Meet Trailblazer Stephanie Leonard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Leonard.

Stephanie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been a “Sucker for love” and fairytale endings. I’ve always felt that people should be proud of being in love and proudly embrace finally finding the one to spend their life with. Although most couples utilize taking a picture with their significant other as a way of showcasing their love and unity, I wanted to be the one to add the detail of T-Shirts to help bring more character to their feelings. Creating from a woman’s standpoint can be tricky because you have to be able to speak for all women whether they’re single, married, engaged, or aspire to marry. Fortunately, I became married and was able to maximize my creativity and speak loud and proud of every woman’s perspective.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been far from smooth! As someone had once told me “The road to success is always under construction“. There were plenty of times where I stopped, revamped, hit many bumps, potholes, and many dead ends. There were times where I questioned if I even wanted to pursue this “Gift” that I knew God had blessed me with.

However, it was those moments of trials that I triumphed through to build my humility, my character, and even added an extra layer of skin to help me keep pushing. I would tell all of my young women who are looking to pursue their entrepreneurial goals to keep at it. If God gave you the dream, it’s worth pursuing.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in what everyone around us want for us that we put our own wants and desires on the back burner. Usually when we allow that to happen, we look up and we’re working these jobs and maintaining a steady paycheck but yet we feel no sense of fulfillment! What good is it in working a job that you have no true passion for! Life is short , why not live each day doing what you love?

What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud o? What sets you apart from others?
I’m an Entrepreneur !!’ I am the Founder of women empowerment brand Ideal Mrs. Ideal Mrs is this generations way of saying “Wifey Material”. We encourage all women whether they’re single, engaged, aspire to marry, or married to embrace their titles and create its meaning. What sets me apart from other female empowerment T-Shirt brands is that my vision is beyond just T-Shirts. Ideal Mrs will be a Club , a family, a group of collective women coming together to support one another. I want seminars for women to come to and hear the stories of women who are married , single, aspire to marry, but are doing amazing things for themselves . I want brunches and mixers , just endless opportunities and an abundance of things going on because as we know us women CAN DO IT ALL!! . There is power in numbers and I won’t be satisfied until Ideal Mrs has an army of women representing its Mission. Ideal Mrs WILL be a house hold name!! ..” I’m speaking it, “ . Meanwhile, when I’m not working on Ideal Mrs I like to indulge into my other passions such as, runway coaching, modeling, and even event managing . This past March I was able to utilize my passions collectively alongside my business partner turned closed friend and came up with the “Wearing Womanhood Fashion show” that was in honor of international women’s day. The Wearing Womanhood fashion show was a huge success that brought together all women from different walks of life under one roof to celebrate the love for fashion, art, and of course women. Many of our supporters are already anticipating our second annual this upcoming March of 2020. Feel free to check out our IG page @wearingwomanhood as well as our website www.wearingwomanhood.com where you can see highlights of this year show, get a background on our lovely designers, receive updates and tips on how to get discounts on tickets for next years show.

Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I’m very big on listening to things that feed my soul spiritually, because as I stated before this entrepreneurial journey can be very discouraging . I highly recommend getting acquainted with listening to a daily sermon, reading some scriptures , listening to some gospel songs , pretty much anything that you can reference to when you need that extra push. I like to listen to Steve Harvey’s podcast. Steve’s podcast consists of his daily closing remarks from his morning radio show . The words of encouragement and overall knowledge that he shares with his listeners is the most inspirational, fulfilling nine minutes you’ll ever experience. Steve speaks highly on “jumping” in life and living in your “Gift”. He doesn’t sugarcoat that the journey will be hard, but he reassures that as long as you have Faith and a vision you can’t go wrong! I also like to listen to Pastor Michael Todd. He currently has a whole series on “Crazy faith” , trusting in God and being open to trials and tribulations in life.

Pricing:

• Hoodies $25
• T-Shirts $15

Contact Info:

• Email: idealmrs@gmail.com
• Instagram: @Fania_j @ideal_mrs
• Facebook: @ideal_mrs

Image Credit:
Kerwin Davis photography

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