NUME, It’s Definitely a Mood
NUME Home Founder and Owner to Launch Home Accessories During the Pandemic
NUME is the best way to feel at home when you’re away. And if you’re thinking about traveling soon, this is the place to be. St. Hubert takes the guesswork out of it all when it comes to your ultimate luxury stay. Think fully furnished, ready to move in home but an away travel location – that is the NUME way. From fully furnished bedrooms to accessories such as pillows, throws, and more throughout the lodge, customers would forget they aren’t at home. | Midori Star Media Group
Myrline St. Hubert’s successful entrepreneurship journey began with a bad break-up. Like many strong women, Myrline always found strength in bouncing back stronger than ever before. Heartbroken, but resilient, she made significant life changes which led to NUME (New Me) Homes.
That’s exactly where the name NUME came from. I felt like, this is a new me and I’m going to accept all of me. I wasn’t trying to fix – you have to know what not to fix. Certain things that are broken, you just gotta buy a new one. Any “L” that I’ve taken was not a loss, it was a lesson. I practice the art of positive thinking. I read all the laws of meditation. You have to learn to clear your mind and reaffirm yourself.
I was working in corporate America and lost my job, which propelled me into starting my own business – providing corporate housing for CEOs and C-level executives. NUME Homes is basically a corporate housing and relocation firm. When you lose your job, you’re devastated. You have no idea what’s next. You don’t know what you’re going to do. In my case, I had an apartment, a beautiful skyrise apartment in lower Manhattan with a beautiful view right on Wall St. I had just moved into the apartment and shortly after, I lost my job. I needed to think quickly. So I decided to advertise my apartment furnished and see what happens. Before you knew it, I had a lot of requests. That’s basically how NUME was born.
My niche where people who were in corporate America who were traveling into New York City, but didn’t necessarily want to stay in a 200 square foot hotel – they would need more space. As you can imagine, we have special dietary needs. When staying in a hotel, you have to worry about eat out every day. If you are vegan, pescatarian, special dietary needs, health concerns, you want to prepare your own meals. With us, you’re afforded a kitchen. Now you receive the same amenities that you would in a 5-star hotel – daily/weekly cleanings. All our units are located at 5-star hotels. Whenever there’s a 5-star hotel that goes up, if they have a condo side, we would automatically lease or purchase a condo.
This brilliant idea was launched ten years ago -before Air BnB.
The people in my industry were doing so well that the hotels started lobbying against us. When it became illegal to do nightly rentals in New York, I expanded to Miami, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, and Dallas. I was like, okay, I can expand my market, I don’t have to limit myself to New York. New York changed the rules on me saying there was a limit of 30 days, which really wasn’t a problem for me because most of my executives – they’re not coming for town for a week. Most of them are coming for training. Some of them are relocating to New York and need to stay for a number of months. It really didn’t hurt my business as much as this pandemic has! LOL
During this time, there was no Air BnB, no real model of how to make this plan work. Myrline used old-fashion, grassroots marketing to pitch her beautiful homes to potential clients. She did everything from sending flowers to attending networking events to make the right connections.
I was there with my brochure and another thing… I was significantly cheaper than the hotels. It was still profitable for me. We ended up having an exclusive list of clienteles. Business was going so well that most of clients recommended us to their C-level executive friends. We have properties in the Hamptons, so some will contact us when doing personal travel with their families. So even though we weren’t doing any vacation traveling, we were kind of pushed in that industry.
What makes NUME Homes so special? Well their superimposed attention to the smallest detail, décor, ambiance, and yes… even the smell. The goal is to make you feel like you’re at home. Although Myrline had her ideas of what the NUME Home experience would entail, that did not keep her enhancing the experience by sizing up the competition.
You must understand what your competitors are doing. Evening if you’re a small fish in the sea – selling t-shirts, you want to go into Macy’s and see how they are advertising their t-shirts. What are the mannequins looking like? What’s going on? You can always walk and say, ‘well, I could have done this differently.’ That’s how you perfect what you’re selling to your audience.
Myrline practices this very idea by staying at hotels at least for one night to see how she can enhance her already fabulous home experience for her clients.
I will spend one night to see how the place is decorated, how the linen feels, how the rug feels under my toes. We spend a lot of money decorating our homes and even more money maintaining them. Imagine if you’re visiting a nice metropolitan city and your company is paying to put you in a nice apartment, you’re going to want to feel that dope sex in the city vibe. From the time you walk in, you’re transformed from visitor – you live like a local. We have our brochures on the table for you so you know where all the local markets are, top-rated restaurants. It’s not like you’re thrust into a place where you don’t know where to go or what to do – and we’re available 24 hours.
I’m huge on customer experience. The level of customer care going into each home is impeccable. The best part is that NUME Homes are competitively priced against hotel fees. So you’re paying less for an extraordinary experience. Myrline is heavily involved in the details of each home. She chooses the wall colors and pallets, throw pillows, candles – literally everything. Her desire is to not only make you feel at home but give you something to remember when you leave.
We only put quality in. Even the candles that we’ve always used, we only use high-quality candles. I’ve gotten compliments on the scents. Some people will contact me saying, ‘you know, I can’t get over how wonderful the place smelled when I walked in.’
For NUME Homes, business was great and then of course, the pandemic of the century hit. Travel was heavily affected. Even now there are businesspeople still working from home. Many companies are considered changing their business models to make working from home permanent – saving them millions on overhead and other costs. This reality hit home for Myrline – no pun intended, but she wasn’t giving up.
When the pandemic hit, I started losing money like crazy, I remained clam. I had this sense of calmness, because I was said, ‘God every time there’s a setback, it’s a setup for the comeback of a lifetime.’ So, I am not even going to trip over this! LOL
Now happily and blissfully married, Myrline credits her husband for keeping her motivated and mentally stable during the harshest times of our lives.
Luckily for me, my husband is very supportive. That’s one of the things that really helped me not lose my mind. Having a good support system at home, when things like this happen is a blessing.
I decided to create my own line (of candles) called, Moods by NUME. Not just candles, but also pillows. Our style has always been soft glam – neutral colors, but a soft glam. All our pillows, throws, couches, headboards, luxury sprays. They’re coming just in time for the holidays!
I told myself that I can bring the NUME Home experience to their home. The same smell that I would get compliments about. The pillows, the couch, the décor – I mean when you walk into my places, I have picture frames of positive quotes and I tell you, please feel free to replace with your family’s pictures. Those same picture frames I can sell. The experience that you got from NUME, now can be sent to you. That’s why I call it Moods by NUME – because we were a mood!
I named it Moods, because I always felt like when I go into places there are apartments that I have that are sexy and puts you in a mood. There is an array of moods you’ll experience when you stay with us. Like I really want a candle that says, ‘leave me alone!’ I’m selling home accessories to make you feel more at home.
Yes ma’am! I’m excited and can’t wait to purchase some items myself. Moods by NUME is slated to launch in October 2020 so definitely get your monies ready.
Now customers can experience the NUME way of lodging in the comfort of their own homes. Future plans for this luxury lifestyle brand include cross promotion with some of the world’s most sought after 5-star hotels, celebrity product placement and more. It is also a goal to be considered the top lodging location to the status of 5 -star. | Midori Star Media Group
I’m certain you will love the amazing NUME brand and follow on IG: @numehomes and @moodsbynume
