Today we’d like to introduce you to Malak Mansour.
Malak, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012, I found myself thinking a lot about wanting to start my own business. I moved back to Houston and within one month of graduating, I began my career in a corporate setting, which only further fueled my desire to create something of my own.
Although my job was great and I found myself getting multiple promotions by 2017, I made up my mind that being a business owner was something I needed to do for myself. I discussed different business ideas with people I knew, and a friend of mine from high school told me about an indoor flea market where she rented space. By that time, I was talking seriously with my mom about starting a business together and I went home and told her about the market and whether she had heard of it. She immediately said we should go check it out and after having a look around, my mom encouraged me and said we should go for it.
In April 2017, we started with one corner booth and some inventory we already had, eventually growing to make our first large inventory purchase, and by 2018 we expanded to occupy four booth spaces. All the while, I was working on getting our website done, and on August 3, 2019 (my birthday) hmblue.com was born. Our goal now is to transition to our own retail space and continue our quest to offer the best of retail therapy experiences!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting a business is definitely a huge challenge and risk. I found it difficult to juggle my 9-5 and my own business operations and I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get to that next milestone. I would say the biggest obstacle is not having access to a giant bank account! The saying “takes money to make money” is so very true. It’s also been challenging to figure out how I want to use my personal Instagram/social media to further support and establish my brand since I never took it too seriously before and don’t really post that often.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the HM Blue story. Tell us more about the business.
HM Blue is a mother-daughter owned business here to bring affordable luxury to our customers. We are passionate about curating unique treasures in fashion and design, with a special emphasis on authentic Egyptian items where our family is from. I’ve always played with my style and looked for unique accessories or unique ways of wearing them, and my grandmother would bring the most amazing jewelry from Egypt for me when she visited. I noticed that people always asked where I got them and that’s when I’d realize that I had this one-of-a-kind thing around my neck that I couldn’t point someone to a store for. We take pride in now being able to offer such pieces at budget-friendly price points.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hmblue.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @hm.blue
- Facebook: @shophmblue
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