Aja Powanda, Mon Ami

Aja Powanda is a business-woman, fashion aficionado and style advisor with a unique clientele. The clients she styles primarily range in age from 4 to 13.

In early 2019, Powanda opened her first fashion boutique with the hopes of building a clientele of confidently fashionable young members of the greater Birmingham community.

Mon Ami caters to boys and girls learning to style themselves during the awkward period between childhood and teenage years. It offers fashionable clothes and accessories for sizes 4-16/18 in both boys and girls clothing.

Mon Ami doesn’t just sell clothes, though. According to Powanda, it provides “fashion, style, comfort and confidence to the tween and emerging tween.”

“We all know we have been at that awkward stage in life,” she added. “Sometimes tweens just need a little help in creating their own style.”

Sometimes kids come in who aren’t quite sure about picking things out for themselves. “It’s rewarding watching them go from not being interested to jumping on the stage with the three-way mirror admiring the style they’ve put together,” she said.

Powanda spent many years in NYC as a manager and buyer for a high-end children’s fashion boutique. When she moved to the Birmingham area, she had a hard time finding the type of clothing stores that would provide her own daughters with a positive introduction into fashion.

One of the things that Powanda helps her young clients and their families do is find the delicate balance between being fashion-forward and age-appropriate. She sources the clothing provided in her boutique after listening to both the children she helps style and their parents.

“I love helping the child create and put together outfits that they feel great in and give them confidence,” she said.

Powanda believes confidence is the key to looking your best. She encourages everyone to create their own style that they feel expresses who they are. Once she becomes familiar with her clients, she is able to find things that match the style that they have created.

“Just the other day I thought to myself, I could totally see a certain customer in this outfit. When he came in, I showed it to him, he put it on and was out the door in it!”

Since she opened her doors, Powanda has been dedicated to providing excellent service to all of her young clients and their families.

“We are here for the customers! We deliver in the local area to their door. We can stay late or open early. We have opened for families on an off day. We will make private appointments.”

Powanda has also become very involved in the community surrounding her boutique. She’s a member of the Junior League of Birmingham and the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce. She also supports the Chris Hammond Youth Foundation.

It’s Powanda’s hope that she will remain an integral part of the community. Her ultimate goal is to help young people gain confidence in themselves by developing their own style.

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