The Perfect Dress Atlanta

Mona Naima Mohammed, UWG alumnus, always has been a creative person. She graduated with a Mass Communications major. After graduation, she interned for Q99.7 with Adam Bomb and looking for a job at the same time. She found some interesting positions, but an idea to open her business was still on her mind.  

One day, sitting in the car, she decided that she was going to open a clothing store — The Perfect Dress Atlanta. She challenged herself to open a business in 30 days, and she did it.  

“I’ve always been into clothes and sewing,” Mona said. “I’ve been sewing since my youth after my parents got me a sewing machine when I was 16. So, opening a clothing business was my childhood dream, but there always had been something which was stopping me from this.”  

Sewing is just a hobby, and her parents did not think that their daughter was going to open a store. They have had conversations about Mona’s future business many times, but her parents were asking her to wait.  

“I stopped sewing until college,” Mona said. “My friend knew I sew for myself, and she suggested that I can make money with it.” 

Mona has a special sense for business because she grew up around businessmen. She has been used to business conversations since her childhood and she knows that she needs to take the risks, but it might work out in something bigger.  

“The most challenging thing was to find investors,” Mona said. “I hate asking for money, but I knew that this is a time where there is no place for my pride.” 

She was not scared. She knew she would find someone who would support her ideas. She found two investors who helped her, but she says credit is what really saved her.  

“Credit matters because without it, I would not be able to open a store,” Mona said. “It is important to have start-up money because I had to buy merchandise, and goods for the store.” 

Every day work was helping her to approach to her goal. She had to work and travel a lot. Everyday shopping and even trip to New York for clothes and jewelry. She bought exclusive merchandise which people would not be able to find in any other stores.  

Mona’s store had been opened less than a month, but it functioned as it was supposed to. She is thinking about new ways to improve it, and make it more profitable because she knows that she can not rest on what she had reached already.