TheCareerCreator.com interviews Ellen Christine of Ellen Christine Millinery
April 30, 2009 by careercreator
Ellen Christine; Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
Ellen Christine Colon-Lugo is a modern day milliner who hand crafts exquisite hats in her beautiful New York boutique.
Her clients are a wide range of people and, recently, she designed Kentucky Derby hats for the Real Housewives of New York’s Bethenny Frankel.
Though she comes from a crafting family, Ellen Christine has always been serious about design, and took a well-informed educational path to creating her own job as a milliner.
She approaches life and business with a “no fear” attitude, and that’s part of what has made her so successful as an entrepreneur.
Read on to learn more…
TheCareerCreator.com: What is your “job”? Please tell us a bit about your company and what you sell or what service you provide?
Ellen Christine: Ellen Christine Millinery makes hats for people in all walks of life: cancer patients, movie stars, celebrities, naked heads everywhere, male or female. We restore antique millinery, and try to fix hats people love and want to maintain.
TheCareerCreator.com: How long have you been in business?
Ellen Christine: I’ve been working in one way or another since I was 12 and my first boyfriend formed a band and needed wardrobe. Until 1995 I was to the trade exclusively, with some custom clientele. The shop in Chelsea opened in 1995 as a retail and wholesale venue.
TheCareerCreator.com: You had a natural interest in ??? that is now the basis of your job?
Ellen Christine: My Girl Scout troop needed one more badge to beat out our buddies, and all of our mothers/grandmothers sewed. Quite naturally, we got the sewing badge with our projects, and my fate was sealed. My girlfriend Joanne and I had always been doing some type of entrepreneurial activity: we made and sold potholders one year.
We were always crafting at home, too. My Mother was an artist, and crocheted miniature objects. My grandmother was a knitting whiz. We cooked, we decorated, we painted. My background was inculcated and cultivated, and indeed, encouraged, even though the business of the family was medical (doctors, nurses).
TheCareerCreator.com: Tell us a little about how you got started…give us a bit of your Once upon a time. What was the turning point where you decided to turn your interest or hobby into a career?
Ellen Christine: See # 3 for some of the background. And I resent the word “hobby”. This is my life, not a career, not a past time. I’ve never had a notion that it was other than what I do. When nature takes it’s course, and you have the good sense to listen to your talent, it’s a given.
My Mom had tutors for me since I was 6 years old. Friends taught me to draw, paint. Private riding lessons, to which I went dressed in full Sally Starr (do your research) regalia, never just the usual jodphurs, helmet, etc. When we had a project at school, my Mom was the one who helped the whole class track down the ingredients, and assemble the tepees, or whatever. My life was a full-on, hands-on do-it-yourself because it’s fun and rewarding, not because it was a hobby. Get my drift?
TheCareerCreator.com: What were some of the materials or technology you needed to get started on a very basic level?
Ellen Christine: I chose to go to design school (School of Fashion Design on Newbury Street in Boston) after my BA, and had an epiphany one morning, when I realized that I was involved in costume because I loved backstage, and the creative process, and so decided to come to NYC for my MA/Ph.D (I’m ABT from NYU) in costume history.
Design school filled in the blanks that I hadn’t learned at my grandmother’s knee (she made all of my clothing), and my earlier training as a tailor (I worked as an apprentice tailor in a shop in Ardmore, Pa for the experience) helped me solidify my knowledge. Experience, and doing is the only real way to put it all into action.
When I was in PR getting my BA I had a shop (hippies all had shops), and made all of the clothing in the shop.
The most important knowledge was taught to me by one costume designer I worked with while I was in Boston, Francesco Di Russo: he told me that I had no fear, and I always remembered that. He was talking about cutting into fabric, but I’ve applied it as a life lesson ever since.
TheCareerCreator.com: The best part about creating your own job?
Ellen Christine: Seeing the smile on the customers face when they put it on.
TheCareerCreator.com: What’s the toughest hurdle you’ve encountered in creating your own job…and how you overcame it?
Ellen Christine: Paperwork, and hiring an accountant who will work with me.
TheCareerCreator.com: Any words of wisdom or encouragement to anyone wanting to create their own job?
Have no fear. Of course, in today’s economy, having a little nest egg would help get it all going.
TheCareerCreator.com: Any favorite resources you recommend to other entrepreneurs? (Products, supplies, tech tools, etc?)
Ellen Christine: Join the Milliners Guild (www.millinersguild.org) and all will be revealed.
More About This Company:
Founder: Ellen Christine
Company Name:
Ellen Christine Millinery
255 W. 18th St.
NYC 10011
212-242-2457
Products or service offered: Hats for all and sundry
Website: www.ellenchristine.com
Additional ways to learn more about Ellen Christine Millinery: Find us on FB, MySpace, YouTube, Wunderbloc, and my blog.
Awards received by Ellen Christine Millinery:
Best Boutique in Chelsea-Citysearch
Hatty Award Winner 2008
Thanks again, Ellen Christine for taking the time to answer our questions!
We hope this interview will help encourage our readers who love crafting to explore the idea of starting their own craft business.
Visit Ellen Christine’s website and take a look around her shop…after seeing her creations, you’ll be ready to bring back the days of the Easter Parade!
TheCareerCreator.com
