How do you meet successful men…
…
she asked me. She said she was tired of working her 9 to 5. She was not the first one to ask me that, the question comes up all the time. I have never had to ask this question, because despite my difficult upbringing, the answer to that was all around me.
I want you to understand that I have always worked. My first job was at McDonald’s – of course that did not go so well. I knew I wanted to be in fashion and after McDonald’s I worked at a number of clothing stores such as Contempo Casuals, Wet Seal, and later Burdines. I always worked and I even put myself through college, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. Later I would become a stylist and even when I had the opportunity to just sit back and enjoy the money I had, I chose to open my own Red Carpet Boutique. I can tell you that the pride that came from selecting which brands to carry, the paint colors for the store interior, creating advertising and finally opening for business, was incredible to me. Owning a boutique required long hours every day, but I loved creating it, directing it, and growing it.
But I want you to know that it was my mother who taught me what I have always known. Any man that she was involved with always brought home the checks. And so would one of my first boyfriends, a local “entrepreneur” who bought me a gold Marlo name plate necklace, Bongo jeans and anything else I wanted at that time. It was St. Petersburg, I was young and that is what I was exposed to. He was the first man to take care of me and I have never had any different since then.
You must know that I have always believed that a man, a capable, able bodied man, provides for his family. A man provides for people he cares about. A man, like my grandfather, always took care of my grandmother and only after his eyesight failed did she have to work and help to make ends meet. A man takes care of his household, his children, even his grandchildren. It is what I have always seen around me and it is how I was raised. My grandfather said, a man knows what a woman needs, a woman should not have to ask. Any man that I have to ask, is not the man for Marlo…
You should know that your questions are inspiring me to teach, and that I will continue to send gems your way until you are all masters of your own destiny. Class is in…
Photography by Pamela Mougin
