Business & Tech

Behind the Business: Femia Madak

Lakewood resident starts her business online. It just kept growing from there.

Most things just start small. 

That’s the case for Femia Madak, who launched her custom-made vintage clothing career at her Lakewood home in 2008, with some vintage fabric and a talent for sewing.

“I had just moved here, I needed work and I knew how to sew, so I gave it a try,” she said.

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It started with one person asking for help coming up with a vintage pattern for a dress. 

Madak took her talents online to Etsy.com, where the word spread of her work. Soon enough, her business outgrew the living room of her Edanola Avenue home.

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In May, she opened up Porshes Place, a “tiny, unique boutique” at 15301 Madison Avenue.

“I reproduce vintage patterns for modern women,” said the 36-year-old native of Columbia Station. 

Madak does even more: She draws the patterns, offers consultations, whips up sketches, takes measurements and makes the dresses.

Even though, she doesn’t get a lot of walk-ins in from Lakewood residents, people visit the store from all over the country. 

“It’s better than having them in my living room,” she said.

In fact, most of Madak’s business is still online, and half of that is from people in other countries. 

Wedding dresses still make up most of the business, but she also does some dresses for the mothers of the brides and a few Halloween costumes.

“It grows every year,” she said. “(The business) could be bigger, but I would have to hire more people to sew and I would lose control of the details.”

Lakewood Patch took a few minutes to get to know Madak a little better. Our take on the Proust Questionnaire, crafted by French writer Marcel Proust, seems like a perfect fit.

What’s your favorite place to eat in Lakewood: , they deliver. I’ve eaten there 30 times but I have never been in there.

Favorite place to spend time relaxing: I don’t relax. I am a workaholic.  

Favorite qualities in a man: I like work ethic. And honesty.

Favorite qualities in a woman: Loyalty and frankness.

Your chief characteristic: A perfectionist. That’s not good, but I am driven.

Favorite characteristic in friends: Bluntness. My friend Stacey never beats around the bush. I like that.

Your main fault: I think I am a workaholic. It’s unhealthy, but I haven’t learned how to challenge it yet.

Your idea of happiness: A good book and a soft chair.

If not yourself, who would you be: Katherine Hepburn.

Favorite hero in fiction: Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Favorite heroes in real life: My mother, Vera.

Favorite heroine in history: Amelia Earhart.

Favorite food, favorite drink: Sushi, lemonade.

Your favorite name: I like the names Avonley and Kershumlia.

What I hate the most: I don’t like inconsiderateness — people without manners.

How I wish to die: Giving my life to help someone else out.

What is your present state of mind: Optimistic.

For what fault have you the most toleration: Ignorance. When people are stupid because they lack education.

Your favorite motto: Don’t pick fly poop out of pepper. Don’t nitpick, look at the bigger picture.


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