Helping Women Find Confidence through Fashion

by Andrea Busche

Standing at a statuesque

5’10”, with her signature red nails and carefully chosen accessories, Daisy Quaker makes a statement. As well as her polished exterior, inside you’ll find intelligence, confidence and poise.

The goal of Daisy’s new business, Style Peace Happiness, is to help women discover exactly what she has learned: a large part of looking great on the outside starts by shining from within.

An Amazing Life Story

While today, Daisy’s life in Duluth’s Chester Creek neighborhood could be described as typical, her life story is anything but. Daisy-ree Ruby Quaker was born and raised in Dares Salaam, Tanzania, a densely populated city of about 4.3 million people, found on the East Coast of Africa.

Her dad is an economic analyst and college professor who has worked for many nongovernmental agencies; her mom works for UNICEF. Daisy grew up spending summers on the coast of Dar, and attended boarding school in Kenya. She and her entire family are bilingual, speaking fluent Swahili and English.

Daisy grew up eating a lot of fish and veggies, and drinking a lot of milk. “It has been said that East Africans don’t experience as much lactose intolerance, since we drink so much milk,” she notes.

Tanzanian culture is closely woven with many Indian traditions. Daisy has fond memories of her mother cooking Indian foods such as Pilau, a dish made with rice, meat, potatoes, and spices like clove, cinnamon, and cardamom.

Continued on page 10

Why America?

After graduating high school, Daisy moved to the United States to attend college at UWS. What would entice a 19-yearold Tanzanian girl to move to Superior, Wisconsin? An education, plain and simple.

Despite having a few relatives on the East Coast, she had never traveled to the U.S. prior to immigrating. But she had done her homework.

“I’ve watched enough American TV to learn about American culture,” she says. “Believe it or not, we had the Cartoon Network in Tanzania. I grew up watching the Powerpuff Girls.”

When searching for a college, Daisy wanted to attend a liberal arts college with small class sizes. She applied to five schools, and found UWS to be the most responsive and personal.

She encountered two big surprises when moving from sub-Saharan Africa to Wisconsin: the bitterly cold winters with snow and ice, and the enormous American portion sizes. She adapted to life in the Northland, however, and graduated with a degree in marketing and mass communication.

Style Peace Happiness

While she has a 9 to 5 corporate job working for a local manufacturer, Daisy’s true love is fashion. And, not just the clothes and accessories themselves, but how the clothes make you feel.

For instance, “Every woman needs a knockout dress,” Daisy says. “I define that as a dress you can put on, and look and feel amazing within about five minutes.”

About a year ago, Daisy started building a style consulting business, called Style Peace Happiness. She started taking her business out of the closet about a month ago, and is now eagerly accepting new clients.

Consult, Edit, Accept

Daisy’s process works as follows: she first offers a free consultation. Once a client has hired her, the women meet to discuss the client’s lifestyle, body type, and what she’s looking for in a wardrobe. The next session includes an “editing” session, which takes place in the woman’s very own closet.

“I think there is too much clothing and stuff in most people’s lives,” Daisy says. “If people pare down, carefully curating their wardrobe to include only the items they love, it will feel like they have more options.”

Daisy’s priorities include encouraging women to accept both the body and the wardrobe they currently have. Adding extra pieces or fine-tuning their weight can come later.

“I want to help women feel confident and beautiful while working with what they have,” she says. “I help them emphasize what they love about their bodies and minimize what they don’t.”

Shopping Tips

Daisy does most of her own shopping secondhand. She favors consignment shops, high-end antique stores (for the gorgeous accessories and jewelry), and buying vintage.

Some of the brands she recommends to clients are Everlane for the basics (T-shirts, shell tops and sweaters), The RealReal online consignment store for a variety of brands, and True.com for bras. Locally, Daisy loves thrift stores like Goodwill, where she hunts for items in velvets, silk or cashmere, and Antiques on Belknap for unique accessories. Based on years of learning from her own mistakes, this fashion powerhouse offers the following tips:

• When it comes to fashion, the most important things are fit, attitude, and accessories. Daisy gets all of her pants altered by a professional tailor, and says the extra investment is well worth it.

• She doesn’t own a scale, and has no idea what she weighs.

“I believe that if I take care of my body, I’ll be at the right weight,” she says.

• We’re all different, and that should be embraced. What looks good on one person won’t look good on everyone.

• If given the choice between $10 jeans you don’t love, or

$80 jeans you love, always go with the more expensive pair. Daisy utilizes a meticulous “cost per wear” system, and always comes out ahead when she buys what she loves.

• You don’t need a lot; you just need the right things. Daisy advises starting with the most basic wardrobe focused on “the classics,” adding accessories later.

• Black doesn’t work for every woman. Some women would look better in a little red dress or a little grey dress.

Arts, Culture & Finance

When she’s not working or investing time in her business, Daisy likes to check out local music and attend the theater. She enjoys taking weekend trips, and loves to read poetry. “I’m a big poetry nerd,” she says. She also looks forward to learning more about personal finance. “I don’t want a big house or a lot of ‘stuff’ in my life,” 29-year old Daisy says. “I don’t want to be tied to credit card debt.” And, she recently began posing this question to herself: “What if I bought stocks in my favorite companies, rather than just investing in their clothing?”

With the exception of her sister Lulu-Aysha, who lives in Winnipeg, the rest of Daisy’s family remains in Tanzania. Close friendships here help her retain a sense of family. “I’m lucky to have a core group of girlfriends who make this place feel like home,” she says.

To learn more about Daisy’s business, Style Peace Happiness, please visit stylepeacehappiness.com, find her on Facebook, or search for stylepeacehappiness on Instagram. D