CHARLES KONG SOO
charles.kongsoo@guardian.co.tt
Melena Simon-O’Neil is a woman who literally and figuratively wears many hats. She is a business psychologist, entrepreneur, corporate trainer and speaker, certified wedding consultant, and event designer.
Simon-O’Neil is the co-owner, managing director and principal consultant at Emerald Designs And Event Services, one of the country’s leading wedding and event planning and design consultancy.
Beyond her work in the wedding and special events industry, she is actively involved in volunteerism and dedicates most of her free time to activities and initiatives focused on youth and women empowerment.
Simon-O’Neil is the current president of the Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago (AFETT), one of the leading networks for professional women in Trinidad and Tobago.
She also owns and manages Couture Hats By Melena, an upscale hat boutique supplying hats and elegant clothing for her clientele which includes parliamentarians, pastors and executive women.
Simon-O’Neil’s hat collection started as a hobby, but later, on October 1, 2015, she went into entrepreneurship, and hats off to her on her upcoming eighth anniversary as a hat designer.
Her stylish creations have adorned some of the A-listers at prestigious events such as President Christine Kangaloo’s inauguration on March 20 and Independence Day parades.
Some of Simon-O’Neil’s clients include Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George, MP, Country Head for the IDB in Trinidad and Tobago Carina Cockburn, THA Assemblyman Secretary for Education, Research and Technology Zorisha Hackett, THA Councillor Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Secretary leading Public Administration, Planning and Labour Certica Williams-Orr, Senior Executive at IBM Griselle Smith, well-known fashion stylist for professional women–Off the Chain Fashion’s Donna Marie Alexander and the late Diane Holdip, former registrar at Hugh Wooding Law School and the wife of Justice Malcolm Holdip.
Easter is the busiest time for the talented milliner to design her fabulous “hat couture” headwear creations for her customers.
Speaking to WE on Holy Thursday, Simon-O’Neil said “We hire more staff the week before Easter. The busiest day of the year for us is Easter Saturday or Holy Saturday (glorious Saturday).
“We have a wide inventory of luxurious hats, fascinators and cocktail hats. The more mature crowd would go for what we call whole hats and formal hats while the younger vogue and fashionable crowd like fascinators. (Fascinators are smaller than hats and are attached with a clip, headband, or comb and in most cases are also designed to have beads, flowers, or feathers on them.)
“It’s a pleasure to make women feel and look wonderful. There is a certain confidence and ‘hattitude’ my clients exude when they’re dressed in one of our pieces.
“I hope to refine my millinery skills to shift our direction from mainly retailers and hat stylists to full-time milliners creating pieces to suit our Caribbean chic style.”
She said if her customers cannot come to her establishment in Arima, she goes to them and described the experience as very personalised service.
Simon-O’Neil added that if they indicated a preference for a particular colour, pattern or style in hats, she and her team would gather several options and do like a sort of mobile trunk show, go to the particular clients and style them with the options and accessories.
Her customers, including quite a few high-profile clients people, come from all parts of the country, with one client from Pt Fortin who makes the trip to buy more than five hats at a time.
Simon-O’Neil, who was born in Kendal, Tobago, also has a large clientele there and often makes emergency shipments of hats needed by her customers in Tobago for the next day’s events.
The board member of the Tobago Bridal Association revealed that her journey into the world of millinery started when she was growing up with her late fashionista grandmother Joycie Simon Gunn in Tobago who loved hats.
Simon-O’Neil, who is a member of the UK-based Association for Business Psychology, said that people from her grandmother’s generation did not step out without their hats, bags and shoes matching. She noted her fashion sense came from her. As a young woman going to church, in order to make a fashion statement look complete she seldom went out without a hat.
Simon-O’Neil, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the West Indies majoring in Psychology and Human Resource Management, reminisced that she wore hat pieces that she obtained from Barbados, visiting very often as she had relatives there.
Her first source of very gorgeous hats, she said, came from a gentleman in the middle of Bridgetown.
Simon-O’Neil, who also has a Master’s degree in Business Psychology from Franklin University, USA, said when she travelled to the US to buy hats and wore them to church people admired them and wanted one.
She said “Sister Eli” told her that God had spoken to her that she needed to open a hat store and “reminded her animatedly” for years until 2015 when her hat dreams became reality.
Depending on the occasion–from the beach, Jazz Festival, bridal showers, private celebrations, birthdays, tea parties, hat-themed parties, social events, funerals, weddings, church and her client’s outfit if they wanted to not stand out too much, were new to wearing hats, or wanted to make a statement–they will choose a suitable styled hat or smaller fascinator and style them appropriately with clothing, bags, gloves, brooches, hatpins, jewelry and other accessories as well.
She not only caters for ladies but for men and children also.
Simon-O’Neil is inspired by world-renowned milliners such as Arturo Rios from the USA, and Philip Treacy in the UK.
She said her inspiration also came from nature, T&T, citizens’ own amazing sense of style, the country’s beautiful women and talented people and amazing designers.
Simon-O’Neil’s success is also due to the unwavering support of her husband, Kevin O’Neil, and their teenage daughter, Kaelyn O’Neil. The mother of one is a mentor to many female entrepreneurs and guides them in building and expanding their businesses.