Soul Collections Sewing Lounge
Donation protected
Hello Everyone, my name is Shannon Curry and I am the Sole owner of Soul Collections LLC, The Sewing Lounge on 1126 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn and I am looking for your support to keep Soul Collections sticking around for years to come. My mom taught me how to sew when I was just 4 years old and I loved it continuing on in this hobby. Later into my 20's I decided to go to college & got accepted into F.I.T. After graduating and working in the Fashion Industry, I started my own Sewing Business part-time in 2003 in my 1st apartment I rented in Bedstuy. I was inspired by the youth I saw in my neighborhood sitting outside early in the morning apparently high school drop outs. I thought of trying to help them learn some skills that would better their lives and possibly be able to get a job. The classes began to grow, and I began offering a variety of affordable Sewing Classes for kids, teens and adults at all levels along with Patternmaking, Draping and Fashion Drawing Classes to name a few.
I later moved and with my business growing, I had my eyes on this commercial space on 1126 Bedford Ave in which I had been enquiring about over again that had stayed empty for 5 years. And in 2014 a year after my mom passed away, I decided to take the day off of work in memory of my mom & the new realtor had told me the landlord of this space wanted to meet me and that he was available to take me on this day. The landlord was impressed with my Sewing Business & told me he would take the space off the market and give me the keys in August! which was unheard of because I hadn't given him any money to put down. And he told me on October 1st I would start to pay rent, which was my mom's birthday. It was truly as if it was a gift from my mom. It also turned out that this same landlord had owned the brownstone I had lived in for 9 years after graduating from F.I.T. and I felt this was a divine connection.
In May of 2015, I had had a major surgery removing a 10cm cyst on one of my ovaries, 5 fibroids and endometrosis. My doctor said if I get pregnant I will have to deliver through a C-Session. In September of 2015, I resigned from working in the Fashion Industry for 16 years taking a leap of faith and went fulltime in my passion of teaching and helping people thru my business, one of the best decisions I ever made, because 4 months later I got pregnant for the first time at the age of 44! I had been married for 2 1/2 years after trying for about a year.. And on Sept 29th 2016, I had my first beautiful, healthy Baby Boy! :) I never gave up nor listened to the negativity of what people had to say about not being able to get pregnant. I just held onto my faith, desires and dreams. And this brings me to your support. As a self employed entrepreneur there is no paid maternity leave. I had to take off 2 months from my business, really needing 3 months after having a cesarean section without anyone to really run my business during that time. I reopened in December and although I have students, I have been 2 months behind on my business' lease trying to catch up for the time I needed to recuperate.
The neighborhood has expressed to me how glad they are that I am here, and I want to continue to be a help and a resource within this community offering affordable sewing classes, patternmaking, alterations and sewing services and a safe haven for kids and adults to relax and unwind in this warm welcoming environment eventually getting to the point where I am able to hire people in need of jobs. This means the world to me and any donations you give will go towards paying the lease of this space to keep it going, which I desparately need this month. I So Greatly Appreciate it!
In return for your donation, anyone that donates $100 or more will receive 25% back towards classes or can sponsor a child in need. Please remember every dollar counts. My heartfelt thanks to you so much for anything you can do.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Shannon
I later moved and with my business growing, I had my eyes on this commercial space on 1126 Bedford Ave in which I had been enquiring about over again that had stayed empty for 5 years. And in 2014 a year after my mom passed away, I decided to take the day off of work in memory of my mom & the new realtor had told me the landlord of this space wanted to meet me and that he was available to take me on this day. The landlord was impressed with my Sewing Business & told me he would take the space off the market and give me the keys in August! which was unheard of because I hadn't given him any money to put down. And he told me on October 1st I would start to pay rent, which was my mom's birthday. It was truly as if it was a gift from my mom. It also turned out that this same landlord had owned the brownstone I had lived in for 9 years after graduating from F.I.T. and I felt this was a divine connection.
In May of 2015, I had had a major surgery removing a 10cm cyst on one of my ovaries, 5 fibroids and endometrosis. My doctor said if I get pregnant I will have to deliver through a C-Session. In September of 2015, I resigned from working in the Fashion Industry for 16 years taking a leap of faith and went fulltime in my passion of teaching and helping people thru my business, one of the best decisions I ever made, because 4 months later I got pregnant for the first time at the age of 44! I had been married for 2 1/2 years after trying for about a year.. And on Sept 29th 2016, I had my first beautiful, healthy Baby Boy! :) I never gave up nor listened to the negativity of what people had to say about not being able to get pregnant. I just held onto my faith, desires and dreams. And this brings me to your support. As a self employed entrepreneur there is no paid maternity leave. I had to take off 2 months from my business, really needing 3 months after having a cesarean section without anyone to really run my business during that time. I reopened in December and although I have students, I have been 2 months behind on my business' lease trying to catch up for the time I needed to recuperate.
The neighborhood has expressed to me how glad they are that I am here, and I want to continue to be a help and a resource within this community offering affordable sewing classes, patternmaking, alterations and sewing services and a safe haven for kids and adults to relax and unwind in this warm welcoming environment eventually getting to the point where I am able to hire people in need of jobs. This means the world to me and any donations you give will go towards paying the lease of this space to keep it going, which I desparately need this month. I So Greatly Appreciate it!
In return for your donation, anyone that donates $100 or more will receive 25% back towards classes or can sponsor a child in need. Please remember every dollar counts. My heartfelt thanks to you so much for anything you can do.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Shannon
Organizer
Shannon P. Curry
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY
