We recently had the chance to connect with Josette Gastonguay and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Josette, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day, whenever possible, are intentionally quiet. I start with about 10 minutes of stillness, a moment of quiet where I set my intentions, reflect on the day ahead, and create some mental space before the world starts making demands of me and before I reach for my phone and start making demands of myself.
After that, I step into my morning routine with my dog. It’s simple but meaningful, a small routine that keeps me grounded and reminds me of the joys that anchor my day. Loving on him every morning and seeing his tail wag and his ears perk when I rise is a beautiful way to start each day.
From there, I usually go straight into work while my mind is fresh, often still in the same casual clothes I walked the dog in. I prefer to get at least an hour of focused work done before I shift into the rest of my day. It keeps me focused, productive, and centered before the pace picks up. I’m a firm believer that if you can cross off a few small things from your to-do list early in the day, it sets a positive mental tone for success for the rest of the day.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Absolutely, I’d be happy to! My name is Josette Gastonguay, and I’m the founder of FYIE Boutiques. FYIE stands for Find Your Inner Empress, and FYIE Boutiques is a lifestyle boutique brand rooted in confidence, resilience, and quiet luxury. I’ve loved fashion from a very young age, but it wasn’t until stepping into the corporate world that I truly understood its power, how style shapes perception, how the wrong shoes can ruin your day, and how sacrificing comfort for fashion can spoil your night. And in reverse, how the perfect pair of shoes can help you feel powerful all day, and how an elegant yet breathable outfit can completely shift your mood and mindset.
Over the years, I’ve studied the styles of women across many countries, and I’m endlessly inspired by the effortless beauty of French women in particular, each one embracing her own unique style rather than following a single model of what she “should” be. There is something profoundly beautiful about choosing what works best for you and wearing it with quiet confidence. That philosophy has shaped every aspect of FYIE.
After more than 25 years in the corporate world, I felt called to create a space where women could reconnect with their authenticity and personal style. FYIE has now grown into a curated boutique brand where every piece from Italian-made sweaters to home-grown artisan jewelry is intentionally selected to elevate everyday life without sacrificing comfort.
FYIE is special because it’s more than a shop; it’s a story of reinvention, a celebration of individuality, and a reminder that elegance isn’t loud, it’s personal. I’m deeply committed to building something meaningful and approachable, a place where women can walk in, feel seen, and leave feeling a little more like the Empress they are.
Right now, I’m focused on expanding our offerings, enhancing the customer experience, and continuing to build a brand that blends global inspiration with everyday wearability. It’s been an incredible journey, and I’m excited for what’s ahead.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world laid its many burdens upon me, I was a bold, fearless girl who spoke up for the underdog, rode horses with a sort of wild confidence I had no right having, and dreamed in high fashion and Hollywood lights. While most others watched movies for the story, I watched for the style. I was actually quite obsessed with Hollywood at one time.
When Pretty Woman came out, I was in my teens and everyone around me fell in love with the romance. I fell in love with the clothes, and I never forgot the scene where the main character was dismissed in a high-end boutique. Even then, I knew: I would never create a space that made a woman feel small.
And in the remake of Sabrina, I discovered the quiet poetry of a perfectly tailored women’s suit, clean lines, a beautiful hat (oh the hats, I just adore hats), and the kind of elegance that changes the way a woman moves through the world.
Those moments shaped me long before I realized it. I was a dreamer, a risk-taker, a girl who believed in beauty, kindness, and confidence.
And she’s still here, perhaps I took a long detour, but she’s still here at the heart of FYIE, guiding how I curate, how I serve, and how I aim to help every woman who walks through our doors to find her own inner empress.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Some of the deepest wounds of my life came from chapters I never expected to live through, divorce, abandonment, losing everything, and being forced to rebuild from the ground up. There is a particular kind of pain in realizing you cannot love someone into becoming the person you need them to be, no matter how hard you try. And for a long time, I carried that weight as if it was mine to bear.
I spent years asking myself the wrong questions: What did I do wrong? What went wrong? What should I have done differently? Those questions kept me circling the hurt but never healing from it.
My turning point came when I shifted the question altogether. Instead of looking backward, I asked myself:
If this exact situation showed up in my life today… would I still choose it?
The honest answer was no. And that clarity changed everything.
Because you can’t mourn the loss of something you wouldn’t willingly choose now. You can grieve the dream, the hope, the promise for the future, you can even grieve the version of yourself who tried so hard without reward, but you don’t have to grieve the reality.
Healing, for me, wasn’t a single moment. It was a slow rebuilding, a reclaiming of my voice and my worth. It was learning to release the guilt of believing in the false dream and instead choose to rewrite the narrative and recognize that sometimes the most painful endings are quiet beginnings.
And in that space, after the storm, after the heartbreak, I was finally ready to choose a life that chooses me back.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, the public version of me is real, but she’s a gentler, more edited version of who I truly am. At my core, I’m incredibly strong-willed, outspoken, opinionated and unafraid to say the thing everyone else is dancing around. But over time, I’ve learned that not every room can handle that level of directness, and not every situation benefits from my full intensity.
So, the public me is still me, just a little more measured, a little more refined. She’s thoughtful about when to step forward and when to step back. She chooses her words with intention. She reads the room. She practices restraint. Well…most of the time anyway. Nobody’s perfect.
But the fire, the conviction, the boldness? That’s always there. I’ve simply learned how to carry it with a little more grace as I’ve aged.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
Should I be so blessed as to leave a true legacy, I think the part people may misunderstand is the why behind everything I do. From the outside, it might look like ambition, aesthetics, or simply a love of fashion. But the truth is, my intention has always been rooted in something much deeper.
My “why” has never been about building a boutique for the sake of having a store or creating a brand just to make a name for myself. It has always been about helping women feel seen, valued, confident, and powerful in their own skin, because I know firsthand what it’s like to lose yourself, rebuild yourself, and learn to rise again.
People may misread my strength as hardness, when it’s really resilience. They may see the polished final product without understanding the purpose behind it, the intention to uplift, to inspire, to create a space where every woman feels worthy of beauty, comfort, and belonging.
They may not realize that every choice I make from the clothes I curate to the service I offer is about giving others what I wish someone had given me.
If anything is misunderstood, it will be the depth of that intention.
My legacy isn’t fashion, it’s empowerment.
The boutiques are just the vessel.
The why is the heart.
“If the only thing people could see about you were your intentions, would the world find you beautiful?” ~ Find Your Inner Empress
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fyieboutiques.com
Image Credits
Image Credit for toasting picture to Experience Butler County
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