ESSENTIAL ASSETS

fierce emales

Every so often, we walk away from a conversation thinking: Wow! She’s beating the odds. She’s changing lives. She’s taking risks. How does she do it?

Interviews by RACHEL STONE Photography by JESSICA TURNER, LIESBETH POWERS and JEHADU ABSHIRO

amber lafrance

amber LaFrance had bedbugs in her $450-a-month apartment in Austin.

Otherwise, she might’ve never come back to Dallas, where she’s now one of the most boss public relations mavens in town. Her clients include Deep Vellum Books’ La Reunion imprint, publisher of the long-awaited repress of The Accommodation, and artists such as Jeremiah Onifadé and Mariell Guzman. Her firm has represented clients from fashion designer Venny Etienne to locally owned retail boutiques and major hotels and commercial real estate developments.

The 33-year-old is marking her 10-year anniversary of working in the PR business, as well as the eighth year in business for her firm, CultureHype.

Her dad helped her move out of that apartment in the middle of the night, leaving a note for the neglectful landlord, and she moved into her dad’s house in her hometown, Plano.

By then, she’d put herself through college working in retail and graduated with a degree in marketing and a minor in business from Texas State University. She’d also worked her way from volunteer intern to paid publicist for Heather Wagner Reed of Juice Consulting in Austin.

Back in Dallas, she was still working for Reed as needed but realized she didn’t know anyone in PR here. She took another unpaid internship with the bargain that she would be exempt from intern work, like stuffing bags, and get to do client work instead.

That’s how she met Jarrod Fresquez, the account executive whose biggest client at the time was the Hilton Anatole. Eventually, Fresquez and LaFrance started their own firm, with him as the face of the operation and LaFrance doing behind-thescenes PR work.

They added Red Bull as a client, and their second event was Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware’s birthday party at the W Hotel.

She had student debt and no savings, and she made about $14,000 the first year.

“But we aggressively networked,” LaFrance says.

They did over 30 events that first year. She lugged her laptop everywhere and always had a change of clothes in her car for nighttime networking. She forced herself into extroversion with a goal of getting 10 business cards at events and learned networking techniques by watching her business partner in action.

After about a year, Fresquez went to work for his family’s financial firm, and LaFrance took over the business and rebranded.

She now has four employees, all women whom she trained from interns. She lives in the Bishop Arts neighborhood and offices at the Common Desk on West Davis.

HER FIRST CLIENTS

We kept the Hilton Anatole, and we had Red Bull and Hard Night Good Morning, D’Andra Simmons’ skincare line. She was a friend of Jarrod’s mother, so she became our client, and I was doing press all over the nation for her. It was a little out of my comfort zone at the time, but I ended up getting her in the Wall Street Journal and a lot of national press. She was really my first big client.

MUSIC INDUSTRY PR

Musicians weren’t hiring PR at that time, and it was a boys’ club, so I had to educate them on what PR is, why you need to invest in it, what I charge and why I charge that much. So I did this PR stunt, one of my favorite things I’ve done. We planned a circus-themed album release for a band, Goodnight Ned, at Trees. They wanted a “janky circus,” so we made all these circus games in my dad’s backyard. They wanted to be taken seriously by festivals and booking and make more money. We used that as an example, and we blew that party out. There were like 450 people. Then they started to get booked for all the festivals and get good press and all of that.

KEEPING IT FUN

Our clients represent what we’re personally into. I have four employees, and they all do business development. They’ll pick clients they want to work with, and they’ll sign them and get that account. It’s really fun.

NOT JUST PR

I expanded my services a few years ago because I was doing a lot of marketing for my PR clients. We do event planning, music booking, influencer marketing and programming for the W, WFAA and the Virgin Hotel.

youTube put Misty Contreras on the entrepreneurial path.

Contreras was working at a mortgage firm 10 years ago when she got the idea for a side business to create and sell these extravagant chocolate-covered strawberries that can be customized with messages or made with candy colors and edible glitter.

She’d never actually made anything like that before; she just thought it was a good idea for a business, so she learned by watching internet tutorials. Orders came rolling in right away for her Gossip Strawberries, starting with family and friends who shared them on Facebook.

Then she realized, “Strawberries aren’t going to make me a million dollars. I need to go to the next thing,” she says.

The idea for Texas Crunchies came about because Contreras just likes when a Jolly Rancher gets down to the crunchy part at the end. “So I thought, ‘why not just make the crunchy part?’”

Think ice chips but make it candy.

“After the first month of launching, Central Market calls me,” she says. “And I totally bombed that because I had not perfected the candy yet. So it was just … it was awful. But it was a big learning experience.”

Texas Crunchies come in all kinds of flavors, like tropical punch or green apple; one of the best sellers is pickle, she says. Any of them can be made spicy or sugar free, and you can mix pickle essence into any of them. The company recently started making candy beer bombs, which look like jawbreakers that you drop into a pint to add mango-chili to your brew, for one example.

Contreras is from Duncanville, and she graduated from Bishop Dunne Catholic School in Oak Cliff. She and her 12-year-old son, Jonathan, live in West Dallas.

Texas Crunchies are available at the 7-Eleven store on Colorado at Zang,

misty contreras

Tienda Choris at 838 W. Jefferson Blvd. and at texascrunchies.com. Davis Street Mercantile, 710 W. Davis, carries Texas Crunchies chili-lime Gusheez.

Contreras also recently opened a retail store in the office building adjacent to the Kessler Theater, 509 N. Winnetka Ave., suite 102C, which carries all of her candies and gummies, plus candied popcorn.

HER BRUSH WITH A MAJOR RETAILER CAME TOO EARLY

I’m ready for the next one, though, the next store that calls me.

HER MOTIVATION

My son became epileptic, so I kind of shut down mentally to a full-time job, and I just wanted to be at home with my son. I was just trying to make ends meet with the strawberries, and then with the candy. My parents have also been very supportive of me.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE

Don’t get me wrong, I had to do Uber Eats for a while. I’m to the point where I don’t have to do that anymore, thank goodness. But I did what I had to do to get where I am now.

denise manoy

denise Manoy opened her Bishop Arts District fashion boutique 15 years ago.

“In spite of everyone going, ‘You’re opening a store where? Where is that? Are there people that live over there?’ That’s what caught me,” she says. “Yes, there are people that live over there.”

People with few places to shop, at least at that time.

Indigo 1745 was so named because of its initial focus on denim at a time when high-end jeans were the thing. It’s evolved since then to include a range of men’s and women’s apparel, accessories and toiletries that can’t be found just anywhere.

Manoy says the concept is “comfort, but dressing nice and not looking like everyone else.”

“We’ve always had local jewelry designers. We have two bowtie designers. We have a couple of things from McCullough now in the store,” Manoy says. “When the customer comes in, they find that shirt, that dress, and they can walk out knowing they’re not going to see it on anyone else because typically we only get five or six styles in the sizes and that’s it.”

She went to high school in San Antonio, where her father retired as a command master sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. She earned a degree in nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin, where she met her husband, Keith, who was transportation director for the City of Dallas for 30 years. He retired and now has a consulting business. They live in the South Boulevard/Park Row Historic District.

Her parents are now deceased. She was an only child and says they’re still with her in spirit.

Manoy worked in the insurance business for 15 years. When her company wanted to transfer her to Atlanta, she decided to quit and do something else.

“We went everywhere and looked at all kinds of stores,” she says. “I never got the feeling anywhere else that I did when we were in Oak Cliff. It felt like a community and like home.”

WHAT IT TAKES TO RUN A SMALL BUSINESS

The keyword is “perseverance.” That’s what you have to do; you have to decide to persevere. If you work hard, you’ll get through. There’ve been times when I just thought, “I can’t do this,” especially this past year. It’s been rough, but my father is always in my ear, saying “Nope! You don’t give up. You keep pushing.” And that’s what you do.

THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF HER BUSINESS

It’s still the hardest thing. It never gets easier: Knowing what your customer might want from season to season. You go in (to trade shows in Dallas, Las Vegas and Atlanta) and you’re presented with this wide range of things, and you’ve got to break it down to what you think your customers will buy.

HOW SHE’S WEATHERED THE PANDEMIC

Our customers are the reason why we made it through. People were calling us and buying things. I knew they weren’t going anywhere. They didn’t have anywhere to wear it, but they were doing it just to support us. Our customers and friends and family — we wouldn’t be here today without them. They really came through and were there for us, even if it was just buying masks. It might’ve seemed like a little thing to them, but it was huge for us.

WHY SHE LOVES WHAT SHE DOES

There’s a smile that’s on someone’s face when they’re wearing something they really like, and I love that. It makes them happy. Then they smile at someone else, and it makes that person feel good. It’s a little bit of positivity in the world.

marci orr

gracie the office greeter is an Oak Cliff street dog that Marci Orr found darting through traffic on Tyler Street nine years ago.

She comforts and amuses visitors to Lifeologie Counseling Oak Cliff, as Orr’s therapy assistant.

Melanie Wells founded Lifeologie in Dallas in 1999, and Orr is clinical director of the Oak Cliff franchise, which opened in 2018.

Orr was clinical director for multiple outpatient facilities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area when the opportunity arose. The Elmwood resident has lived in Oak Cliff for 10 years.

“It has been a beautiful journey,” she says. “The community here is remarkable. It’s made up of small business owners and entrepreneurs, so everyone is very supportive.”

The concept is to provide mentalhealth services and counseling at various price points in a setting that’s approachable.

It’s more like walking into a chic coffee shop with good lighting and inviting furniture than a medical office. They offer clients coffee and tea. Aromatherapy and soft music are at play too.

“We engage the senses. What you see, what you taste, what you hear, what you smell,” she says. “We want to brighten your day.”

It’s also very collaborative. Professionals at Lifeologie include interns who are graduate students, post-graduates who are still under supervision and then fully licensed counselors. Once a week, they all get together and talk about their personal and professional lives.

And they host events like Movember, which spotlights men’s mental health every November. Their 2019 event included brewery samples, giveaways, local musicians, a mustache contest and a panel discussion on men’s mental health. Every December is “Women’s Winter Wellness,” and Lifeologie is also an Oak Cliff Women in Business member.

Learn more about the services offered at wefixbrains.com /oakcliff or call 972.590.8030.

ORR WORKED IN ADVERTISING AND MARKETING FOR 20 YEARS

I made a career change at 40. I went back to school and got my master’s in counseling from SMU, and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. It was a calling, and I finally heard it and acted on it.

THE NEED FOR COUNSELING IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

We still don’t know the full impact of what this pandemic did to us. Couples and families either thrived, or it really divided them, so there are a lot of couples struggling. The divorce rate has gone up. Kids were really struggling with the isolation and a complete change in their lifestyle, so we’re seeing an increase in that need for teens and tweens and littles. Depression and anxiety are way up. The need is there, but it’s different. We’re all trying to understand what it’s done to us.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD MADE THE BUSINESS A SUCCESS

Oak Cliff has a unique set of circumstances and people that made this so welcoming. It was a lot of work, and it took a vision, but it was built through relationships, referrals, word of mouth. It’s great to know that can still happen in this technologydriven world.

ADAPTABILITY

Telehealth became a big part of our business during the pandemic, and we will always have that option available. We have a bilingual therapist, Kenia Rios, and we’re growing our multilingual resources to serve our diverse community. We also offer group therapy in response to our clients’ need. We try to respond to whatever the community needs.