Liz and Bee Boutique

First of all, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Deanna Smith (@DeannaLuvsU) and I am a recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University. I’ve known Kirby since the days of being Mass Media Arts students; you know, classes together, working together in group assignments (Fab5), etc., and after reading different posts on askKirbyCarroll, I wanted to hop on board.  So now, I am a guest writer, and I too, will be making posts from time to time about fashion, entertainment, etc. Ok, so enough about me; I’m just gonna jump right into the interview.

Last weekend I spent my Saturday talking about fashion, new styles, and the power of entrepreneurship. Liz and Bee is an online boutique owned by Bianca and Bridgette Tatum.  Hailing from LaGrange, Georgia, they currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia as college students at Clark Atlanta University. I recently had a phone interview with Miss Bianca Tatum, and we just simply talked about the boutique, the future of the boutique, and just overall fashion.

(Q&A below)

So, tell me a little bit about you and your sister, and how you guys came up with the idea of your online boutique, Liz and Bee.
Well, me and my sister are twins; we’re like ‘day and night’. Um, she’s more on the business side of things and I’m a fashion major, so I do all the buying of the clothing and she does the marketing. I have always made jewelry and I’ve always had a website, and I wanted to sell clothing as well, but I didn’t want to do it by myself, so we decided to do it together.

So can you tell me a little bit about your jewelry?
I started making jewelry when I was 13; my cousin had a boutique called “Paper Dolls Boutique” and this lady made jewelry for her.  So I was like, ‘hey, I can make jewelry!’ So, I went and bought some beads and I’ve been making jewelry ever since, and I know how to make everything: necklaces, earrings, bracelets, etc.

What is the look of Liz and Bee, and what is the inspiration behind it?
The look is like chic, but classic and trendy pieces, but trendy pieces that you can’t find everywhere.  It’s inspired by college students; like, all the things that a college student would want to wear, but at a decent price.  We try to target girls at the age of 18 to women in her 30s.

I’m sure you guys have long-term goals for the boutique, but as far as short-term goals, have you achieved what you’ve wanted to achieve so far? Like as far as marketing and getting the name out there. How are people responding to it?
Well, it’s easy to find people to retweet you on Twitter or to repost a picture on Instagram, but it’s hard to get customers to actually buy things. So, right now we’re working on getting an ad in Kontrol Magazine so we can market through them to their audience versus just people in Atlanta, family, or people from school.  So as far as short-term goals, to hold an ad in Kontrol Magazine and also to just try to do well with our people who are buying things; make our customers, repeat customers.

Are you guys looking to expand one day? Like have your own stand-alone store or a franchise of stores?
Yes, I do want to have a boutique one day, possibly in the next year or two because I graduate in May, so we’ll see how online goes and how marketing goes for that, and then we wanna move towards opening up our own store.

FUN QUESTIONS
If you could name 3 stores where you think your clothing and accessories could be found in, which 3 would it be?
Ummm, Zara, Urban Outfitters, and maybe Anthropologie.

In your opinion, who is the best-dressed celebrity and why?
Oh goodness, um, I don’t want to say Kim Kardashian because everybody will say Kim Kardashian. So, I’m gonna say…I don’t know! Everybody who has style is creative. Like everybody does it, but does it in their own way. So, I guess I’ll say Kim Kardashian.  I feel like her style is innovative and different, and it’s always something new and fresh.

Do you have any advice for anyone who is looking to start their own clothing line or entrepreneur businesses?
I would just say to always keep your dreams in front of you and don’t let people discourage you. I will also say until you get your business started and off the ground, keep your plans to yourself because it’ll be a lot of people who can come by and just tell you, ‘well, don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that’.  Stay focused and motivated towards whatever you wanna do, and just always stay true to yourself and your passion.   
 
Well there you have it guys; my very first interview for askKirbyCarroll!! I really hope you guys enjoyed it! I also want to thank Miss Bianca Tatum again for taking time out of her day to be interviewed by me, and thanks to Kirby for allowing me to join her team of writers. 

To shop at Liz and Bee, you can just simply go to the website (www.lizandbeeboutique.com) and make your purchases there.  Also, go ahead and follow them on twitter (@LizandBee) for updates and exclusives!