Show Notes and Description 🎤 Your Host & Guest Ciara. Host of The Clean Joy Podcast. Joy-led, wellness-rooted, and sober forward. On a mission to help people around the world experience the joy of Jesus and redefine what joy and success means to them. Jennifer Burns. Guest. Founder of Revel Lifestyle Thriftique, fashion curator, and wardrobe consultant focused on elevating thrifted fashion through sustainability and intention. Also serves as administrative coordinator for GRABB (Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses) and athletic secretary at Grand Rapids Public Schools Union High School. Episode Description Ciara welcomes the Clean Joy Podcast’s very first ever guest: Jennifer Burns, founder of Revel Lifestyle Thriftique, and the kind of person who has been passing clothes down to friends and family her whole life without realizing it was a business. The conversation covers all of it: how a love of clothes and a grandmother who never threw anything away became Revel, why the word thriftique may belong to Jennifer, the $20 pricing ceiling she refuses to cross, how to shop for sustainable materials and stop trusting polyester, and why you should be playing in your closet before you have somewhere to be. Then: faith, entrepreneurship, and GRABB. How to talk to God like he’s your homeboy. Why Jennifer goes to Bible study before committing to a church. Why you should go to rooms you don’t feel ready for yet. What a free 30-minute consultation with GRABB looks like. Granny’s jeans rule. And the imposter syndrome audiobook that hit different. First guest. Great conversation. Summary Ciara opens by welcoming the podcast’s first ever guest, Jennifer Burns, and letting her introduce herself in her own words. Jennifer runs Revel Lifestyle Thriftique, a concept she describes as a thrift store in a boutique, offering curated secondhand fashion for $20 or less in a personal, elevated shopping experience. She also works full-time as administrative coordinator for GRABB, the Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses , and as an athletic secretary at Union High School. Before any of that, though, she was always the person in her family passing clothes down, buying something because it reminded her of a friend, and refusing to let a good garment go to waste. Revel grew directly out of that. The name itself comes from her late grandmother, who passed in 2020, a lifelong thrifter who kept sweatshirts for over 20 years and owned a lint shaver to make sure they stayed that way. Style and joy take up the first half of the conversation. Jennifer’s core philosophy is simple: wear what makes you happy and comfortable, not what the mannequin is wearing or what the trend says you should. She walks through how to read garment tags for sustainable materials, why polyester-heavy fast fashion falls apart faster than it should, and why knowing your measurements before you shop online is non-negotiable. Ciara talks about her own recent experiments with patterns, specifically stripes with army fatigue and asymmetrical tops styled in ways she never would have tried before. Jennifer’s current thing is mixing feminine and masculine, a reflection of her lifelong tomboy roots. They both land on the same advice: give yourself time to actually play in your closet before you have somewhere to be, because that is when the good outfits happen. And wear your jeans at least once a week, per granny, so you know where you actually stand. The second half moves into faith, entrepreneurship, and what GRABB actually does for Black business owners in Grand Rapids. Jennifer grew up watching two grandmothers practice faith differently, one Catholic and one Baptist, and credits that early exposure for her grounded, personal relationship with God. Her advice for anyone finding their church home is to try the Bible study first, because it is more intimate and tells you how the word is going to be read before you commit. On entrepreneurship, she is direct: having an LLC and an EIN number is not the same as having a business. Go to the rooms you do not feel ready for yet, find people who know more than you, and take GRABB up on their free 30 to 45-minute consultation if you are stuck or just starting out. The episode closes on redefining joy and success, Jennifer having taken most of the pressure off entirely, and both of them landing on the same phrase: progress over perfection. The Clean Joy podcast itself started on an iPhone with a voice notes app. That is proof enough. 🎙 Key Topics with Timestamps 0:00 --- Welcome to Clean Joy: joy-led, wellness-rooted, sober forward, and faith-based. 1:00 --- Jennifer introduces herself: Revel Lifestyle Thriftique, GRABB, and Union High School athletics. 3:00 --- How Revel started: always the person passing clothes down, turning a habit into a business. 4:00 --- Dedicated to her grandmother: a lifelong thrifter who passed in 2020 and kept garments for 20+ years. 5:30 --- Fast fashion and polyester: why clothes today don’t last the way they used to. 6:00 --- Read the tags: how to shop for sustainable materials and stop getting misled by price tags. 6:30 --- The word thriftique: thrift store meets boutique — Jennifer may have coined it. Trademark pending. 8:00 --- Pricing at Revel: nothing over $20. Most T-shirts are $5. She is not here to rob you. 9:00 --- Style and joy: wear what makes you comfortable, know your body type, shop for yourself not the mannequin. 12:00 --- Play in your closet: don’t wait until you have somewhere to be. The good outfits happen before that. 14:00 --- Trends are recycled: everything comes back eventually. Add your own detail and be you. 15:00 --- Jennifer’s current style: mixing feminine and masculine, tomboy roots, baggy and fitted done right. 17:30 --- Granny’s jeans rule: put them on at least once a week so you know how much weight you’ve gained. 19:00 --- Faith foundations: two grandmothers, two denominations, and a perspective that lets her choose. 20:00 --- Try the Bible study first before committing to a church. It’s more intimate. It tells you more. 22:00 --- Talk to God like he’s your homeboy: however you talk, he made you, he knows what you mean. 27:00 --- Balancing ambition with surrender: write it down, be intentional, let faith fill the gaps. 30:00 --- Sleep is part of health: you can’t blow a big moment because you didn’t take care of yourself. 31:00 --- GRABB: connecting Black entrepreneurs to the ecosystem, resources, and people in Grand Rapids. 35:00 --- Go to rooms you don’t feel ready for yet: Jennifer’s number one advice for entrepreneurs. Enjoying the show? Follow, subscribe, and let Ciara know what you liked. The Clean Joy Pod is growing and listener support makes all the difference. And if Jennifer’s episode spoke to you, show her some love too. 📸 The Clean Joy Pod: @cleanjoypod on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube 📸 Revel Lifestyle Thriftique: @revvlelifestyle.co on Instagram and Facebook 📦 Donate to Revel: Schedule a pickup for clothing, shoes, and accessories through the Less Is More program — no sorting required, Jennifer handles it all. 🤝 GRABB Free Consultation: Book a free 30 to 45-minute session with GRABB whether you are in ideation or already running a business and feeling stuck. Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses — @grabblocal on Instagram 🔗 Find The Clean Joy Podcast The Clean Joy Pod is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Follow along, subscribe, and continue to take your joy seriously. @cleanjoypod 🎙 New episodes dropping regularly — faith, wellness, joy, and the real conversations in between. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ciaraw.substack.com
