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Power through fashion

BÈL Monique magazine features everyday black women

Karen Morales
Power through fashion
Berlhey Narcisse, founder and CEO of BÈL Monique (center), poses with her magazine’s featured models. Photo: courtesy of BÈL Monique

Although Berlhey Narcisse always had an interest in fashion and empowering women through this medium, she stumbled upon the idea for her business, BÈL Monique, by accident.

On the Web
For more information about BÈL Monique, visit:

BÈL Monique is a digital magazine for black women, packaged as a “workshop and editorial experience of a lifetime.” It’s a platform that focuses on featuring and uplifting everyday women, including the readers themselves.

Founder and CEO of BÈL Monique, Narcisse was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and grew up in Boston. She was working for Tufts Health Plan, as part of the membership experience staff, up until 2015.

Narcisse craved more creativity and independence and left the job to pursue styling. To attract clients, she recruited the help of local photographers and volunteers to put on a promotional shoot.

“I wanted to photograph everyday women so I could appeal to them,” she said.

She admitted that she expected the atmosphere between the women on the photo shoot set to be “catty,” but instead heard the women complimenting and encouraging each other. Narcisse said, “I told myself, ‘I don’t know what this is, but I like it.’ So my business morphed into ‘How do I create that space and foster this energy?’”

Although BÈL Monique magazine is the main product, the true value of the brand lies behind the experience in making the magazine.

Every three months, Narcisse invites local black women to participate in the “I AM BÈL” experience: a two-day event starting with a five-hour workshop and culminating with a photo shoot party for photos and an interview to be featured in the magazine.

“You’ll be on the cover of an issue of our digital magazine and your story — how you want to tell it — will be shared inside, in a 3-page spread,” reads the BÈL Monique website.

“The first day is focused on internal beauty and the second is focused on external beauty,” said Narcisse. “The photo shoot is a public celebration, open to all.”

The workshop offers insight and tools for self-discovery, identifying personal limitations and strengths and how to work toward goals. According to Narcisse, it is intended for women in various stages of their life and career who are looking to be the best version of themselves.

Currently, Narcisse charges $849 for the experience and it is open to black women of all ages.

“I’ve always liked to tap into women on a deeper level,” said Narcisse. “Even when I was styling people, I would ask them about their life to better understand them and their style.”

Narcisse said that having the photo shoot component with the workshop allows women to focus holistically on inner and outer beauty and “allows women to step into a new world they never had access to.”

Startup costs

In the beginning, Narcisse created BÈL Monique all on her own, juggling the content creation, the layout and design, and the marketing and business side. She also had to foot the bill for the operational costs to host the workshops. 

“I blew through a $20,000 credit card and used my savings,” she said.

Costs included breakfast and lunch for participants, promotional materials, camera equipment, makeup and styling equipment, and a venue space. Website maintenance, website domain and email domains were other additional costs.

It was a true startup endeavor with Narcisse offering the first three “I AM BÈL” events for free in 2016.

Then in 2017, she increased the fee to $215, then $300. Since March 2018, the registration fee has been $849.

According to Narcisse, BÈL Monique’s annual revenue in 2017 was $8,665 and the 2018 year-to-date revenue is $12,098.

Narcisse has measured her overall audience at 19,000 women across the U.S., including social media followers, email subscribers, website visitors and YouTube views.

BÈL Monique has published 17 issues so far. Narcisse said for most of 2017, the workload fell on her shoulders, but along the way, she has been able to recruit help from volunteer contributors for graphic design, creative direction, digital content and writing.

The venue space was at one point the biggest cost, she said, but for all of 2018, Breather, a workspace provider, will be sponsoring the venue for BÈL Monique.

Narcisse said her contributors have a lot of confidence in the brand and its value. A lot of this confidence stems from one particular reader who was featured on the cover of the January 2018 issue.

“Carolyn Warren was diagnosed with cancer and she reached out to me to be on the cover,” said Narcisse. “It was a powerful experience for her because when she was doing the photo shoot, she felt good, she said she didn’t even think about her diagnosis.”

In March, Warren passed away.

“It was emotional for all of us,” said Narcisse, “but I tell my team members, ‘If you ever forget what we’re all about and why we do this, think about Carolyn and how we get to highlight the real struggles of women and let them leave behind a legacy.”

Long-term vision

Later this year, Narcisse will be offering a new workshop called “Beauty and a Boss” which will focus on business and entrepreneurship.

A lot of what Narcisse plans to teach is her acquired knowledge from building her own brand and following other successful people, such as Tony Robbins, a prominent entrepreneur and life coach.

Narcisse attended a Tony Robbins seminar in 2016 in Las Vegas. “It was a business mastery seminar but he mostly talked about emotions,” she said. “I was on a spiritual high — it made me feel powerful.”

“But I looked around and I counted only three other black women in the room. Out of 2,000 people. I thought to myself, ‘Imagine if I can bring this information to black women,’” she said.

Narcisse said she hopes to bring her workshops and editorial experiences to states across the country.

“I want to actively begin solving the problem black women have as a whole,” she said. “We’re constantly being reminded that we are the least desired group, which causes very traumatic effects to our growth — BÈL will change that narrative.”