Meet Elandis Miller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elandis Miller.

Hi Elandis, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a young girl, I always had a passion for fashion. We subscribed to all the fashion magazines and my mom was an avid shopper so we had a plethora of catalogues, and I would go through them and create vision boards in my closet of items I would buy with my allowance and money scored from family friends and from playing big bank take little bank. 

Since I graduated at the top of my high school class, fashion was not an option for post-secondary education in the traditional scheme of things. But I stayed connected by working in retail throughout my undergraduate career at local department stores such as Macy’s, Sears, and Dillard’s. Plus, I lived vicariously through Lauren Conrad as she worked for Kelly Cutrone’s PR firm People’s Revolution on the hit show “The Hills”.  I obtained a degree in Biology and Pharmacy and later Epidemiology with the mission to help people live better and healthier lives. Not feeling whole, I transitioned throughout jobs in retail pharmacy, health services, evaluation consulting, and currently public health.  

It was while working at an evaluation research firm where I got my first opportunity to do what I love, style a Black professional female CEO. At that moment I realized I could have my cake and eat it too.  While identifying the risk factors for juvenile males in DeKalb County and creating programming I also was able to bring to light the dream vision this determined CEO wanted to show up to meeting as. This included me hiring her a makeup artist and re-vamping her hair. It was a complete image transformation. With more people coming to me for fashion advice, coupled with being undervalued at work and running up my credit cards shopping my frustration away I decided to meet with a marketing company and press go on pursuing my dream job in fashion. 

I started Arelia’s Dream as an online boutique to not just style women that I knew personally but to provide classic, bold, and inspiring pieces for all women to help elevate their being. This idea has now transpired into a women’s retail fashion showroom in West Midtown Atlanta and content space in my families’ hometown neighborhood Pittsburgh Yards. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. When I launched Arelia’s Dream in 2015 it was my baby. I had to learned everything by researching and just implementing to see what works best. Thankfully I had an intern that had fashion background that included education and experience and together we made things happened. Not evening having a full year under my belt, I found out that God had blessed me with the opportunity to be a mother. I had heard from multiple doctors that I could not have kids for over 6 years and literally poured everything; time, money, and energy into the business. I had no savings and was operating as a solopreneur and very much in denial about being unmarried pregnant woman. As a faith driven woman, I turned to our Lord God for help and that he did provide. After having my son Jase, I secured a new job with better pay and benefits. I quickly learned how to manage being a mom, a career woman and a CEO. I must say it is still hard at times trying to manage it all not wanting to miss any growth opportunities as a mother, employee, and business owner. 

Anxiety can be normal during pregnancy, but I had escalated anxiety because I typically like to plan things out and this was something I had to wing. My business remained pretty stagnant, my intern went back to school and I had very little energy to invest in Arelia’s Dream. For the first few months I was doing the bare minimum until I got a good flow of handling it all. One thing I did not do is give up, I stayed the course no matter how tired or unconfident I was about the moves I was making. I was relying heavily on my loyal customers (ie family and friends) and I am forever grateful for the introductions made on my behalf, the referrals, and people just looking out for me. In the day and age of social media, I chose to focus more on my network to help me survive. I started attending and vending at event, joining fashion groups, and really expanding my network.  

Thankfully I had a great foundation when I launched Arelia’s Dream with a solid business plan to guide me my first 5 years. However, trying to secure a physical presence with a retail space was such a struggle. I didn’t have the finances and I was not educated on business credit and fundraising, but I was steadily outgrowing my home office which was full of all my event decor and materials for pop-ups, and the room at my mom’s house used for inventory storage. Finding a retail space in growing Atlanta with parking and easy accessibility on my little to nothing budget was daunting. Right when I found a place the pandemic hit so my plans for staffing and opening the showroom went up in flames. I am not a quitter and very determined so I relied on what has always worked for me and that was my network. 

I contacted a college friend (Go Dawgs) and she opened her bottom retail space to me. And within months of being there, the location, I had been looking at since 2016 became available. I did not know how I was going to afford it, but business was growing and sales productivity and I was introduced to grants and fundraising through the Village United Elevate program that I participated in. With a background in science and research, finance and fundraising were not on my radar. However, after being rejected from a few small business programs and incubators, we were selected to be in the very first cohort of the Elevate program and was one of the winners of the culminating pitch contest. The prize was a space at Pittsburgh Yards! Winning the space and participating in the program validated my existence and has inspired me to pursue more and be more present, especially within my community. I went from one location to two locations in 6 months and during a pandemic.  

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Arelia’s Dream specializes in elevating your being – whether fashion, image, business, or lifestyle. We are all about helping you create the image and/or business you dreamed of and ensuring you look good doing it. We provide personal shopping service, an online retail store, product placement for local designers, wardrobe styling and rental for photoshoots and editorials, fashion consulting and production for events such as fashion and trunks.  

We are known for classic, bold, and inspiring pieces for the modern-day women that are sure to elevate their casual. We collaborate with photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and creatives to host events and create branded, on target looks for our clients. I believe what sets us apart is that we are accessible, we work with our clients to solve their fashion and business worries and if we cannot help you, we will know someone that can. Whether it’s going to an event and not knowing what to wear, or where to find the perfect shoe and accessories, or if you are about to launch a new business or product and needing help with plan development and consistent and relevant A1 content, we got you!  

We have a women’s retail fashion showroom in West Midtown Atlanta, 216 14th St NW Suite 6 Atlanta, GA 30318. We have a content studio at Pittsburgh Yards located at 352 University Ave SW Unit S-111. And for those not in the local Atlanta area, you can find us online at www.areliasdream.com We also have plans to branch out into production so stay tuned.  

And as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic we restructured our Girl’s Night Out events to focus on the whole woman and offer monthly classes that focus on collaboration and elevating women entire being. I am really excited about this new offering because it creates a space for women to be able to relax, network, learn something that can improve their quality of life, and have fun outside of the normal hustle and bustle. These events include pop up shops, health and wellness series such as dance and yoga, self-defense and spiritual classes, game night, trunk shows, styling parties, networking happy hours and paneled discussions.  

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
That’s a funny question, because I am a pretty safe person that values stability so when I comes to risk, I juggle between the following: 1) consulting with God, he has the ultimate plan for my life and I have to trust it. 2) be rational and weigh the pros and cons as it relates to growth. My famous question is, “will you grow from this decision/risk?”  3)  YOLO, sink or swim.  

So, starting this business was a BIG risk for me because my public health career trajectory was and is promising. I am a firm believer in God and his plan so I ask God to order my steps, let me know if this opportunity is your will and not mine and people, doors, and opportunities just kept coming. When starting Arelia’s Dream, a few people I reached out to before launching the online boutique told me that instead of the online boutique why don’t you do clothing rental, open a fashion showroom for stylist to pull from, Atlanta is missing that. And I listened so in my business plan I put that as a long-term goal because I knew that required me to have relationships and knowledge in the fashion industry which I lacked at the time. And I appreciate the journey because it has taught me a lot along the way, and I feel more comfortable with taking risk in my fashion business knowing what I know now. I understand that there will be some losses, but that just makes the achievements and wins more rewarding. So, to sum it all up I talk to God look for his guidance and direction and remember that there will be some trials and triumphs on your journey to success but does the risk outweigh the gain.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.areliasdream.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areliasdream/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AreliasDream/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AreliasDream
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCno9EizvqGKRlZ6DE9WtuWw

Image Credits
Skyy Wonder Photography
L Devlin Photography
Dream Plus Studios