{"id":1853,"date":"2018-10-08T20:06:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1853"},"modified":"2018-10-08T20:06:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T20:06:30","slug":"chan-for-the-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1853","title":{"rendered":"Chan For the Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Nattoo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Millennials are increasingly finding things difficult, but you know what they say, \u201cWhen the going gets tough, leave your stable job and go start your own company.\u201d Well, that\u2019s at least what they say in the case of Chantelle Rowe, who, in real terms, is the true definition of the modern-day hustler. The former Mt. Alvernia High School student has dramatically dared to do what many only dream of \u2013 risk it all on becoming her own boss. In case you haven\u2019t quite caught what I\u2019m getting at, Chantelle Rowe is an entrepreneur, and she\u2019s the real deal. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Her latest venture, Chic By Chan, now located at 6 Westron Plaza, Montego Bay, St. James, in her own words is: \u201ca fashion boutique specializing in dashiki, Afro-centric attire, but not limited to those as we offer a wide variety of unique dresses, tops, shirts, accessories etc.\u201d That apt description of her already booming fashion boutique can be corroborated by her many customers across Western Jamaica, whom she has managed to capture through authentic service, and by a genuine desire to see all things Afro-centric regain some prominence, and remain in that position. It is no wonder then that in February of 2016, when Marvel\u2019s historic Black Panther movie was released, Chic By Chan became the premiere source for those who wanted to properly and exquisitely rep their African heritage. Even though she didn\u2019t yet have her own space, Chantelle was still able to, almost seamlessly, deliver to and for her customers, most of which are millennials.<\/p>\n

But that success didn\u2019t come overnight. Obviously. It was a slow grind, and though she continues to make strides as an entrepreneur, it\u2019s still a risk in many ways. Regardless, it\u2019s a risk she\u2019d take over and over again if given the chance.<\/p>\n

Just how did she start Chic By Chan, though? Where did the inspiration come from?<\/p>\n

She told YOW:<\/strong> \u201cI bought a dashiki dress once, and I wore it to a function at Rose Hall Great House. While there, I felt like my ancestors, who had been slaves, were proud that I was embracing my true identity. I felt like they were saying: \u2018Galang gyal! You lookin\u2019 like a Nubian queen!\u2019 I felt it man,\u201d she joked, \u201cthen I thought \u2013 \u2018Every woman should own African apparel!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Two of Chic By Chan’s customers proudly don their dashikis around the Black Panther premiere last February<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And just like that, the idea for Chic By Chan came into being. Rowe already had a unique fashion sense, so with her natural affinity for all things entrepreneurial, she went all in.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cWhen Black Panther came around, and more people started to feel a sense of belonging, more of them wanted dashikis and other African wears, and from that point forward, I went head on into the fashion world.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEFORE CHIC BY CHAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

For almost four years, Rowe worked at the prestigious Vista Print, and of that experience, she told YOW<\/strong> there were a number of valuable lessons she took away from that environment. \u201cI garnered some great customer service skills and to be honest,\u201d she explained, \u201canybody that works at Vista [Print] leaves with a hustler\u2019s mentality.\u201d Quizzed as to whether or not the world of fashion was something she had always wanted to go into, Rowe revealed that it wasn\u2019t. In fact, like the rest of us, she had no idea what she wanted to do. \u201cI was told to go to school, pick something, learn it, and start working after. That\u2019s what I did. Like many millennials experience, the struggle starts once you leave college\/university. In many ways, it\u2019s like you enter the Quarter Life Crisis almost immediately after leaving those spaces,\u201d Rowe relayed.<\/p>\n

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One of the many fashionable wears now in stock at Chic By Chan located at 6 Westron Plaza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was still unclear though, how, despite her uncertainties, she ultimately decided that this was the risk she wanted to take. What really pushed her to the point of deciding \u2018Alright, this is what I will do\u2019? I believe this confession by Rowe sufficiently summed up her decision to just take the plunge into entrepreneurism: \u201cI found myself going to work every day and to be honest, I found myself becoming highly demotivated. It started to feel almost like a mental struggle to make it through the required 8 hours, so I figured I had to do something about it. Vista was a great place, so to say it was easy to walk off the job would be a big lie, but I had to give it some serious thought.\u201d She continued: \u201cI thought of it, and I thought about it some more, and I remembered that we only get a single lifetime to do what we want, so I made the decision to leave and to pursue this path. This is simply a new phase of my life, and I welcome it with positivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long road to get to this point for the pioneering Rowe, but despite the fact that it could all crumble one day, she remains positive, and determined to keep forging ahead even as obstacles occur daily.<\/p>\n

She reminded us: \u201cIt really depends on what you want to do ultimately. Risks are a part of life If you see yourself going for entrepreneurship, then you will have to be brave. Look at it this way, it\u2019s better to try something now and fail at it, than to get to 50 and be wondering what if you had tried. They say do what you love and you\u2019ll never work a day in your life and for some, that\u2019s true. For others, it\u2019s not. Love it or not, it\u2019s all still a risk, so I guess you just have to do what you love or do what you are good at. If what you are good at and what you love are the same things, then that\u2019s perfect. That\u2019s bliss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The daughter of a Maroon Chief, Rowe feels she has found her calling, well, at least one of them. We have a feeling that this isn\u2019t the only thing Rowe will be doing on a big scale, and this is just the beginning. If you feel like you need your ancestors to root for you the next time you hit the streets across Western Jamaica, go visit Rowe\u2019s Chic By Chan boutique store upstairs 6 Westron Plaza. While you\u2019re there, grab a brotha a dashiki, will you? Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Nattoo Millennials are increasingly finding things difficult, but you know what they say, \u201cWhen the going gets tough, leave your stable job and go start your own company.\u201d Well, that\u2019s at least what they say in the case of Chantelle Rowe, who, in real terms, is the true definition of the modern-day hustler. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[910,911,906,905,908,909,842,907,30,120,121],"class_list":["post-1853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-feature","tag-africa","tag-chantelle-rowe","tag-chic-by-chan","tag-entrepreneur","tag-fashion","tag-millennial","tag-vista-print","tag-western-jamaica","tag-youths-of-the-west","tag-yow"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1857,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions\/1857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}