Perfect Fitt
By Katie Scarvey
Salisbury Post
September 23 2005
Maia Smith wasn't sure what she was going to do after she moved to Salisbury. She didn't have a job. It didn't take long, however, before she started getting hints. Strangers in Wal-mart would come up to her and exclaim, "I like your bag! I like your clothes! Where did you get them?" The distinctive bags and outfits were designed and sewn by Maia herself, so she decided to start her own business. "You have to take a risk sometimes," she says. Maia knows about taking a chance. As Maia Janashia, she flew from her home in Tbilisi, Georgia last year to New York City to meet a man she had never seen in person. Georgia was a former republic of the Soviet Union. Now, she's married to that man, Joe Smith, and has started her own business at 105 W. Innes Street, Custom Design Clothes by Maia. Maia and Joe, who owns a painting and wallcovering business called Colors Unlimited, met on an international singles Web site in March 2004 and began talking frequently online. Before long, she says, Joe was calling her every day at home. For six months, they got to know each other. "We shared about what we appreciate in life," Maia says. "We talked about everything," Joe says, "anything you could think of." English was not a problem. Maia had taken a three-year course and spoke English in her job at an American Express travel agency. (Besides Georgian, her first language, she also speaks Russian and Greek). Eventually, the two began to discuss marriage and decided that they needed to meet. She remembers one of her mother's friends being skeptical when she heard the generic-sounding name of Joe Smith. "That's not a real name!" she warned Maia. Before she could come to this country to meet Joe, Maia asked the priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church she attended for permission. Her priest told her that he had an icon of Jesus that the Orthodox Church in New York City needed. Maia accepted the mission to bring it to the United States. "If God wants me to go and bring an icon, he'll support me and show me the right way," she told herself. She carried the big wooden statue on the plane and found herself alone in New York, meeting Joe for the first time. They quickly hit it off as well in person as they had over the phone. "It was like it was meant to be," Joe says. After a week in New York, she came back to Salisbury with Joe. They wanted to make sure that she felt comfortable with Salisbury before they dove into marriage. After two weeks in Salisbury, she called her mother. "I'm getting married!" she said. Her mother was worried that things were happening too quickly, Maia says. "But I felt everything was right," she says. "I was sure like I never was in my life." Joe's gut told him the same thing. "I just had a good feeling about everything," he says. Since there was no local Orthodox church, they decided to go back to New York and get married in the Georgian Orthodox Church where Maia delivered the icon. "Our religion is our blood, our history," says Maia of her country. Without their faith, her country would not have survived, she believes. The more Joe, a Baptist, learned about Orthodox Christianity, the more it appealed to him. Before the wedding, he was baptized in the faith. Joe and Maia wore traditional Georgian crowns for the wedding, which took place July 17, 2004. They couldn't believe how many people they didn't know who attended the ceremony. "All the parish was there!" she says. "The people were so kind," Joe says. "They treated us like family." Although Maia misses her family and friends, she likes Salisbury, and her gregarious nature has helped her get to know plenty of people. Her husband tells her that she probably knows more people now than he does, and he's lived here his whole life. "I thought it would take her a little bit longer to get adjusted," Joe says. "Her personality and moral standards and her way of life...she just fits right in. "Everybody she meets just loves her to pieces. When you meet her, you just love her." "I like to smile and be friendly," Maia says. She likes Salisbury's sense of history, which is important to her. "History makes us feel special," she says. Joe learned about Georgia this summer when the couple went for a month-long visit. "That was excellent for a small-town guy like me," says Joe, who had never been to Europe before. "It was a really great experience." People in Salisbury have been very kind, and other merchants have been supportive of her business, she says. Since she's from a capital city, Salisbury sometimes feels a bit sleepy to her, and as much as she likes it here, she thinks it could stand a little shaking up from time to time. Some things Maia would rather not get used to -- like the American pre-fab, fast-food approach to life. Good food takes time to prepare, and quality clothing takes time to craft, she believes. Her shop has been open several months and contains a variety of her designs, plus some textile art done by one of her Russian friends. Maia even has some of her own paintings for sale, as well as custom-crafted shoes and boots from Tbilisi. If her customers want a special pair of shoes or boots to go with an outfit, Maia can order it for them. She can sew just about anything -- wedding and prom dresses, curtains and drapes, dresses, pants, pillows, tablecloths. Just bring her a picture. "She's a heck of a seamstress," Joe says. Maia believes it was her destiny to sew. Her mother, a university physicist, is also an accomplished seamstress, as was her grandmother. If people are tired of going to Marshall's and trying on 10 dresses and not having anything fit, then Maia says she would like to help them, and do it for a reasonable fee. She is happy to work with her customers' budgets, and need be, can sew a $100 wedding dress. Maia enjoys recycling clothing and points to a fancy beaded dress that she re-designed. "I like to find a way to make it new, give it new life," she said. American clothing habits sometimes baffle her. In Europe, women tend to dress up every day and would not dream of going out in some of the outfits she sees here. "I can't believe people in pajamas shopping," she says, shaking her head in disbelief. In Georgia, people like to "dress and go out and be pretty," she says, adding that there is more of a focus on clothing there. She'd like to help change people's habits. She doesn't think everyone needs to shop at the same store and wear the same things. She believes in the unexpected, in putting a unique stamp on her clothing. Once, Joe told her that she should make her clothing more mainstream, more like what people were already wearing. She resists that idea. "I will not be Maia then; I will be Wal-Mart," she says. Custom Design Clothes By Maia is located at 103 S. Main st., the phone number is 704-267-7888. Contact Katie Scarvey at 704-797-4270 or kscarvey@salisburypost.com.
Marketing students at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College applied knowledge gained in the classroom in a real-world setting and helped a local merchant at the same time.
"The students had fun working in an actual retail setting. In addition, they had the opportunity to work as a team and meet the expectations of their client, Ms. Smith," Whittaker said. "They had to prepare and manage a schedule, assign tasks, be flexible and, above all, meet the expectations of the business owner."
Maia's Fashions offers unique women's clothing, jewelry and accessories and provides alterations, custom designs and tailoring.
The marketing students developed a tropical beach theme for the window, using pinks, yellows and blues. They chose several beach props, including beach chairs and towels, sea shells, butterflies and a parrot. They also used the window to feature the store's merchandise, including beachwear, sandals, purses, jewelry and sunglasses.
"I enjoyed doing something fun together with the students," Smith said. "The project was a benefit to the store and good experience for the students."
Whittaker believes the project was a win-win proposition for the students and the business owner.
"The store owner got free labor and a different perspective on her window design, while the students put into practice the principles they learned in class. They learned through doing," Whittaker said.
For more information, see the RCCC website at www.rowancabarrus.edu or call 704-216-3750.
Fashion for Cause.March 31,2010
It had everything you could want in a fashion show, and probably more: a clever master of ceremonies, gorgeous evening gowns, trendy casual clothing, snazzy tuxes, cute kids, and sky-high heels that made your feet ache to look at them.
Oh, and a snake.
Yes, a real reptile accessorized one of the many animal print outfits in the show.
It was the Rowan County Medical Society Alliance's annual Fashions for a Cause show and luncheon, held Wednesday at Catawba College's Peeler Crystal Lounge. The event is a fundraiser to benefit the programs of the Community Care Clinic of Rowan County.
Janel Rodes models her outfit from Maia's Fashions during the spring fashion show fundraiser to benefit the Community Care Clinic held at the Crystal Lounge at Catawba College. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post
By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY —
Pauletta Karmon has her own pair of fairy godmothers, McDonald’s managers Samantha Dodson and Jessica Laws.The women transformed Karmon’s dream of going to her senior prom into reality in Cinderella-esque fashion last week.
“I didn’t have enough money to go because I have so many bills to pay. I couldn’t afford a dress,” Karmon said.
Dodson shelled out about $250 on Karmon’s shimmering electric-blue dress from
Maia’s Fashion and a corsage to match.
“She’s the type of person that would do anything for you and she really wanted to go to prom,” Dodson said. “I just told her that if she really wanted to go I would do this for her.”
Laws chipped in to pay for the tuxedo rental and boutonniere for Karmon’s date, Paul Bailey, a fellow McDonald’s employee that the women found to take her to prom.
Laws said she still remembers her prom and didn’t want Karmon to miss out on that memory.
“It’s part of the senior experience,” she said.
Karmon, who graduated from West Rowan early in January, said the night capped off her senior year perfectly.
“It was really fun, I had a good time” she said. “I felt like I was in Paris and that was the theme of the prom.”
Mozell Karmon, said it meant the world to her to be able to see her daughter go to prom, especially because living on a fixed income made it impossible for her to afford.
“I’m forever in their debt because I didn’t have the money at this time,” she said. “I’m just filled with joy.”
Pauletta Karmon said she’ll never forget the kindness Dodson and Laws showed her.
