Empowering women is Cherie Arlett's lifeblood. The 39-year-old entrepeneur from Cardiff is the brains behind Shecan Closet, a clothing line that celebrates everyday women and encourages them to find strength through fashion.
The mum-of-two knows very well how self-empowerment can change your life for the better ever since her own life took a troubling turn. In fact the tagline of Shecan Closet – "She can, she did, she conquered" – is a short summary of Cherie's harrowing, yet ultimately triumphant, journey to rebuild her life after she fled an abusive relationship.
With two young children in tow she found herself jobless and homeless in the capital city and feeling like her "life was over". However, determined and emboldened by her dreams to be a businesswoman, she took back control of her life and so Shecan Closet was born. Through it she urges other women to trust their own ability, whatever their circumstances may be – and finds doing so therapeutic for her own healing.
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As a black woman in a predominantly white fashion industry Cherie's fire is further fuelled by a longing for equal representation and shows no signs of letting up. Following the meteoric rise of her business, which won an award for best female-led online retailer within one year of launching, Cherie has been busy building an empire of other services with the same fierce, persistent message of empowerment underpinning every aspect of her work.
Cherie first dipped her toes into the world of fashion in the early 2000s when she was signed to a model agency in London while working as a singer. The "male-led, misogynistic" field spurred her to start her own agency that was female-run and represented women "properly" – however she didn't get very far with her undertaking.
After deciding to give up gigging and modelling entirely she "stayed off the scene" and worked a nine to five corporate job – but all the while she was "always so focused on building a business that would help women".
For a long time her ambition wasn't realised – until several years ago when, at this point living in England, she was suddenly forced to "leave everything" and rebuild her life.
"I had to leave everything – a really good job in a high-end clinic in Birmingham; the kids were in great schools; I had great friends there, a support network," she recalled.
"It was a really hard time – a really, really hard time for me. So I got back to Cardiff and I knew I needed to start all over again."
She was placed in a hostel in the city and then later moved to a temporary flat. Her main priority was to get a roof over her and her children's heads and she found a job at the beginning of 2020 doing reception work at a salvage yard – but her dream was still quietly simmering away in the background.
"I just felt like at my age, and what I'd been through, and my skills, I just could not any longer keep working for somebody else and keep earning so much money for somebody else and not actually do what I felt that I needed to be doing."
Though she had first considered pursuing model management again Cherie realised she could reach far more women through her own clothing line.
"I was thinking along the lines of empowering through fashion because it's something that I love, it's something that I'm not really represented in [in terms of] mainstream fashion, and also I had to start my life all over again," she said.
"So I wanted to surround the brand around my story – and that's the message: 'She can, she did, she conquered'. So that women out there that have been through anything [know] that they can do it, they can change their life around no matter what – even if you think it's the end."
By October 2020 Shecan Closet was officially registered and Cherie took the risk to run the brand full-time.
Operating solely online, the store doesn't have your typical retail website. In addition to selling clothes and accessories there is also a 'Style and Empowerment' page with styling and self-empowerment tips, a 'Shecan shape indicator' to help customers dress for their body proportions, a blog featuring guest bloggers, such as fellow businesswomen, and a picture gallery of the Shecan squad, which visitors can join.
Cherie also doesn't use modelling or casting agencies to source her models but instead chooses "real women, real mothers, and real people" from Wales who have never modelled before. She reveals that her relationship with her models is reciprocal, admitting that she herself is inspired by their stories.
Within just a year after "starting with nothing", running the show by herself from home and occasionally with help from her brother, Cherie won the Llais Cymru Welsh Women in Business Award for best online retailer of 2021.
While she says it was "amazing" to be acknowledged in the awards they exposed starkly how women of colour are lagging far behind their white counterparts when it comes to empowerment initiatives.
Out of 15 categories Cherie claimed she was only one of three women of colour to be nominated in the awards and the only woman of colour to win one.
"I expected a few more women of colour more than three," she said, adding: "There are so many black-owned businesses by run by black women in Wales. I just felt like it didn't add up."
For Cherie the lack of diversity at the awards was further motivation in her fight to make female empowerment accessible to all through fashion. "This is the main reason why I started Shecan Closet – because there is not enough representation for black women and empowering black women at all. And we can't make a change until we are the change. So I can't complain about not being represented enough if I'm not going to try and do something about it," she said.
She continued: "[Most] senior positions in fashion are held by white males. Black models are not represented equally, black designers are not represented equally. So what I'm aiming for is to be that representation and be that platform. And I would love to eventually be the main retailer for black designers in the UK. That's something that I'm looking to do for the near future."
Shecan Closet has also collaborated with Jessica Dunrod, the first black children's author born in Wales, to be the official vendor of her book Oustanding, aimed at inspiring the next generation of female world leaders, and sells other books by her too.
The author is also part of Cherie's plans to hold networking workshops in the near future – aptly called She Conquered – to support black Welsh businesswomen.
In addition to plans to launch her own style and empowerment workshops – named She Did – for women who lack self-confidence after surgery, birth, bullying, racism and other reasons, Cherie is also in talks with Street Life, a project under charity Safer Wales that helps sex workers, to collaborate on similar workshops.
But her current labour of love is her own hour-long show on Radio Cardiff every week, called She Said It, where she further discusses empowerment through fashion.
"I just thought: 'I need a fashion and empowerment show. They haven't got one on Radio Cardiff. So let me just approach them and let them know what I can bring to the table.' And that's what I did and I got a show," she laughed.
Where Cherie is today is a far cry from her plight only years ago. She admitted she finds it "unbelievable" and that "it hasn't really sunk in".
"I just don't believe it. And I don't really sit back and think about it that much because I'm just on a mission," she said.
The impact of her work is what motivates Cherie and has even helped her own healing journey.
"What keeps me going is is empowering other women – that's what really does keep me going. I would say this has been my kind of therapy that got me through the aftermath of an abusive relationship.
"I know there a women out there thinking: 'There is no way I can leave and start all over again. My life will be over.' And I feel it's so important for them to see me doing what I'm doing because they can. That's why it's called 'Shecan' – you can do it. You absolutely can."
She added: "I've even had people say they started their business because of me, because I inspired them, and that is amazing. And this is what I'm doing it for. This is exactly what I'm doing it for."
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