The not so simple start to “Simple and Feminine”

By Jordan Nowaskey
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

A bubbly “welcome” accompanied a dimpled, bright-eyed smile as the 22-year-old woman approached the boutique door.

“Can I help you find anything today?” the store-owner, Brianna Volatile, eagerly asked.

The boutique occupies only a 500-foot space off South Exeter Street in Baltimore, yet the milieu shouts trendy-chic, complete with white walls, blush pink and grey accents scattered around the room and light wood floor panels. A light, but sweet, floral aroma filled the air.

“Simple and Feminine,” the boutique’s name, is emblazoned on a neon pink sign above the register.

“I always dreamed of working in the fashion industry and knew that starting a clothing store was exactly what I wanted to do,” said Volatile, who insists her boutique is the stuff of a fashionista’s dream.

What may have surprised her, however, is the way she got her start as an entrepreneur and the commitment and perseverance she has had to muster to keep the business going.

By 17 years old, Volatile had started a blog, called “The Brunette’s Diary,” out of Glenelg High School in Howard County, a suburban area in northern central Maryland. It was her senior year, but she graduated in 2013, a year early from the rest of her class.

Volatile said that the blog was a fun, creative outlet where she could channel her passion for beauty, fashion, and photography.

“I didn’t think anything would come of it,” she said.

“The Brunette’s Diary” started out as photographs of Brianna modeling outfits she created. Her boyfriend would take the pictures and she would post them on her blog and Instagram. Then, the two started creating promotional videos that allowed Volatile to tell her viewers what she was wearing and where they could purchase the clothing. This also would appear on her blog.

Eventually, Volatile said she began receiving products in the mail from companies asking her to represent them and their products on her site. She was getting moderate attention at the time, but after just two years, and at the age of 20, she began to hear from big-name brands such as Nordstrom, Coach, Maybelline, Express, and MTV, asking for her to represent their products.

At this point, she said she was getting noticed, but wasn’t getting compensated much for representing these brands. Although she admitted the traction alone was rewarding for a young student with such a passion for the industry, but she soon began to realize the influence and audience she was drawing on her social media.

“I started to notice that whenever I would post a dress or a top, it would sell out,” said Volatile. “I knew this was powerful and I wanted to create a place where my readers could shop everything I was loving, directly from me.”

At 21 years old as a mass communications major at Towson University, Volatile said she decided to launch a boutique as well as an online store. After a few months had passed in the spring of 2017, Volatile was making enough money through advertising on her blog to dedicate her time to launch her store. She dropped out of college that semester.

Volatile launched her online store on Dec. 1, 2017, moving her stock from the living room of her mother’s house in Howard County to Ellicott City. She had been sending products directly to her customers from her mother’s home. Now, she was housed in a three-story, brick and mortar office building in Old Ellicott City.

“I have customers all over the world,” said Volatile. “I have local shoppers in Maryland, but ship everywhere from California, New York, Seattle, Texas, Australia, and Paris.”

In her new space, Volatile said she utilized the top floor for storage, and the bottom two floors to occupy her retail store. She said she often used friends as her models for the clothing, both to mount as pictures in the store, and to use on her online site to sell the clothing.

The young entrepreneur had accomplished more than most her age and was officially living her dream until May.

Two years earlier, in 2016, the Ellicott City area was drenched by a severe thunderstorm that dumped 6 inches of rain. A flood devastated multiple areas in the state, especially the historic downtown area of Ellicott City. Many stores went out of business. In May, another flood struck Old Ellicott City, destroying its buildings for a second time. This time, Volatile’s store was left in ruins along with nearly all others in the area.

Volatile took the loss of “Simple and Feminine” very hard.

“Losing my store was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through,” said Volatile. “I felt like such a failure.”

She explained the stress that came with having to spent so much time, energy, and money into opening her first boutique. She said she dreaded having to start from scratch, a thought that overwhelmed her.

“I fell into a deep depression,” said Volatile. “But I also knew that I didn’t work this hard for my story to have a sad ending,”

Volatile said began to reach out to different spaces looking for an open lease to once again launch her shop. Within just a few weeks, she landed on a location in Harbor East, Baltimore on South Exeter Street. Harbor East is a prestigious, high-volume shopping area in Baltimore, where you’ll find stores such as Free People, Lulu Lemon, MAC cosmetics, and many more.

Volatile said she worked harder than ever to get her store up and running again and launched the new boutique on Sept. 8.

“I see a lot of things for the future of Simple and Feminine,” said Volatile. “I haven’t announced it yet, but we are in the process of opening a third store.”

Volatile said she stays fearless of the difficulties that my lay ahead, knowing that her persistence and passion for her work will never run dry, even if another flood was to find its way into her doors.