing and
0:17
talking about the small businesses in
0:20
this space as we navigate all things
0:23
like coronavirus and how we're like with
0:26
economy shut down but our businesses
0:28
still need support and so you know being
0:31
like really resourceful as we can we
0:33
decided to start a series where we would
0:35
do interviews with small business owners
0:39
that you've known that you've read about
0:41
on our site folks in common it's not
0:43
just business times we have boutique
0:45
owners designers influencers a couple of
0:50
different types of gasps so basically
0:52
it's important to show support to the
0:54
community
0:54
especially at this time because we want
0:56
these businesses to survive and to last
1:00
like forever right so today's guest is a
1:04
very special and dear friend of mine her
1:07
name is Melissa and she owes chic and
1:10
curvy boutique based in California Long
1:14
Beach to be exact and they have been
1:18
around for a minute like we have known
1:19
each other I want to say about like
1:22
eight ish years or so um and for me I
1:26
actually worn this this is one of my
1:28
favorite dresses that I refuse to ever
1:29
like I have a couple of them these wrap
1:32
dresses and like this is perfect in this
1:34
like lounge life right it's perfect for
1:37
me so anyways I want to introduce to you
1:39
not only is it Melissa but we have a
1:42
very very special guest of hers as well
1:44
joining us
1:45
so hello Melissa good thank you so much
1:51
for joining us today
1:53
so tell me who is your special guest my
1:58
special guest is Jenna the curvy Blessed
2:01
Mother B and we've seen we have seen
2:09
your face all the times in we've seen
2:12
you all
2:12
for those the last five years almost
2:14
right longer stopping so well thank you
2:26
for coming along to Jannah now Melissa
2:28
will you tell us a little bit about chic
2:30
and curvy kind of what made you start it
2:32
because physical boutiques are not for
2:35
the faint of heart
2:40
actually we are located in Inglewood
2:42
California brick-and-mortar there and
2:47
you also have curvy calm and how I got
2:51
started is very interesting I used to be
2:54
an accountant at a company called
2:56
Northrop Grumman and Waltons air I
2:58
started a little blog hot chic and herby
3:00
and so um I was a blogger and a blogger
3:05
and then also a mic to get hurt the most
3:07
fun and so I was able to convert my blog
3:12
and my personal felling into an actual
3:15
movie oh that is beautiful I love that I
3:18
love how you've done that like we don't
3:20
get to see that often so this is really
3:22
cool this is really cool so you started
3:24
off as a blogger transformed everything
3:26
and now we have the business that we
3:29
know and love today so how many years
3:31
has it been it has been eight wonderful
3:35
years yes get a girl that's what that's
3:38
it's a long time in in boutique years
3:42
mm-hmm yeah so with everything going on
3:46
today
3:47
how has how have you been impacted and
3:51
what are you doing to navigate to pivot
3:55
well
3:56
um we've been impacted because we you
4:00
know there's a actual like government
4:03
mandated shutdown so our actual physical
4:06
boutique in an England we had to close
4:09
that down and now we're doing online
4:12
moon yeah so you've moved everything to
4:15
online everything is online yes awesome
4:19
so folks if you guys have seen then
4:21
we'll share and we'll show additional
4:23
pieces that we love and I'm actually
4:25
gonna
4:25
doing an unboxing soon - with shell so
4:28
I'm great I'm excited so if you were
4:33
looking for someone you can just support
4:35
and shot and shop during this time
4:36
especially if you needed some lands
4:38
where some really cute maxi dresses or
4:41
you may be dreaming of a vacation very
4:44
soon like who knows like I know in my
4:46
mind like I want to write about all the
4:48
swimwear but I'm like I'll know if
4:50
that's right oh I don't know
4:54
so tell us a little bit about like what
4:58
the aesthetic is for chic and curvy and
5:00
what you really pride yourself on
5:03
because everyone has a different
5:04
approach to when it comes to like this
5:07
is like your impetus like you are a
5:09
specific style like tell us a little bit
5:11
about that crime on every thief that we
5:19
sell every piece I say it's a good one
5:25
you know like kind of what's going on
5:27
with the piece what I like about it but
5:29
basically we're here to rock our curse
5:33
so I'm just here to show you like hey
5:34
you have curves embrace your curves you
5:37
know and we just want you to look your
5:39
best when she's in Kirby so that's what
5:42
I take from it she might have a little
5:44
something different but just being
5:46
confident knowing that it's okay to have
5:49
occurred at some point in time someone
5:51
told us it wasn't okay to have two
5:53
curves so happy this is what we have in
5:56
you know we're blessed with them so
5:57
let's walk into our facility you do that
6:00
to girl you'd be selling in pieces I
6:02
don't have fix but in my mind like if I
6:06
put something on like I will kind of you
6:08
know torque to the side a little bit of
6:09
like okay that's how she looked in this
6:11
oh you have the best fits for you I like
6:17
what you said that but you know I'm okay
6:19
with not having him thank you thank you
6:24
very much but yeah girl you'll be
6:26
selling the pieces I'm just saying so
6:30
asked about chic and curvy though yes um
6:34
when Kirby first came out there wasn't
6:37
lying
6:38
a lot of a lot of phobic companies who
6:41
make body-conscious loaded like we have
6:44
like you know we didn't have a couple
6:46
grab dresses and things of that nature
6:48
but she encouraged like one of our
6:50
ditches was the body Congress um when I
6:53
create you can curvy I wanted it for
6:55
women who were confident sexy and wanted
6:58
to rock their hurt and so that one of
7:00
the basically one of the Carolingian
7:02
pieces of chicken Gertie is a body
7:04
Margaret we also sell a lot of rat
7:08
dresses we sell a lot of I was kind
7:13
easier where we sell jumpsuits booby
7:16
sets first again I'm gentle with the fit
7:28
model for a lot of people the first week
7:31
so junior plus size clothes but al I
7:34
guess pose like oh you know I'm open
7:43
ah okay thanks boo yeah so in I just
7:50
kept in mind a real woman's body and try
7:54
to expand the size in just a little bit
7:58
so more women can fit their curves into
8:01
these outfits more comforter or clattery
8:03
more flattering so that makes sense
8:11
no that's very much appreciated and I
8:13
think it even goes even further into
8:15
like when people talk about sizing and
8:17
size ranges of with different companies
8:19
are different boutiques or different
8:21
stores like it gives a little bit of an
8:24
insight onto the other side of what the
8:26
process is like so how'd you guys have
8:28
not been around like our fits would have
8:32
been way off even more so like even with
8:34
your the work that you've done with your
8:36
manufacturers has helped establish some
8:39
kind of consistency well thank you for
8:43
that
8:47
like which is a lot of basically late
8:51
for a lot of that's us right there
9:10
growth right growth and it's always
9:13
interesting because in the press space
9:15
everything in the plus-size fashion roll
9:17
its from the ground up versus mainstream
9:20
fashion is top down and so a lot of
9:23
folks who come into the plus-size
9:24
fashion space think that they can you
9:27
know kind of you know dictate where is
9:30
like the plus-sized community from like
9:32
the growth of plus-sized community has
9:35
happened because of social media because
9:37
of blogs because of you know it's us
9:41
like we helped grow it and to see in
9:45
here like how you're even impacting like
9:48
what we're all like witnessing you know
9:50
trying out and all this muscle that's
9:51
like really amazing I had no idea about
9:53
that
9:53
had no idea yeah okay okay so does this
9:58
mean that your size ranges are going to
10:01
be growing in the future yes
10:04
we are working on for our design we're
10:08
working on expanding the size ranges
10:09
we've actually gotten like a couple
10:12
vendors to offer you know the forint
10:15
spotted success I mean sometimes we
10:17
offer them as well so we are working
10:20
like we're working for ourselves but
10:22
we're also working for other plus we
10:26
want everyone to be able to rock comes
10:28
mm-hmm come on
10:30
so is it fair to say that your pieces
10:35
are junior plus or has it evolved out of
10:38
junior plus I would say I think we're
10:42
doing your fun anymore because that is
10:44
like totally different just for women
10:46
who have heard this were women like art
10:48
because I remember the little pop-up
10:50
that would always come up I remember
10:54
papa that was like an angel girl before
10:57
you buy anything I need you to pay
10:59
attention to this size range now like I
11:02
always appreciated that
11:03
select it's like the first thing like
11:05
welcome understand our sizing but it's
11:08
not anymore right right one more so a
11:13
woman's cut currently we believe we
11:17
believe it to be a women's pin to a
11:19
woman's 2022 but the majority of them
11:25
are still kind of 20 and once I got it
11:30
for your purse got it and one of the
11:34
things I also appreciate is that you
11:36
have pieces for the tall woman in mind
11:40
to like like taller than me and I'm 5/8
11:43
right oh well that was strategically to
11:49
broaden arrange that we were reaching
11:52
also so it's not just the sizing you
11:55
know from the chest to shoulders yeah
11:57
it's also the height because our taller
12:00
plus-sized curvy women were being missed
12:02
- yeah so and I was always taught you
12:05
know during my retail days it's easier
12:08
to have more than they're not in there
12:10
so we always work the shorter ladies but
12:16
it's not you can't add to add to it so
12:20
it's just easier to cut it off and now
12:21
we get meeting at you them also oh okay
12:24
good good good so if you guys didn't
12:26
catch that our plus-sized tall chicks
12:28
like you've got some options here and
12:31
she can curvy if you guys are just
12:33
tuning in we're here with Melissa and
12:35
Jenna at from chic and curvy they are
12:39
based on a plus-sized boutique based in
12:41
Inglewood California and today we're
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chatting with them learning a little bit
12:44
more about their business the brand
12:46
behind the brand and how you can support
12:49
them through this time we're talking
12:50
about their pivots what they're doing
12:52
how they're making their way through
12:55
through everything and so every Tuesday
12:58
and Thursday we'll have a different
13:00
guest someone from the plus side
13:03
business community to talk about their
13:05
businesses and how we can support them
13:07
so my next question is how are you
13:12
handling the mental like housing the
13:15
mental looking like right now I'm gonna
13:21
give it to you on two side as the
13:24
entrepreneur work it's interesting
13:26
because I look at you can curve you
13:29
basically as I'm the captain of a ship
13:31
and so basically I'm like um basically
13:35
my employees you know are much it things
13:38
and I have to here I consistently think
13:42
of that as I'm steering the ship and so
13:45
um I don't know it's a little bit
13:48
mentally challenging because it's a lot
13:50
going on right now girl it's and it's
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really scary you know and and so
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basically um I just basically whenever I
13:59
do get some time to myself
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because I am still you know like working
14:03
in the business and everything on the
14:05
online side um but whenever I do get
14:07
some time to myself I like to listen to
14:09
books on audible I like to catch up on
14:12
some good TV and I mean exactly also
14:17
checking on my friends and everything
14:18
and see how they're doing it see if I
14:20
can help them in any way and that's
14:23
basically what I do on the ice for your
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side but you know we're not like 24/7 to
14:28
girl and so you know once I get home or
14:34
whatever you know I basically sleep at
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and I go into it you know like wife
14:38
mother and everything in that's when you
14:40
know I'm second in all my family making
14:42
sure they're doing okay and so you know
14:46
it's actually drawing and drawing on
14:47
closer because we're you know by my over
14:50
four dreams right right right right
14:54
like my my family has done decided to do
14:57
a weekly a daily a daily zoom meeting
15:02
with different themes each day so like
15:07
yesterday my father and my stepfather he
15:09
decided he was gonna teach us how to
15:11
make tuna sandwiches
15:14
so you know all of these things it's
15:16
really cute and endearing like and also
15:18
like I'll say oh okay but you know then
15:21
it just made me hungry and then we had
15:23
Sam our own sandwiches but like you know
15:26
but then my mom is over here teaching us
15:27
line dances but it's like the most that
15:31
we've like interacted in one week like
15:33
with everyone wow you guys are creating
15:36
memory that too that too because like on
15:40
Mondays my neaten my niece and nephews
15:42
they have their own little kids corner
15:46
so it's like we kind of get innovative
15:48
and where we're bonding in different
15:50
ways Jenna hi what do you do like how
15:53
are how are you navigating this I'm I'm
15:56
still an essential worker so just to let
15:58
you guys know I do work at she can curvy
16:02
a model and then I still have to go to
16:05
work so so basically the quarantine
16:10
apart for me is a little bit different
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but I know I'm providing immediate
16:15
service to a population that is this
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very often so I work in social services
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so you know we are essential we're still
16:23
providing services and doing things for
16:26
the impoverished communities that need
16:28
our help so I come home and I try to
16:31
dedicate at least 30 minutes every
16:34
Monday Wednesday Friday if possible some
16:37
time but doing like a home workout so
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I've just turned on YouTube because I'm
16:43
not being as active as I would normally
16:46
be at work no I'm turn on the YouTube
16:50
find a I have someone that I like to
16:52
work out with on TV I'm eating but turn
16:55
that on for about 30 minutes and you
16:57
know just group out to that and then I'm
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doing more cooking so this is making me
17:02
be at home more and not move around a
17:04
lot right I'm definitely doing or could
17:07
and mall which I am enjoying it girl I
17:09
don't found some recipes I was like oh I
17:11
could do that yeah
17:15
that's how my quippy confidence is being
17:18
boosted a little bit even though no one
17:19
is really tasting it that I'm like
17:31
really able to to do now so myself and
17:41
see the things that I would like you
17:43
before with taking care of my space like
17:46
even decluttering and spring cleaning
17:48
and everything like just taking a moment
17:50
in a pod that put morning to me that's
17:54
and that's key like you know for myself
17:56
like if my mind is overwhelmed I'm just
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going to I'm going to not push myself to
18:04
feel like I need to push past it like
18:06
I'm gonna go sit down on the couch I'm
18:08
going to pour myself a glass of wine or
18:10
coffee I'm going to or Jack Daniels like
18:13
you know whatever works at that time
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like I'm going to give myself that
18:19
moment right because like this is
18:22
unprecedented like across generations so
18:25
there is a lot of uncertainty and I
18:27
think what's most interesting is and
18:29
most important is that we are not alone
18:32
in the sense like we are community and
18:34
so however we have to reach out and
18:37
touch someone whether it's picking up
18:38
the phone or zooming or how we're here
18:41
like doing you know different video live
18:43
chat conversations like you know if we
18:47
remind ourselves that we're not alone
18:49
like and that we can reach out and then
18:51
and then even for it not even also
18:54
should I think even giving grace on the
18:55
opposite side where oh my god so much so
18:57
didn't call me they have a check-in
18:59
that's ain't giving grace on that
19:02
because sometimes like folks like
19:05
they're in their own like spiral like
19:07
seems maybe going home where they can't
19:09
reach out so I think it's about giving
19:10
grace to yourself your business your
19:13
brand and others
19:20
some people have ever gotten a chance to
19:22
even rest period and so no it's
19:26
important right
19:27
some people are talking like oh my god
19:29
I'm sleeping better I'm not full eight
19:31
hours of sleep and do you know like the
19:33
surprise shock of it right being held at
19:36
home and like you have no choice but to
19:39
take care of you in ways that you can
19:41
because the things that you cannot
19:43
control like you just can't like it's
19:46
just gonna be over there but like right
19:48
here what I can I can make myself a dos
19:50
meal mm-hmm
19:53
I can do some shopping I can be
19:55
comfortable while I'm lounging yeah you
20:00
know enemies so it's like how do you
20:01
navigate that space and and really you
20:04
know make it feel good so like for you
20:08
speaking of loungewear I do know that
20:10
you just drop some loungewear yes we did
20:14
is that what you're wearing
20:16
um this is some of the pieces that yes
20:19
we dropped as loungewear and and a lot
20:23
of them are under exclusive on our on
20:25
our website as well um that's been one
20:29
of our I'll take one of those you might
20:34
already have one okay okay but keep
20:42
going keep going
20:42
what else can we expect what else can we
20:47
expect as far as different pieces we
20:51
have coming out mhm okay okay yeah this
20:57
week you know even though we're in my
20:59
house and everything right now we with
21:01
basically the last couple weeks and it
21:03
even going forward we've been dropping a
21:05
lot of comfortable pieces so that
21:09
exactly why did you say Jan when you say
21:12
I love ya are all in my other life I
21:19
would wear them everyday but in my real
21:22
life
21:22
I'm more of the lounge person so
21:26
yep you're lucky I put my hair on today
21:29
some to say yeah well I'm in the
21:33
unboxing I just want to tell you he gets
21:35
into a lot of lounges so get ready
21:38
yeah um also coming up this week um even
21:42
though you know technically we're still
21:44
on quarantine um we do know that
21:46
eventually we'll be able to go on
21:48
vacation again and so this week we
21:51
dropped a lot of pieces that you can
21:54
wear like on vacation and we're into
21:56
like a little party little outing so we
21:58
dropped a couple of strapless dresses
22:00
that are amazing and come on go check
22:03
them out we're gonna get through this so
22:05
you're gonna need to go to that party
22:06
for come on guys good game or you can
22:09
just have your party at home exactly
22:13
like like tonight I have a birthday my
22:16
birthday party to go to um zoom like a
22:19
whole evite and everything we gotta make
22:23
sure we have me dressed up for it we got
22:25
to be dressed up for the teeth you know
22:28
[Music]
22:29
we haven't a project coming up to where
22:33
it's important for you know everyone to
22:36
you know get up and still you know get
22:38
dressed at least a couple of degrees and
22:40
so we have a project coming for our
22:42
customers where we're asking them to
22:44
kind of show us their before and
22:46
thereafter and so even though we're in
22:50
the house and everything like that we
22:52
still can dress up for ourselves we can
22:54
and also for you know our significant
22:57
others we can even have date nights and
23:00
so when we do have date night you can
23:02
rock your chicken Murphy I think it's
23:04
important to keep with the routine of
23:05
questions did Justin for your mental
23:07
health not to get burdened by what's
23:10
going on so yes dressed up I've been
23:13
working on my makeup routine a little
23:14
bit I'm think I'm feeling a little bit
23:16
better because I don't have someone
23:18
coming to do my makeup right now so it's
23:20
um it's definitely time to put it to
23:23
yourself so that in a dressing up I mean
23:26
get dressed lucky dress my new well you
23:30
know it's funny that you guys say that
23:31
because today the LA Times there's this
23:35
article and he was like talking
23:38
like folks not getting dressing they
23:40
said he said to get out of the sweats
23:42
and I think I mean I actually am NOT of
23:46
that mind I am of the just for what
23:50
makes you comfortable and what makes you
23:51
feel good and if getting dressed up
23:54
makes you you know what changes the vibe
23:57
and mood that you're wanting then go for
24:00
it
24:00
but I mean if you want to be in a
24:03
bralette and some you know a flowy
24:07
strapless dress like that built that
24:09
blue one that you had last last summer
24:12
like this spaghetti straps if that's
24:15
like a strapless version oh my gosh like
24:17
I was just twirl around and like fly
24:19
away in that thing but I think it's
24:22
important to like because like you said
24:25
some people are getting more rest and
24:26
some people are you know figuring out
24:28
what works best for like you know
24:29
finding a whole new world by just
24:32
sitting still is sitting in the home so
24:34
it's really kind of about like a la I
24:39
guess it's more about allowing yourself
24:41
to kind of feel the mood that you're in
24:43
and the vibe rather than kind of forcing
24:45
it on yourself for sake of you know what
24:49
I'm saying because we don't want them to
24:53
fall into like that like like different
25:00
like some people aren't taken the
25:03
quarantine that well and right if we
25:07
have any idea there anything that can
25:09
help you know kind of even take them out
25:10
of the space yeah yeah yeah and I think
25:14
that that's where like you know trying
25:16
to put on some lipstick today it's like
25:18
the first day actually put on some dark
25:19
lipstick like normally I'm on here with
25:21
like lip gloss maybe I've lined my lips
25:24
and put a little gloss on but like now I
25:26
have on lipstick like I'm all up okay
25:29
this and you know you know I feel like I
25:32
had to get dressed up for you you know
25:35
God I'm not motivation because oh girl
25:38
does not look like this like when I'm
25:40
sitting front of a computer I mean only
25:44
on my computer right now because you
25:45
know we should be set up on fancy like
25:49
but you know I think it's really a
25:51
kind of just feeling out like
25:54
understanding like it's okay if you're
25:56
not okay we are we are going to come
26:03
through this we totally are I agree with
26:05
you Jana now what else so when you said
26:07
this project when can we expect it like
26:10
when is it launching later on this week
26:15
okay cool and then you also just dropped
26:19
like a you did that you participated in
26:22
the don't rush challenge it was amazing
26:28
yes and I was like oh look at her we
26:32
always dancing and stuff so I'll make
26:34
sure that we drop the link so that you
26:35
guys can uncatchable so do me a favor
26:39
Melissa if you can have to wrap us up
26:42
let us let everyone know who you are
26:45
where they can support you and where
26:48
they can follow as well like give us
26:50
everything and also the size ranges like
26:52
give us everything okay again this is
26:57
Dan of the Kirby flex model
26:59
she's our brand ambassador my name is
27:02
Melissa you can follow Jen and the Furby
27:05
plus model on Instagram and you can
27:07
follow me at Melissa AJ Styles on
27:11
Instagram um the company's Instagram is
27:14
actually called shooting curvy boutique
27:17
from our website is shooting harpy calm
27:20
um our side frame is a woman
27:25
hand-to-hand w220 done did we get your
27:33
Instagram yes our Instagram is that you
27:36
can oh you did say that you did say that
27:38
and I think in what we'll do is like
27:41
will also do a post after this so we'll
27:44
embed the video if you've missed the
27:45
live and you want to see some pieces and
27:47
you want to figure out see what they're
27:48
talking about we will recap all of this
27:51
nicely for you make sure Melissa you
27:53
send me all that information girl about
27:55
your your project so that we can include
27:59
in the recap thank you guys for joining
28:02
and spending some time with us you guys
28:05
thank you guys for tuning in - speaking
28:09
of curves with our guest Melissa and
28:11
Jana of chic chic and curvy boutique I
28:13
am the creator of the Kirby fashionista
28:16
Marie tonight thank you guys so much for
28:18
tuning in and we'll catch you on
28:20
Thursday talk to y'all later
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