After two years modeling in New York, Utah native Rosemary Card said she felt she “had so much more to offer to the world than walking in a straight line in stilettos.”
“I feel like the world tells women if they are told they are beautiful by men, they are worth something,” said Card.
Even the well-known Mormon phrase “Hottest is modest” isn’t completely correct to her. “We are supposed to be modest for ourselves–not for men,” she said.
Card was a model from age 16 to 19, served a mission in Arizona Mesa Mission, and studied at the BYU Jerusalem Center in 2012 while attending BYU in Provo. She is a freelance photographer and videographer for the LDS Church, and took an entrepreneurship class at BYU. She said during the class she, “started to love the idea of starting a business that fulfilled a need.”
She said she went to the temple to discover what she was supposed to do in 2015.
While sitting in the temple, Card said, “My brain was thinking of a million different things, and suddenly I felt that someone needed to make cute, simple and classic temple dresses.” She felt like the spirit hinted, “Why don’t you?”
She went upstairs to set up a meeting with the matron of the temple to see if it was doable and what the standards were. “Then I just started running from there,” said Card. “My goal was to make dresses that were familiar to young women and super comfortable.” Card started her temple dress business, Q. Noor, because she wanted to do something with her knowledge and talents that was truly important to her and God.
“When we create things, our spirit is happiest. Satan tries to distract women from our eternal virtue or purpose. You don’t need to be the most fit, be a babe or be a model. Just be you,” said Card.
Many people wonder what Q. Noor means, she said, because it is a very unique name to the fashion industry. In Arabic, “noor” means light. “Arabic and Hebrew are one of the closest languages to the Aramaic, which is the language that Christ most likely spoke while on this earth,” said Card. “Noor would be a word common to this earth at the time. And the Q stands for queen.”
Card said she was inspired by other successful businesswomen, such as LDS videographer and blogger Hailey Devine, and her own entrepreneurial mother.
Card noted she felt like her guy friends had businesses, but not many of her girl friends were starting businesses. “So I decided that I wanted to change that.”
Card said she wants to empower women and wants to make an impact on the way women see themselves. “You can do anything. It’s a matter of how much you are willing to sacrifice. If I decided right now to be an astronaut, I could do it.
“Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I’m really passionate about media and women and the way we are portrayed, and what women can accomplish.”
Starting out a business for the first time was intimidating, but Card knew she had to network. “Most people think it’s important to keep your idea on the down low, but I’m a big believer that you should talk about it to people, because if people don’t like it, you won’t know if it’s a good idea.”
She valued people’s feedback. “Figuring out people who had connections and who are in the industry was my first job,” said Card.
Card said her number one piece of advice to women is to, “build other parts of you.” She said getting a lot of Instagram likes isn’t truly satisfying. “What is satisfying is developing a skill, like learning how to paint or leaning how to be wicked good at science.
“Taking a killer selfie is not a valuable skill. Your spirit will feel so much happier when you just be yourself.
“I say all this stuff, but I am just as guilty of doing and feeling all those things. Like when I go out and I feel like I look good, I’m thinking about taking a cute picture on Instagram. No one’s perfect, but it does take constant effort to try and focus on the things that truly matter.”