This girl date was a girl crush situation. Like I almost wanted to ask her on a date date she is so damn gorgeous! I had been following Candace for a while before I slid into her dms and asked her for her time.
Candace is a young business woman, mom, and girlfriend that has been through so much while also serving in the military so I understood some of where she was coming from throughout the interview. She has such a fun yet humbled spirit and I felt it all throughout. I admired her authenticity, rawness, and relatability which I believe translates in her brand and boutique business. She is relentless in overcoming her obstacles, using her resources and loved ones, and killing it with a boss mindset, all while maintaining her most valued relationship with God and exercising a concept that we probably all struggle with sometimes….Patience.
So let’s get into the chat….
Tell me about your business…
Candace: Luva girl has had a few transitions. It started off as wigs because I love wigs and then it went into lashes and then I was like ‘if I can walk into a beauty store that sells lashes for $2.99 why would I try to sell lashes for like $14.’ That’s a rip off! I am not about that because I am a single mom… why try to rip people off? Then it transitioned into clothing.
Candace started telling me about she hit a point after divorce trying to find herself. In 2018, she was trying to find something to do to keep busy despite being a mother and going through the separation. She emphasized the importance of having something for HER still.
Candace: I am a mother. That was one thing, but then I was like okay what about me? Im focused on work, focused on my kids but then…where’s Candace? I had to put things on pause.
I asked her about where the concept of Luva Girl came from…
Candace: Luva Girl came from loving yourself girl. Throwing on a pair of eyelashes, throw on some cute shoes, taking yourself out for a drink….thats where that came from. I was not loving myself. It was a transition and a lot of stuff I had to put on the back burner.
Tell me about your morning routine…
Candace: Weekdays is pretty much wake up, brush my teeth, shower, get ready. My boyfriend makes me coffee every morning (find you a partner that is your equal) and we just talk. I get ready and then have that adult conversation with him because once you get to work it’s a whole different ballgame. As far as friends and family we talk during the weekends. We’re all busy were all mothers.
She talked about her baby girls (5 and 10) and how her boyfriend helps out a lot with them until she gets home. I admired how helpful she described her man as being. I think hard working women need a solid partner by their side! We also talked about how as a mother sometimes a routine is difficult to maintain with ever changing schedules and unexpected events…
Candace: It’s hard to have a routine when you have kids. I take my time with God on my way to work. I would love to have a morning routine…but I ain’t got time!
If I didn’t have….I would go crazy.
Candace: If I didn’t have God I would go crazy. Sometimes I have to walk away and say a prayer and breathe…sit in the shower for 5 minutes longer and talk to him. With everything going on can’t nobody calm you. Please place me where I need to be placed and put me where I need to be.
We talked about how underrated it is to sit in the shower or sit in the car a few extra minutes to gather yourself on an average day as a mother.
If you could go back in time….what would you tell your 20 year old self?
Candace: I think the only thing that I would tell myself is don’t waste your time. I would never change the fact that I had my babies, but will I will say is that I would have left my situation a lot sooner. I would say know your worth and regardless everything will be fine. If I would have known that in my 20’s, I wouldn’t have wasted 8 years of my life okay! You go through all that but you see how strong you are. Don’t count yourself out.
I asked her why do she thinks we as women go through that…
Candace: We think we can change people and make them better. You can’t change no one…that is not our job.
What does your last day on earth look like?
Candace: Girl….dang! I would figure out a way for generational wealth for my girls. Figure out a quick cool million. Me and my boyfriend talk about that all the time…like what if we came from money? Instead of taking out loans and paying interest we can just say thank you…
Whats a day of self care for you?
Candace: A beach. A few long islands and that’s it. She is in Florida and loves the beach.
How does social media impact you as a small business owner?
Candace: Social media drives a lot of your customers.
She went into the intricacies and challenges of social media marketing and developing an understanding of when to post and what platform to use. She described it as being sometimes overwhelming.
Candace: The quality of your pictures and how you look in your pictures matter. Your customers can tell when they go on your website and things are sold out. In one of my businesses I still have not broke even…I am still putting money into advertising and paying for pop up shops but I am being patient because that is what you have to do in this business. Patience is important because if you try to rush anything you are going to dig yourself into a hole.
What are some of the pros and cons you deal with?
Candace: Happiness plays a big part for me.
We talked about her struggles to also balance her purpose while being a business woman and also a member of the military. She was so open about trying to find her place in it all and maintain that sense of purpose while figuring out if she wants to continue her time in the service. Then we went into how she wanted to expand her business in the future by maybe teaching to elevate her desires…
Candace: There is money to be made everywhere. I want to get myself set up to where I can push it out and they’re good.
She told me about her business expansion through pop-up shops to network and build her clientele.
What do you tell someone that wants to quit?
Candace: I would say just be patient. See it through and find your purpose. I would say don’t quit and then you will know exactly when its time to walk away from it. Until you feel like its really time for you to part ways…keep at it!
We dove into how instant gratification has made an impact on how long we all make decisions to stick around and how that further ties into the effort that is put into anything we do. The internet has made it so easy to just move onto the next thing, whether that be a new date by swiping to the the right or quitting a new job/opportunity to excel because it’s difficult.
I have learned to stick with it.
How did COVID affect your business and life situation?
Candace: My business took off. Mentally I was still working and I was doing the same thing so I am not really a social person so I have to recharge my battery.
She explained how she built her relationship and was blessed to have her mother at home during the pandemic so everything continued as normal.
This actually helped me as a person. I had the chance to eliminate all that outside activity.
What does women empowerment mean to you?
Candace: It’s building up each other. Always communicating whether that’s good or bad. Me and my group of girls are always doing something. As a team collectively we pull things from each other. How I look at it is…(have you ever watched dragon ball Z before?) so powering each other up! You take a jar and just put everything in it to build upon each other and now you have a cup full.
Women need to stop being in competition with each other. Everyone brings something to the table and if you take a piece of that the magic that can happen!
Candace then talked about a potential future in owning a shop with other women.
What does love mean to you?
Unconditional. Being able to love me when I am ugly, when I don’t have any lashes on. I think we all deserve it. Thats friendship wide and relationship wide.
And that’s that! Well said and it was such a pleasure. I love the opportunity to have interviewed yet another strong and inspiring woman to help us all become our best selves….even if it does take a while to figure it out. Just like Candace said multiple times though….PATIENCE is a must.
Thanks Luva
Follow her on IG to get into all her business. Clothes, hair, and (dont think I didn’t see you)….Nails. She’s such a talented Girl Boss.
Love
Charlotte.
