By Elly Cosgrove | May 16, 2021 at 7:23 PM EDT – Updated May 17 at 5:06 AM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – An entrepreneur in the Cape Fear region is on a mission to use her special day — and special wedding dress — to get the attention of the famous entrepreneur Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx.
Carmin Black, a co-founder of HALF UNITED, tied the knot on Saturday. She did so in a loaner dress with a unique story.
During the pandemic, the Spanx founder has been loaning her wedding dress out to brides who had their weddings cancelled because of covid-19. Black happens to be one of those brides.
“Last year my wedding was canceled so I entered and out of I think 40,000 women I won and that’s how I got her dress,” Black said. “First and foremost, just excited to, you know, I think get a piece of her special day because she is such an incredible entrepreneur and does so much to empower others.”
The nearly all-female team at HALF UNITED has always been a huge fan of Sara Blakely.
“I am definitely the type of person that I don’t think that anything happens by chance. I really look up to Sara and I really believe in the way that she works to empower others,” Black said. “Here at HALF UNITED that is our ‘why’ for being in business and so if we ever got the attention of somebody that could help us continue human empowerment that would be incredible and honestly that would be a dream come true.”
HALF UNITED is a charitable brand that sells accessories and apparel. With every sale, HALF UNITED provides seven meals for children in need.
Now more than ever, the brand’s mission is crucial as hunger has doubled during the pandemic, according to Black.
“When the pandemic first started I think here at HALF UNITED we really realized, ‘Holy Cow, in a time where sales are down we need to be giving more,’ and that was incredibly stressful,” she said.
For most brides, wearing Blakely’s wedding dress would be enough. However, Black realized there was a chance to do more than just walk down the aisle.
“HALF UNITED fights hunger locally and in Haiti and I knew that this would be a cause that’s near and dear to her heart,” Black said. “If I could wear this dress and use it as a tool to get her attention and maybe get her involved in what we do that would be a win win.”
Now that sales have picked back up again, getting the attention and mentorship of Blakely would be icing on the wedding cake.
“We have some awesome ideas and we want to put those in front of her and we would love for her to validate them and add to them,” Black said.
So now the brand has a proposal for Blakely: to marry Half United’s fight against hunger.
Half United plans on posting a picture of Black in the dress with a sign asking for Blakely to join in their fight against hunger on Tuesday.
“We are actually on Tuesday as a brand going to be hosting a giveaway where we are giving thousands of dollars of free products away if people will enter our contest and tag Sara in the post,” Black said. “We’re hoping that if a lot of people tag her on Instagram it’ll get her attention.”
Black and her team asking Blakely to join their mission, hoping she’ll say… “I do.”
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