Title: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Queen’s Fashion
Location: Hartford, CT
Education: ASW, Capital Community College (2012)
Career History: Chief Executive Officer, Queen’s Fashion
Vida Mensah, Chief Executive Officer at Queen’s Fashion, has been recognized as a Marquis Emerging Leader for their contributions and achievements in the field of fashion.
Just two years ago, Ms. Mensah turned a daydream into a reality by becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Queen’s Fashion. Always passionate about clothes and helping others, she decided to pursue a career in her industry because she had never seen a store that sold African clothing and products—and thought she could provide people with various new styles from the country that she could not have access to anywhere else.
A single mother with a daughter, Ms. Mensah previously ran a charity in Ghana called the Mevii Foundation, through which she shipped clothes, shoes, and food to less fortunate communities in the area. In her work, she has struggled with schedules and maintaining enough income to support her child, which prompted her one day to contact the local police department and learn how to register for a business. Motivated by the concept of an African-based shop, she went through the registration process and began sewing some of the clothes herself, reaching out to contacts in Ghana, and ordering items from all over—working completely from her home. When the pandemic hit, however, she realized she could not have customers come into her house, so she started looking for a store. Today, she has two sides of a store, one for African clothing and the other for hair and beauty products; she manages everything that comes in, keeps on top of the inventories, and sells the products herself.
Outside of her primary endeavors, Ms. Mensah has continued to travel and visit people in impoverished areas, where she volunteers her services through local food pantries. She also excels as a motivational speaker. In recognition of her selflessness over the course of her career, she has been honored with an award from the mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, an award for her services in Ghana and Kenya, and a few awards from her local church for the outstanding charitable work she does. Looking toward the future, she plans to rent a larger space for her store and become a wholesaler, with aspirations to run her business across every state while also opening up a shelter for the homeless. Having prepared for her professional path by earning an associate degree in social work from Capital Community College in 2012, Ms. Mensah strives to obtain a bachelor’s degree in the subject within the next year.