Lingerie maven Shelly Manougian is fearless. So proclaims photographer Mary Ann Halpin's 2012 book Fearless Women, Visions of a New World, which features the gutsy Rye business owner. Hers is a courage born of cancer survival, something she says made her “a different kind of strong” and inspired her to help women battling breast cancer not only to survive but thrive.
Manougian’s store, Bella Intimates, a Rye fixture since 2003, is far more than an elegant lingerie boutique. Breast cancer survivors find custom-fit bras, prostheses, and a boost of self-confidence inside these walls. The atmosphere is welcoming. “It’s a comfortable shop,” Manougian says proudly. “Customers leave their inhibitions at the door.”
Manougian chose her store’s Italian moniker, wanting the name to convey what she does here. And there is indeed beauty in her mission to uplift women traumatized by mastectomies and lumpectomies and those suffering from lymphedema. “They feel like they have lost a piece of themselves,” she says. “But they leave here happy, feeling like they have balance and symmetry again. I want to help them regain their life.”
Her journey as an entrepreneur and a woman has not been easy. After getting her start at a Portsmouth lingerie store, she boldly decided to open her shop. But she could not foresee the obstacles to come, or the devastating cancer diagnosis looming on her horizon.
Portsmouth Hospital’s Director of Oncology at the time, Sue Gosselin, became the catalyst for Manougian’s colon cancer diagnosis. Noticing Manougian’s pain-wracked face at an open house event in 2005, Gosselin strongly suggested her friend have a colonoscopy. Although her doctor had dismissed her complaints for years, the procedure revealed stage three colorectal cancer with a 20% survival rate. Forty-two at the time, her cancer had likely been growing since her early thirties. “Sue saved my life,” she says. “It took a woman to listen to me.”
Manougian endured surgery and eight months of chemotherapy that left her sick and exhausted, but she persevered, working at the store as much as she was physically able. While her “calling” was always to help women feel good about themselves, her arduous journey through recovery transformed this calling into her true passion: to give women the ability to “feel whole and beautiful from within.”
She resolved to offer women mastectomy products and services, but area doctors discouraged her, citing insurance challenges. Undaunted, the intrepid Manougian forged ahead. Once certified as a fitter, she became an approved provider with Medicare, Martin’s Point, Anthem, and Harvard Pilgrim. Physicians and plastic surgeons began sending her clients, and her passion came to fruition. “The paperwork is complex and difficult,” she says, “but it’s all worth it.”
Bella’s mastectomy boutique occupies a separate space with an intimate, feminine ambiance. “Women feel safe coming here,” Manougian says. Special equipment scans a woman’s chest wall at the surgery site to create a custom breast form that fits like a perfectly matched puzzle piece. These breast forms are unique to a woman’s size, shape, and color and are 45% lighter than traditional forms.
Not all of Bella Intimates’ clients are cancer survivors. Everyday lingerie shoppers also appreciate Manougian’s expertise and personal approach. She is thankful to have “great clients” and many long-time regulars. During the holidays, husbands come in to help her choose the holiday pajamas to order and to buy sets for their wives and daughters. “I know my clients,” she says.
A silken thread of kismet seems to have woven itself through Manougian’s life. This fearless survivor firmly believes that along her path, people came into her life for a reason—even Oprah. While undergoing cancer treatment, a colleague appeared on an Oprah episode about finding the right bra and mentioned Manougian and her shop, calling her one of the best in the business. The next day, there was a long line outside the store. Now that’s kismet.
“They feel like they have lost a piece of themselves. They leave here happy, feeling like they have balance and symmetry again. I want to help them regain their life.”