Taylor Simmons, is the designer and owner of Coco Shop, a resort wear  clothing brand which was first established on the island of Antigua in 1949. Taylor relaunched the brand in 2019 carrying on the historical silhouettes and style and beautiful island prints that have  been so beloved by the island’s residents for over 75 years. She has recreated the entire operation in New York while holding onto the precious ties to the beautiful Antigua. We discussed the importance of just starting, buying back time with outsourcing, trademark lessons learned, and how to build confidence along the way. Like any company it was a good reminder that it takes time to build your product to perfection and it is always worth the wait! 

Based in Westbrook, Connecticut, Modatrova was founded by Caroline Barton in 2019 as an e-commerce destination for emerging designers. Caroline saw an opportunity to merge her love of fashion and travel to craft her own platform, creating a cohesive experience that gives shoppers that feeling of exploration from home. Today, Modatrova carries brands across clothing, jewelry, shoes, and accessories — dressing women for all of life's adventures.

Based in Columbus, Ga, Shuler Studio designs and crafts digital monograms for print and embroidery including fonts, monograms, & designs. It is owned and operated by mother daughter duo, Pam Shuler and Carolyn (Shuler) Bettin. Their shop opened in 2016 and their designs have been featured all over the world and they have also been featured in Traditional Home, Style Me Pretty, Martha Weddings, and Garden and Gun.

Based in Greensboro, NC, Morgan Hood and Ally Holderness launched Elliston House in early 2022 and are creating unique, custom textiles that not only sell to the trade but also to the end consumer. They have found a way to make interior design more accessible to a home owner. Elliston House makes it easy to achieve a timeless, yet curated look. Elliston House is a combination of Morgan and Ally’s unique styles, full of vibrancy and intentionality. My favorite line of Elliston House brand is, “All of our patterns are designed with YOU in mind - the savvy end-consumer who cares about their home, their family, and their style.” 

Elliston house’s mission is to bring some happy into the heart of your home - the true place where memories are made! 

Lux Perry is the founder and CEO of somedays, a company focused on period pain relief. Period pain impacted every aspect of Lux’s life from school and work to infertility and mental health. After 15 years of being dismissed by doctors Lux was finally diagnosed with endometriosis — one of the most painful diseases in the world and a leading cause of infertility that affects 1 in 10 women. Frustrated with the lack of resources and options available, Lux launched somedays in 2021 in Vancouver. Two years later and somedays is changing the way people manage period pain and has reached over 2.6 billion people with their viral activations to raise awareness for endometriosis and period pain.

Lux discusses the importance of finding the right sales and marketing strategy for your specific brand identity and the will to be committed to your business no matter who is telling you no. As she states," you have to believe in yourself to keep you  going one day at a time."

Tinsley Merrill Paul is the co-founder and CEO of Support HerStory, a social business and platform for women-led brands across the globe to share their stories and sell their luxury products. Based in Dallas, she along with Whitney Rowell, founder of Miracle Milkookies and Brittany Underwood, founder of Akola came together in 2020 during the pandemic to find a solution to better support women business owners. HerStory’s platform is now changing and shaping the narrative of empowering the future of woman leaders in retail. They represent over 250 brands that ultimately support each tother through HerStory's in person pop-up events and cross collaboration initiatives. Tinsley is full of wisdom when it comes to helping brands transform the customer journey, but also she is helping reveal the amount of impact these brands have transformed the lives of international artisan partners as well. 

Nancy Jarecki is the founder of bettybeauty, inc. in New York in 2006 with the innovative idea to develop color for “hair down there.” She got the idea after visiting a hair salon in Rome, Italy where she discovered an untapped market that women indeed were searching for ways to color match their hair down there and cover grays. She worked with medical professionals to develop a safe formula. The color product has received many innovative beauty awards and has been featured by Vogue, The Oprah Magazine, Forbes, The Doctors and more. The products are available both domestically and internationally at salons/spas, retail stores and online at bettybeauty.com and Amazon. Betty Beauty released a new survey that proves increasing male desire to groom in order to anti-age and boost confidence, and launched the new, first-of-its-kind Cover your gray™ - betty for men Facial & Body Hair Dye to meet this need. The company was also recently acquired by Fisk Industries.  "If you know there is a demand, work around the paths that don't work and figure out your own path." - Nancy Jarecki

Sallie Holder is an author, speaker, podcast host and business coach with a mission to support female entrepreneurs that are ready to  grow and scale their business. She wants to help more women become millionaires.  This final episode with Sallie explores the society constraints and challenges women face when it comes to fundraising or financing their business and how to counter objections during an investor pitch. Sallie walks through the female psyche and the best tactics and tools when it comes raising capital. She reminds us there are so many different ways to finance a business. You don't have to follow the Silicon Valley startup route - you can go the steady traditional route. Before asking for money, she also reminds us to have a clear personal vision, but also encourages that women need to think bigger and bolder. Sallie Holder lives in Greenville, SC but also has a residence in New York City.