Red Bank lingerie store Sweetest Sin looks to do good
May 23, 2015 by admin
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RED BANK – As a long-standing member of the local business community, Angela Courtney knows the value of working together.
That’s why she and other local business owners collaborate instead of compete.
“We have to work together,” she said.
Courtney owns Sweetest Sin Boutique, 11 White St., in Red Bank, and will have operated her store for six years in October.
She said she’ll send her customers to neighboring businesses, like one of borough’s many dress shops, and those businesses will return the favor, because Sweetest Sin Boutique specializes in one necessity for women: intimate wear.
“We don’t stray from intimates here, this is what we know, this is what we do,” Courtney said. “You are coming here and getting your shapewear, undergarments and your pajamas.”
Born entrepreneur
The entrepreneurial spirit was something she grew up with, Courtney said, as both of her parents immigrated to the United States from Greece and started their own companies.
Her mother owned a Greek fusion restaurant, while her father owned a painting business.
“So I knew I wanted to do something in the (entrepreneurial) field, I just didn’t know what,” Courtney said. “I wasn’t going into the painting business with my dad and I definitely wasn’t doing restaurants. I did enough of that through bartending and waitressing and it wasn’t for me.”
Courtney, who went to school for business and marketing, eventually found her niche.
Intuitive talent
While in college in California, she worked in a boutique that carried ready-to-wear fashion as well as intimates. Her natural talent for fitting women into the perfect bra was something she fell in love with.
“Learning more about the industry as I was getting ready to open the boutique, I knew I just had this passion for it and knowledge and (I) picked up on things,” she said. “Especially the bra fitting because it’s such an intricate part of the industry and not everyone gets it.”
Courtney said that over 85 percent of woman wear the wrong bra for them, a number which is backed up by various different studies, which hovers from 60 to 85 percent of women.
A good fit, she said, depends on more than the number on the tape measurer, but how a woman feels in the bra, and if it’s the right style, fit, and shape for her body.
“It’s not a scientific, mathematical equation,” she said.
Working together
Courtney said she and other Red Bank business owners are constantly involving themselves in group events that benefit different causes, as well as the community as a whole.
Take the “Go Naked and Check Yourself” event, which Sweetest Sin helped to create, and participates in every November.
The event, held at a local venue – previous ones have been held at Teak and the Downtown – raises money for detectable cancers, including breast, testicular and skin cancer.
“Chris (Paseka) and I from Sugar Rush started this event because we are both affected by a lot of people in our lives that have cancer or who are going through their battle now. And we wanted to do something for that,” Courtney said.
During the cocktail party event, business owners and customers get a chance to mingle, while models from Sweetest Sin appear in different lingerie garments throughout the evening.
“Every single business in this town gets involved, it’s awesome,” Courtney said.
The event is always held the Sunday before Thanksgiving, ahead of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, and as an added bonus brings attention to the businesses that helped raise the money.
“So all of our customers now have all of our friends, local business owners, they have all of their information,” she said. “(They can) go support everyone that just supported us and helped us raise all this money.”
In fact, referring neighboring businesses to her own customers is the right way to do business, Courtney said.
“Everything with a local business owner or small business owner stays with the community,” she said. “We want to keep that, that’s the whole point. I’m not sending someone to the mall …when there are great places right in town.”
Devin Loring; 732-643-4035; dloring@gannettnj.com
SWEETEST SIN BOUTIQUE
Owner: Angela Courtney
Location: 11 White St., Red Bank
Phone: 732-747-3550
Website:www.sweetestsinbras.com
Hours: 12 to 5 p.m. Sundays and Mondays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
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‘Sham’ Cancer Charities Spent Millions On Vacations, Lingerie, Meals, Dating …
May 22, 2015 by admin
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According to the Federal Trade Commission, four cancer charities collected a combined $187 million between 2008 and 2012 — and spent almost none of the money on cancer patients. All the charities in question — the Cancer Fund of America, Breast Cancer Society, Children’s Cancer Fund of America and Cancer Support Services — are controlled by members of the Reynolds family.
James Reynolds Sr. runs the Cancer Fund of America and Cancer Support Services while his ex-wife Rose Perkins runs the Children’s Cancer Fund of America. According to the government complaint, the charities lied about providing direct support to people suffering from cancer. CNN reported that two charities, the Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society, will be dissolved following the complaint.
James Reynolds Jr. faces a judgment that will be suspended only if he pays $75,000. The judgment against Perkins is being suspended because she is incapable of making the repayment, authorities said.
Jessica Rich, chief of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the charities spent the lion’s share of donations either on themselves or on private fundraisers. Only 3 percent was used for helping cancer patients.
The rest of the amount was often used in extravagant ways. The New York Times reported that some donations were spent on Victoria’s Secret lingerie, meals at Hooters restaurants and subscriptions to dating websites. Money also was spent on couples cruises to the Caribbean and Jet Ski joy rides.
The federal complaint calls the cancer organizations “sham charities.” Mark Hammond, South Carolina’s secretary of state, said some charities sent juvenile cancer patients to Walt Disney World in Florida. However, he added that staff from Children’s Cancer Fund of America also sent themselves to Disney World using donation money.
The homepage of the official website of the Breast Cancer Society is now replaced with a message from James T. Reynolds II. The message acknowledges that cancer patients need direct assistance to meet the challenges the disease brings with it. However, the organization spent the donors’ money on fund research, the message says.