My Journey to Become an Etiquette Expert

As of now, my journey as an etiquette expert spans over a twenty-year period.  And boy has it been a journey.

Manners To Go has taken me places that I would have never expected to go.

Manners To Go started out as an activity kit.  I recognized a gap in the children’s market and decided to fill it with a kit for parents so they could teach their children manners while at home or – on the go!

My journey to become an etiquette expert started much earlier.  I remember the exact moment when the inspiration came to me to one day teach manners to children.  

I was working at L&S Children’s Store in Charlotte, NC as a high school student. I remember the loveliest mother talking about her manners and charm school for little girls.  She had about four daughters and they would stop in often for their jeans and sweaters.  I was immediately enamored by the mother’s entrepreneurial spirit.

My foray into the world of etiquette did not happen until much later.

I spent more than fifteen or so years in the corporate world.  My first job out of college was with Speedo, then Levis Strauss & Company and much later with Club Corp.

During my corporate career, I noticed how my communication skills evolved. I must tell you this was one of my strengths.  I did make my fair share of mistakes along the way and I turned them into successes.

One day I was at an event in a park in Dallas and a woman who was a casual acquaintance and a business coach asked me a poignant question – “what would I do if I did not work for a large corporation?” Needless to say, this caused a moment of pause – in fact a long one.

And I continued to give it a great deal of thought. 

From there I became hyper aware of what it meant to be an entrepreneur – of having a business to call your own.

I was inspired by Kate Spade and many others that were on an amazing journey of creation.

Believe it or not,  my first thought and idea was to create a line and story around paper dolls.  Do you remember paper dolls? I so enjoyed them as a child and felt at the time that little girls needed to play more.

One thing leads to another and my next idea was to write a children’s book about being in the business world and how to prepare for it.

The rest is history and I decided part of being a happy successful, well adjusted adult was the basis of having good manners and character.

I started teaching manners to children on the weekends and at times after work. It was a lot to take on but I was passionate about the topic, knew I had value to offer and such a strong desire to have a business to call my own.

Since the idea, Manners To Go is taught around the world.  The activity kit was sold into Neiman Marcus, Learning Express, Christian Book Distributors, Olive Juice Kids and numerous children’s boutiques in the US.

The kit morphed into an extensive etiquette curriculum and many schools both public and private used it for popular after school programs.

Now Manners To Go is taught by our licensees around the world.

Won’t you join our manners movement?

You can start your journey to become an etiquette expert.