Warm, Fuzzy and Funky with Kesha Denise

Kesha Denise is the one-womanpowerhouse behind Funky Flair Boutique in Marietta, GA, and is the week’sfeatured Cool Soror. She pledged to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in 1997 atCalifornia State University Northridge.

Born and raised in Inglewood, CA,Kesha grew up surrounded by fashion with a seamstress for a grandmother, and astylish mother. She is the quintessential California girl who is laid back,chill, and loves the beautiful weather, beaches and diversity of the state.

In 2006 however, after feelingburnt out of LA, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

In her first few years inAtlanta, she worked for Dermalogica. After an interesting turn of events, she came up with a master plan andfinally launched the Funky Flair Boutique in November of 2012.

Listen to this half-hour podcastto learn more about Kesha Denise:

• How the Funky Flair Boutique ideastarted (3:00), the master plan and the financial route she took to set up thestore (7:02) and why she chose Marietta as the location (8:28).
• How the business operates, withher as the one-woman-team in charge of everything from merchandising, marketingand even utility; her preference to keep it this way as opposed to gettingemployees (10:28); Funky Flair’s online presence and e-commerce (19:09); andthe processes involved in merchandising (20:35).
• Her vision for Funky Flair'sgrowth and brand recall (11:49); the struggles she goes through and the supportteam that motivates her in spite of the hurdles (9:34)
• Why she chose Alpha Kappa Alpha(16:00).

“Being an entrepreneur is a giftand a curse. I’ve worked harder for myself than I’ve ever worked for anycompany, but the joy in it is that it’s mine. On days when no money is moving,I’m still ok. I can sit in this building and look around, [sic] everythingthat’s in here is me. Nobody can take that from me. And that’s priceless” –Kesha Denise