Small-business group SCORE helps woman achieve 'American dream'
Theresa Drazba has found her niche in the realm of fashion design and marketing. She has turned her unique sewing talents, her understanding of the "modest clothing" market and her eye for spotting fashion trends into a business that is reaching out to customers worldwide.
Steeped into the fundamentals of practicality that only a mother of 10 could comprehend, Drazba had a vision. Several years ago after a particularly difficult period in her life, she retreated to her sewing room at home and skillfully transformed a used pair of jeans into a skirt. She wore this skirt to her church, where she received rave reviews.
Drazba, of the Pentecostal faith, wears modest clothing herself and understands the fashion standards of her religion in addition to the fashion trends that complement those standards.
Matthew Johnson, director of promotion-youth division for United Pentecostal Church International, encouraged Theresa to start marketing her creations on Facebook. As her fan base grew, she was struggling to keep up with production.
After much prayer, and in response to Matthew's continuing encouragement, she decided to expand her home-based Internet business into a store-front operation.
A little more than a year ago, she contacted SCORE, a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow and succeed nationwide. She was put in touch with a mentor, a retired banker from Quincy, Ill.
"He loved what I was doing," Theresa said. "SCORE helped me look at the financial line of business."
After working on the business plan for six months, including extensive research and much prayer, she was ready to submit her business plan to a financial institution. Her SCORE mentor helped her make contacts.
"The bank said I had a thorough and complete business plan," she said proudly. "Everything I did, I projected long term," she said. "I'm an all-or-nothing person."
A week ago, she sold 200 skirts at the United Pentecostal Church International Conference in Louisville, Ky., and she has orders for 40 more.
Her business, Love My Jean Skirt, opened in Hannibal this summer. She completed two college classes a year ago, and each has contributed to her business philosophy in a unique way, she said.
"American history reminded me of what made us so great: quality products. Conservation biology is about taking what we have and making something new," she said.
"I believe the American dream is real," she said.
Hannibal Courier-Post