Invention and Reinvention

Psyche (Smith) Terry and the Evolution of Urban Intimates

Pregnancy and welcoming your first child—it’s a time that includes change of every sort. For Psyche Terry, B.B.A.’03, her first pregnancy brought about physical changes that eventually gave rise to her current business, Urban Intimates, a lingerie, apparel and lifestyle company that designs for plus size women and embraces what it means to be a beautiful woman with curves.

“I wasn’t a curvy woman until my first pregnancy,” says Terry. “When I went from a B cup to a DD cup in my bra size, I started to understand the challenges facing plus size women who wanted intimate apparel that is stylish, beautiful, fun and affordable. There wasn’t much on the market, and what was available wasn’t designed in a way that supported plus size women’s beauty, both functionally and philosophically.”

Terry and her husband, Vontoba, decided that they could change this. They could create a company that celebrated women with curves and confidence.

But making that decision and getting traction with the business concept and model were two different things, and Terry experienced some initial setbacks—setbacks that might have derailed a less determined entrepreneur.

“We lost a couple of business competitions, including the Coors Miller Light Business Plan Competition, which offers a $50,000 prize to fund a startup,” says Terry. “We had entered twice and lost twice, but out of that experience came a great opportunity.” The opportunity was The Workshop at Macy’s. After seeing the enthusiasm that the Terrys showed for their business plan, the organizers of the Coors Miller Light competition encouraged them to apply for the Macy’s program, which is an exclusive vendor retail development workshop designed to give select, high-potential minority and female business owners the tools to better succeed and sustain growth in the retail industry.

Terry researched the program and saw that it might be a good fit for their business and filed the application but did not expect their company to be selected from among the thousands of applicants.

Yet Urban Intimates was selected for the final interview round, which involved roughly 100 businesses, a field that had been narrowed from tens of thousands of interested entrepreneurs. During the intense interview process, Terry pitched her concept, refined it, pitched it again and was accepted into the program, which annually accepts one to two dozen applicants.

The Macy’s program teaches entrepreneurs what it takes to run a sustainable business, spanning topics such as relationship building, partnerships, brand management and metrics. Though the workshop facilitators make it clear that acceptance into the program does not guarantee a retail agreement with Macy’s, that is the hope of many of the entrepreneurs in the program.

After the one-week workshop, Terry had lots of feedback on what she needed to do to broker a retail deal with Macy’s. It was a list that would take two years to complete and involved a series of evolutions in the business.

Terry realized that if she wanted to take her business to the next level, she would have to find a manufacturer, so she and her family traveled to China and figured out how to set up manufacturing operations there.

After some stops and starts with Macy’s following the China trip, Terry was ultimately successful in securing a deal for 10 Macy’s stores. Today, Urban Intimates products are in stores across the U.S., including JCPenney and Walmart. The company is currently valued at $40 million and now offers apparel for women of all shapes and sizes as well as a beauty products line.

Launching Urban Intimates was hard, but sustaining and growing it is just as hard, which is why it is good that Terry never quits.

“My spirit as an entrepreneur is wired differently, where no matter how hard I would fall down, I never wanted to lose completely,” says Terry. “So, I would say that I quit and that I had had enough, but I would really just be giving up for the day. I would come back and try it a new and different way the next day with a clear head and thought process.”

And because she knows persistence pays off, Terry never stops pushing forward. “I have managed the company’s growth by keeping my head down and making goals bigger and bigger. After closing my first order with a local beauty supply store, I could have taken that opportunity and been happy, but instead I thought, how can I take these earnings and sell my products to the largest beauty supplier in the world?”

That persistence, paired with a spirit that embraces invention and reinvention, is the key to Terry’s success. “I’ve had to change a lot as an entrepreneur. I’ve had to change business partners, funding partners, employees, locations, manufacturers and customers. To stay successful and nimble, I make changes every day in my business.”

With the rapid change that comes with being an entrepreneur, there are some important constants that help Terry achieve stability and success at Urban Intimates:

• “At our company, we’ve developed a family-friendly culture and a culture of teamwork. Every day I get to work with a group of friends who make dreams come true and who are passionate, smart and dedicated.”
• “My most critical skill for business success has been relationship management and being able to know, accept and understand my greatest assets and opportunities. This helps me know who I need on my team and what I need from my team. It helps me communicate with my employees, customers and consumers.”
• “I believe in surrounding myself with smart people—mentors, team members, business partners—that can help me make the big decisions.”
• “Own your mistakes. When I worked in a corporate setting, I had a giant brand that I could hide behind, so it was easy not to be held 100 percent accountable for mistakes. A large company sometimes takes hits as a brand for easily preventable mistakes. As an entrepreneur, every mistake is mine, or is mine in the sense that it affects my reputation. Accountability helps us learn, grow and be better.”

So, what has been a recent challenge for Terry and her business? “Digital! I am a brick and mortar girl, and digital buying is growing by leaps and bounds. My company has had to learn this landscape and react quickly to stay relevant and be helpful to brick and mortar customers. This is something that we will be investing in throughout the coming years as we grow the business and evolve it even further.”

Other things you should know about Psyche Terry

Terry was born on the south side of Chicago to a teen mom and spent only the first two years of her life living with her parents. Due to a lack of resources, her parents gave custody to Terry's great aunt, who lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Terry's high school counselor said that she, similar to the majority of her classmates, would likely not go to college. Terry's great aunt enrolled her in camps and after school programs that ignited a fire that has never gone out. At 11 years old, Terry's 15-year-old cousin passed away and that dramatically changed her thoughts about intentional living. A few years later, she earned a high school internship that led to a 12-year career at Whirlpool Corporation.

It took Terry only three years to graduate from the Haworth College of Business. In her final year at Western Michigan University, she met Vontoba at a college internship program, and the two married in 2004 just after her 23rd birthday.

After earning her MBA with honors and graduating second in her class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where Vontoba also earned his MBA, Terry began to pursue her entrepreneurial path.

As the founder and CEO of UI Global Brands, she is the first African American woman to successfully launch a line of lingerie that wholesales to the largest department, retail, off-price and beauty stores in the U.S. She has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Essence and Black Enterprise. She has also appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS and Univision. She recently appeared on NBC's The Steve Harvey Show as a mystery millionaire in one of the highest rated episodes of the year. Terry has served as a White House speaker on young women in entrepreneurship where she also met Oprah Winfrey.

Terry's legacy includes raising more than $100,000 in scholarships, serving on multiple nonprofit boards, starting youth groups, and mentoring married couples pursuing business ventures and aspiring entrepreneurs in general.