The elephant in the room . . .

A smear campaign is an intentional, premeditated effort to undermine an individual’s or group’s reputation, credibility, and character. .
-Wikipedia

The latter part of 2008 saw the fruition of a nasty smear campaign directed at Stinky Couture. Diligent, persistent and unfounded are just a few of the words that describe it. Why?! Friends, family and customers have kindly given their input and continued support.

Did I unintentionally step on toes, rock the boat with SC’s apparent quick success? If SC’s success rattled the self confidence of some others in the business, they have my sympathy for their own perceived shortcomings. Business is business, business is competition. Compete via quality of product and sound business practices.
Do I choose to not share every aspect of my life, intentionally keeping a safe distance between my personal life and my business? Yes.
Do I believe in keeping the buying and selling facets of business separate? Yes.
Do I prefer my nickname? Sure. So what?
And what of the numerous unashamedly copied SC concepts and designs? Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop. -Jeffrey Zeldman
Did and do I expect to earn a fair wage for the time, quality and detail that goes into every Stinky Couture product? Absolutely!

The fact is that the online world of friends and contacts is a fickle one. Often one may be a friend one day and a target the next. As I see it people can be far too comfortable posting anything and everything on the internet. Some find that with anonymity, it’s easy to be malicious, unkind and make false accusations knowing that there will likely be no atonement or accounting for their words. I am passionate about everything and everyone in my life and though there came a time that I had to withdraw to reflect, to analyze, to breathe . . . the heart of the matter is this: our beautiful daughter is the face of Stinky Couture and I will not have the smear campaign be her legacy. I stand behind by my business integrity which is characterized by the honesty, reliability and fairness shown to each and every customer. As I’ve said before and what still holds true; the building of a business as a mother, wife and career woman requires investment, persistence and the sacrifice of precious time with loved ones. I could not make it through the trying times without the love and repeated support of those around me.

Recently I received an email from a fellow WAHM that prompted today’s blog post and though appreciated the words cannot undo the damage done. The following are excerpts from that email:

. . . I do need to apologize to you for being mean. I know I was. . . .

So Daphne. I am sorry for going to web and the drama blog – it was so out of character for me and honestly – I am ashamed I did – because its not like me. For that I apologize and take responsibility for my actions.

For me to post the email in it’s entirety is not an option. Those that have truly done business with me, know me. The truth has always been documented in writings and photos, though I’ve always felt that to make that information public would be unethical as protecting my brand could not come at the cost of disclosing my customers private business communications.

And now, goodbye to an elephant!

It’s important for me to share with you that in the midst of reeling from the smear campaign mentioned above, personally we tragically suffered more than one loss to our family. The road to healing continues to be a long one. More than ever I believe and embrace what is stated so simply:
LIVE well, LAUGH often, LOVE much.

A sincere and warm thank you to those of you that have continued to reach out, appreciate and support SC.