Greetings, Beautifully Said listeners! We have the pleasure of speaking with lifestyle icon, B. Smith, whose talents and expertise span a wide range of specialties.

B. Smith: Thank you very much.  It’s great to chat with you.

TL: Thank you. It’s a pleasure having you as well!

You have been called “one of the most important African-American style mavens of all time.”  What sets the B. Smith brand apart from its contenders?

B. Smith: One of the things that sets it apart is that people have known me for years through modeling, my TV show, and the restaurants. Plus, while we were doing those things we were also building the brand.  What people really like about what we do is that we cover all areas of style.

TL: Listening to that, I hear the grooming and ambition, and a lot of young people today can really benefit from your story.  In this day and time, everybody wants microwave results.  We like the fact that you had to work hard and just knock down some doors.

B. Smith:  My husband and I often say, “We’ve stood on a mountain of no’s for one yes!”

TL:  It appears that you have done it all in the world of fashion, design, television, and as a restaurateur. What are your ingredients for being successful with your brand?

B. Smith: My ingredients are staying true to my vision and the vision for us. Even starting with the restaurants, I worked in the business to learn the business before I could really own my own restaurant.  The first restaurant I worked in, I convinced them [restaurant owners] to let me work in the restaurant pre-opening day to see how it really ran.  Again, here’s where I like to tell young people-do the homework. You can’t say you want to be a scientist without going to college. There are certain things that you can’t do unless you have the foundation, unless you have really studied it, and you have worked in the business. It’s not easy.  I am proof that you can have dreams, pursue them and make them come true.

TL: You have done that very well and here at Beautifully Said Magazine we like to express the stories behind the persona.  A lot of people see the person on television or in the magazines and they think I want to be like that person without knowing the story behind that person. We like to capture the essence of the person and let our audience know that you too can have dreams, and it can come true if you work hard at it.

B. Smith: When I talk to young people, I like to tell them that whatever they’re interested in- they should try to be an intern with that company. If art and dance is what you’re interested in, you got to put time into it before you’re going to be able to get out there and do it, but I think it’s really important to do the homework.  From there, it’s networking. If you don’t put out there what you want and what you need, nobody knows and you’re not going to get any help.  If you’re out there, and you put yourself in the right places to meet the right people, then there’s the connectivity that can help you in your pursuit of what your interest is.

Asha: Do you feel you’ve blazed the trail for media personalities such as the Neely’s with their cooking enterprise, and model-turned actresses such as Tyra Banks, or even Oprah Winfrey? I see so many different facets of what you’ve done, fast forward to what they’re doing today and I wanted your take on that?

B. Smith: Everybody should have their role models, and I had mine.  I was determined to get in the Wilhelmina Agency, and kept knocking on the door until she accepted me and that’s what you have to do sometimes.  It’s harder now because doors are not opening the way they were years ago when I came to New York.  Now, you can hardly get up to the certain floors that the businesses are on without knowing somebody-that’s why I think it’s important to get out there and get to know people because you never know where your next big break is going to be.

Asha: B. Smith restaurant just celebrated the beginning of its 25th Anniversary in the Times Square District. Congratulations on that!

B. Smith: I’m very proud of that!

Asha: You should be! The restaurant business is such a gamble or maybe a fickle industry, if I can use that word, because the success rate of restaurants is not very high.  What do you attribute to the longevity of your multiple restaurants?

B. Smith: The most important thing is that I’m physically in the restaurants, all three of them.  My husband, who is the chairman of B. Smith Enterprises, and I work together on a daily basis, and it’s a great, creative relationship.   I actually met him in my first restaurant.  He was a TV producer, and he took my idea for the TV show and made it happen.  It’s been a good partnership as well as a great marriage.

Asha:  I think it’s so important for you to speak on that because a lot of times when we attain a certain level of success- we sometimes remove ourselves from the picture of day to day dealings because  we don’t have to be there as much, but I like the fact that you’re very much involved.

We have the magazine here that we do and a lot of times people ask who you are and what you do and you really have to stay persistent and you really have to love what you do.

B. Smith:  Yes, you have to love, love, love what you do! That’s the way to success.  You said something that I really loved too, which is that I am a people person. I love to go around and talk to the folks in the restaurant as much as possible.

Asha:  If your words and interview can be an inspiration to others, then that makes us very happy.  Continue to do what you do.

B. Smith:  I do love what I do, and I love looking around the corner to see what I have to do to make things new or make old things new again.  There are many times you have to reinforce what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. I am always learning. I learn from everyone and I hope that I am always giving also.

I love fashion and, while I haven’t moved into that business as far as selling personal fashions, I like to be fashionable and I hope that I am a role model in that way too.  There are so many ways we can be role models for our children and for those young people who are coming up behind us.

I think the fact that I have natural hair is part of me being a role model: free at last, free at last (laughter)

Asha: I think natural is a very freeing process and it just made me more creative. I don’t know if that sounds weird or not.

B. Smith:  No, it does make you more creative, but I think it’s important that everybody finds their style. I sang the theme song to my TV show and at the very end its like, Believe in yourself, Believe in yourself, find a style that’s right for you.  It’s all about finding that style in many ways whether it’s with makeup we put on, our hair, the way we dress or the style of our home.  It’s a feel-good style for us when we make it right. When we get it right, it feels good!  Small changes can make a big effect on whatever you do.

Asha: Small changes that can make a big difference.  Thank you, B. Smith.

Thank you to our readers and until next time, “Please Allow your words to be Beautifully Said!”

Readers can follow B. Smith on Twitter @BSmithStyle and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bsmithsnyc and also www.bsmith.com.

Photo provided by: The Rosen Group

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The B. Smith brand includes; three (3) successful restaurants, B. Smith with Style Home Collection, and being an award-winning author with numerous home entertaining books to name a few.