Sarah LaFleur, founder of Mémé LaFleur

Most of my friends from college I met when I was, well, in college.  Such is not the case for one of my closest friends, the beautiful and talented Sarah LaFleur of the newly launched Mémé LaFleur. Sarah and I were classmates and shared many things at school, including majors (Social Studies), friends (including my first NYC roommate, Burden), and a job search that landed us with management consulting jobs post-graduation. Yet somehow we didn’t meet until our 5-year reunion last spring, when Sarah and I were seated at the same table at an event and started chatting about entrepreneurship. She was a loyal Baking for Good customer and had a million great questions to ask, and I soon learned that she had just decided to leave her job to start a women’s fashion company focused on redefining the work dress.

Soon after our conversation at the reunion, we set up a coffee chat back in New York and have been meeting weekly ever since. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Sarah take Mémé LaFleur from concept to prototype to launch, and I’ve tried to offer words of wisdom (or at least sympathetic anecdotes) through some of the more trying times of starting the business. She and I have both bootstrapped our companies, investing personal savings and lots of blood, sweat, and tears (and in my case, flour, and in hers, fabric) into bringing our dreams to market. So we always have plenty to discuss, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have a standing appointment each week to take a step back from the go-go-go of the operations and have some time to think through strategy, especially with someone as smart and thoughtful as Sarah.

Keep your eye on Mémé LaFleur. The dresses are gorgeous yet practical, and I love the one I bought so much that I almost wish I still worked in a corporate environment.  Much more to come from Sarah LaFleur!