Meet Marah Elizabeth | Educator & Curator of A La Carte Vintage

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marah Elizabeth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marah, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I come from quite a large Midwest family: my mom is 1 of 12 children and my dad is 1 of 8 kids, and I have 50+ cousins and more second cousins. In terms of physical assets, my family didn’t have much. As the youngest grandchild, I lived in hand-me-down clothing from my sister and cousins, and on the weekends I went to yard sales and Goodwill with my grandpa to find new-to-me treasures to play with and entertain myself. When you don’t have a lot, it forces you to think creatively and inherently become resourceful for entertainment purposes – or it did for me.

From a young age, I became aware of the value of money, working hard to earn money even before I was old enough to actually work (my grandpa would give me $1 for every “A” I earned on my report card, and you best believe I was mostly a straight A student!). One of the most important lessons I learned while growing up was that there’s a lot more to life than money – having intangible assets like healthy relationships, having goals to look forward to and work towards achieving, and pursuing work and passion projects that give me energy are what fill my cup up the most on a day to day basis and make me happiest. That line of thinking led me to start A La Carte Vintage as a way to creatively express myself and feel a sense of community last year during COVID, which was one of the most isolating times of my life.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I believe that home should be where you’re most comfortable and should without a doubt best represent who you are! Whether it’s a statement piece that starts the interior decorating process or a final touch that pulls an entire room together, A La Carte Vintage sources a variety of vintage and secondhand goods that resonate with our customers’ personal styles and helps make home their favorite place to be.

A La Carte Vintage is so much more than a side business to me, I experience immense joy from helping people find distinctive, perfect-for-them pieces without sacrificing quality or sustainability. I’ve learned that when you bring that positive spirit and genuine care into a business, people respond with loyalty.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I absolutely adore this time of year, so if my best friend was staying with me for a week, we’d enjoy a variety of fall activities, from leaf peeping while hiking, drinking cider at Acreage Ciderhouse in Lafayette, dressing up for Halloween (I’m obsessed with theme parties) and going out to the popup Halloween bar in Larimer Square…we’d for sure go thrift shopping, watch Hocus Pocus, bake some goodies, perhaps get crafty and do a DIY project together, take a bunch of polaroid photos together, and laugh a ton.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
From a young age, I knew that I wanted a different kind of life than the life I had growing up, and I thank my mom for always encouraging me to do well in school and get an education that would allow me to do whatever I wanted (she dropped out of high school and earned her GED so the emphasis on education was truly from her lived experience).

As a first-generation college student, it was a HUGE accomplishment to get into college and to have a full-tuition scholarship. And then I kind of skyrocketed my risk-taking tolerance and sought out more and more new experiences (i.e., studying abroad in Italy, interning in Washington DC), which I imagine was nerve-wracking to my mom, but again, she has always encouraged me to go after what I want.

I also have to say thank you to my fiance, Cesar who is my number one fan and always shows up for me. Although our home can sometimes get a bit….overun? Yeah, overrun with my shop’s items, he’s a great sport and his support means the world to me!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alacartevintage/