Lorraine Love didn’t set out to open the primary Black-owned bridal shop in Minnesota. She had a deeply fulfilling profession in human services, but thanks to a present for doing hair and makeup and many sisters getting married, the bridal industry, she says, selected her. Listen to the episode or read the transcript.
Service-based beginnings
Love began her profession in human services when she was just a toddler. As a young person, she would go together with her older sister Jamie to what’s now the Naomi Family Residence and help babysit the youngsters. She continued working there until she was sufficiently old to work with the moms who were staying there.
Love says she’s at all times had a passion for helping others. She became a women’s advocate for five years, then worked with at-risk homeless youth and adults. At YouthLink, Love worked with a number of the many “ignored” youth aged 16-21. She takes pride in knowing that she made a difference in these young people’s lives.
Entering the bridal world
Love says she developed her love for hair and makeup through helping her sisters. In college, she really began to hone her craft. Unexpectedly, she says, she was the traveling hair and makeup artist for people’s weddings.
As she continued her profession in human services, Love found that helping women feel and look their best through hair and makeup had parallels to her day job. She couldn’t help but turn out to be the de facto bridal consultant when she would go wedding dress shopping with family and friends. It was fun and exciting, and he or she was good at it. The industry, says Love, found her.
Eventually, Love decided to make a profession out of helping brides achieve the day of their dreams. She opened LaNoire Bridal, the primary Black-owned bridal shop in Minnesota. Despite the fact that it’s a historic first, Love says she didn’t give the importance much thought and as a substitute was just “doing her thing.”
Parallels to health care
Love takes her human services skills to work together with her at LaNoire Bridal – selecting a marriage dress can include a variety of emotions. Love creates experiences which might be warm and welcoming, and he or she does the work to get to know the whole lot she will about what her clients are on the lookout for in a gown.
She finds it’s essential to establish trust quickly with people – just because it is in health care. You never know what someone goes through, she says, adding that one of the essential parts of her job is just listening and being present.
To listen to more from Lorraine Love, including about her challenges, how the no’s kept her going, and the way every appointment at LaNoire Bridal ends with hugs, listen to this episode of Off the Charts.