Jodell Raymond owns Black Cat Plus, a plus-size apparel store. Jodell is also a busy professional, who gives presentations and gives conference. Her sense of fashion led het to open this great online boutique for full-figured women (http://www.blackcatplus.com). She kindly agreed to answer my questions. I was amazed by how much time she has put into giving us so much detail about her boutique, her show room, her favourite brands, and her mission. I would like to thank her again for her time and I hope that you will enjoy her story.

1/ Jodell, you lead a busy life: you own Black Cat Plus, a plus size apparel website, you have a showroom in Rochester, NY, own a consulting business (GenderCorp), and you also teach business in a college! First, how do you manage to do so much?

I have become very good at compartmentalizing my life. I have learned to prioritize, delegate and this was a hard one, to say NO to things that I cannot do. I am energized by ideas, other people’s success and reaching goals I have set for myself and my businesses.

In my businesses, I work with partners–either by formalized agreements-or informal agreements. They are true professionals that I can trust and rely upon to get the job done right. Work becomes easier to manage when you have the right people working with you. One of my favorite quotes is “I would rather wear out than rust out.” I have a lot of interests and, hopefully, will have a long life to pursue those interests. I love talking about business to my college students and using real-life examples from my own business or my clients’ businesses to give them a real-world perspective; I love interacting with my consulting clients–most of them are small business owners like me–and helping them achieve success and I love the fashion industry and helping my customers find that perfect outfit.

2/ Your online boutique, Black Cat Plus ( http://www.blackcatplus.com ), was born out of your own frustration: as a busy professional, you could not find nice looking, plus-size clothings. So you set up your web store. Did I get your story right?

That is correct. There were many times while I was doing presentations that I thought the women were talking about me. They were! They wanted to know where I got my clothes or wanted to ask me style questions after the presentation or training session.

I decided to start my own business after I sold a suit off my back to a woman who attended one of my sessions. She needed it for a big presentation of her own the next day and she did not have time to go out and shop.

3/ Who does your site cater to? Do you also cater to international customers?

The site is geared toward real women with real lives and the desire to wear clothes that reflect their individual style.

We take our mission seriously to help women tell the story of their busy lifestyles through the clothes they choose to wear! We added the show room so that we can have the ability to test styles and get opinions of customers and translate it to a larger market. Because of our dual focus, we can do a lot of the leg work for today’s busy woman and find styles with a fit that works well on the various body types of plus size women.

Beginning with first collections, women may not know what they wanted or were looking for, but when they see the clothes featured in our collections they realize that this is THE LOOK that they have been searching for.

We have just added international shipping to our site and have seen our sales increase and we are in the process of adding more internationally renowned designers.

4/ What brands do you carry? What are the 3 most popular and why, in your opinion?

We carry, Sienna Rose–the most beautiful silk screened work of art in a top you have ever seen; Kiyonna–their dresses prove to me every day that women still want to be feminine and get dressed up; Roni Rabl for her eclectic designs that are flattering to the plus size woman; Fenini which is proving to be one of our “go to” lines for separates; Comfy USA also for separates—the name says it all; PK Maks for their denim and pants–great for silhouettes that need slimming in the stomach area at a reasonable price point; Saint Joval for made-to-order occasion wear; and Body Works Apparel for affordable active wear. We are adding Linda Lundstrom back into the collection for this fall along with a new line called, A People United.

Right now, our most popular brands can really be put into categories: Not Your Daughter’s Jeans for denim is hands down, our best selling jean. Simply Silk for their beautiful washable silk kimono style jackets that are works of art, and Canadian designer, Diane Kennedy for separates, especially the petite pants and the fabric for her separates is like nothing I have ever felt before.. Lastly, Neon Buddha and Pure & Co. from Canada for their casual wear and hand knit wraps. We cannot keep either in stock.

I think the common thread (pun intended) in all of the brands are fit, fit, and fit. If you have a designer who provides a consistent fit that is universally flattering in appealing styles, patterns and in contemporary colors, in lifestyle appropriate pieces you have a winner! Sounds easy, but it is not. Let me explain what I mean by lifestyle appropriate. We have found that the stay-at-home mom and working professional woman have something in common. They want to look contemporary, have clothing that can be worn from work to play and everything in-between and makes them look and feel fabulous. I have found that while -price is a consideration, it is not THE consideration. If she finds a piece that fits she will buy one in every color and not think twice. It is also not really about age-appropriate clothing anymore, it is more about lifestyle appropriate clothing that is as versatile as she is.

What does concern me about the fashion industry are two things: everything looks the same; you can just switch the labels out, or, the designers forget who they are designing for. I want to look contemporary in my clothing choices, but not silly and I do not want to see the style of dress I am wearing on ten other people either.

We must keep pushing our designers and even the younger designers coming out of school, to focus on plus size and to avoid designing the same old, same old. A challenge? Definitely! But well worth the effort when the designers get it right. And we feature and keep pushing those designers who we feel get it right.

If a line is under-performing we work with the sales rep, and in some cases the manufacturer, to see if we can get it to perform, and if not, we delete that line. We work with manufacturers who work with us and who are looking for a mutually beneficial relationship.

5/ Do you have your own label?

We did have some private label items. And, we started to delve into manufacturing our own private label pieces. But I was quickly reminded of a basic business principle. Don’t expand too far too fast. It is not easy to manufacture. So, we pulled back a bit and are doing more research as to what things are missing in the market, if any, and if so, how we can fill them? We think we have a good idea as to what is missing, but want to test a bit more before we commit.

6/ Do you ever look at plus-size European brands? If so, what do you think of them?

We are adding Alain Weiz this fall. I hunted for that line for two years–it was hard to find a sales rep. I adore Didier Parkian and Anna Scholz but have not added their lines yet, but am looking into adding them. I have a brochure from Didier Parkian that I picked up at market and I just keep it here on my desk because it is so beautiful. We can point to those designers and say, “Here is how not to do same old, same old for plus size.” When I die and go to heaven you can just surround me with their clothes. That would be my idea of heaven.

I have a goal to get to Milano Moda and have signed up for it a number of times, but have not made it over there. I always make a point to walk every trade show so I can get an idea of trends. Adding an international trade show would just help my perspective and I need to make it a point to get there in 2010 especially since we have more global clients now.

7/ Your site contains a wealth of information. For instance, your blog ( http://www.blackcatplus.com/blog/ ) gives a lot of advice. Is it important for you to publish a blog?

Publishing a blog is one way of connecting with our customers. I love to communicate to them and hear from them. I always try to email everyone back personally and everyone gets a signed thank you note from me.

The thing I love the most is getting to know my customers so well that when I am buying I can say, “I know Jane would love this. Or Sue said she needed a dress in this color, I know this will work.” It is harder on the internet to buy with specific customers in mind, but it is a goal for us to get to know our customers and to help them in any way we can with their clothing choices. I also like for my customers to know me on a personal level.

I just helped a grandmother and mother of the bride find something to wear for the wedding. They called me (at my request) at home and we discussed what they had in mind. I did not want any distractions when I talked to them. If a customer needs me I always make sure she can find me. Yes, there is such a thing as a Fashion Emergency, trust me!!

I engaged the sales reps help to help them find something from Simply Silk that they would absolutely love. We did it!! It is that kind of connection, while it may be more of a challenge with the internet that is the reason why I am in business and what keeps me in business.

8/ How does an entrepreneur like you can compete with the likes of Lane Bryant and other big names?

We don’t! We cannot compete with Lane Bryant or Macy’s on price. We will lose. Those stores will have “It” on sale before we even get “It” in the store! We try to find lines that the big retailers do not carry. That is not easy either because it can be a matter of time before they get mass distribution.

We certainly do monitor what the big retailers carry, what they view as trends and how they are catering to their customers. But to directly compete with them would be a plan to fail on our part. Where we can compete is on personalized service and attention and providing the customer with a WOW experience every time she has contact with us.

9/ Where is your showroom located and what can be found there?

The show room is located in Rochester, NY and has the same items as what you see in our on-line store. We were in a local boutique and were providing the plus size selections for that boutique, but it became apparent that they needed their space back so we began to explore different concepts as to what would work for our particular local market/business model. The show room is proving to be the answer.

I think you will find that the retail industry will show some pretty dramatic changes in the next few years. We are doing our best to be proactive in anticipating that shift in the retail industry with our combined show room and shipping facility concept.

10/ One last word?

The plus size fashion industry has come far, but still has a long way to go. I really urge my customers to let us know what they think so that we can take back their comments to our manufacturers and designers so that they can set about the work of making clothes that people want to wear and keep for many years to come. I am energized by the direction that the plus size fashion industry is headed.

We do see glimpses of greatness in designers out there., but we still need to do our homework and commit to working with one another to make it happen. We can never take that customer out of the equation for success. It is really an honor to be in this industry and help women look and feel their best. As I have said, “It is not about what size you wear, it is how you wear your size.”