Elaine Turner isn't a household name yet, but she's getting there. The Houston accessories designer has launched a web series called Elaine's Big Life that details a funny, warts-and-all, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a fashion brand in today's fast-paced world.
The first episode, which was previewed at a recent party at Turner's flagship Rice Village store and can be seen on YouTube, had guests laughing as Turner candidly explained what she does and how she does it in humorous ways before turning more serious.
"Whatever you're passionate about, figure out a way to make money doing it, and do it in your own way."
"Whatever you're passionate about, figure out a way to make money doing it, and do it in your own way. And don't feel like you have to conform to the masses or to another person's idea of what success is because all of us define success in a different way," she says in the video, which was produced by Jenna Jackson, founder of P&R Productions.
"Jenna and I are close friends and we decided that maybe there is something worth telling here about this brand and this entrepreneurial story," Turner told the crowd. "Ultimately I'm just wanting to raise the consciousness about women and what we can all do and empower each other while we are wearing all these different hats.
"I feel like we are run around the world thinking we're not enough and we are. We do that through heart and humor and hard work."
For YouTube subscribers, a new episode will be emailed to their email address every Wednesday through April.
"We're hoping Bravo doesn't pick up our star of our show before then," the company's executive vice president Heather McLeskey said to much laughter. "One of the things that I'm most excited about is this really showcases who Elaine is and that's the person I've known for 11-1/2 years and have had so much fun with in building this dream of ours."
The first episode, which introduces Turner's team and shows a glimpse of them at design meetings, runs for more than five minutes, but future episodes will run around two minutes and will cover parties, product meetings and other aspects of Turner's daily life both professional and personal.
Joining in the celebration were Jim Turner, David Peck, Roz Pactor, Heather Staible, Jackie Fair, Jennifer Lasida, Lisa Graham Garza, Loren Hamilton, Alyssa Craig, Brittany Boone, Lauren Sanford, Jess Rogers, David Bamford, Luis Perez and Shawn Conerly.
See the first webisode of Elaine's Big Life here:
Heather McLeskey, left, and Elaine Turner.
You don't have to put bags in the "tool bag" silhouette.Photo courtesy of Consuela
Grouping items in smaller cases can make a clear bag look neater.Photo courtesy of Consuela