Page 16 - BusinessWest July 11, 2022

Inc., a winner of BusinessWest’s Forty Under 40, Alumni Achievement, and Top Entrepreneur awards.
And Marion is rejoicing in both her success and business address.
“Being a woman in business at the Mill District has been very empowering,” said Marion, who sells mostly women’s clothing, but is hoping to expand her business to include male and non- binary clothing as well. “I have been a woman in business where I have been the only woman in the room and that can be very lonely and tough. At The Mill District, I’m surrounded by so many bad-ass, powerful women and I feel like I’m at home. It sounds corny, but it’s so true. I couldn’t have picked a better spot.”
Marion is one of many who expressed simi- lar sentiments — about both bad-ass, powerful women at The Mill District, and how that location has become a source of pride, inspiration, and
a growing list of success stories. And, about how much they like being part of all that.
Jessica Lavallee owns a Graze Craze location in
“The most difficult piece is getting people to take you seriously. Often when people approach me about my business, I start talking about numbers and research or all of
the effort I’ve put in to make this a successful venture.”
North Amherst, a charcuterie-style catering ser- vice for small or large crowds. It was founded by a single-mom, Air Force veteran in Oklahoma, and she expanded her stores to the Northeast, with the closest store to the North Amherst location being in Tennessee.
Lavallee is a single mother herself, trying to do more things that make her happy. “One of my favorite things to do is to entertain and make appetizer-like things, and charcuterie boards fit into that perfectly,” she explained. “As a woman business owner, this gave me the opportunity to have a corporation for support, but make things my own at the same time, and just kind of launch into this type of business.”
For this issue, BusinessWest talked to several business owners and managers at The Mill Dis- trict. Collectively, they touched on how they man- age to inspire each other, but also about the many challenges and hurdles facing women in business today.
Location. Location, Location
Because women are the natural caregivers for their children, society often forgets that they are a person outside of motherhood. Once their children are graduated and out of the house, the mother often starts experiencing empty-nest syndrome. Another individual who works at The Mill District decided she wasn’t going to be that woman.
Shannon Borrell is the store conductor of the General Store and local art gallery in The Mill Dis- trict. She explained that her job allows her to do many things around the store, such as a manage- rial role, building customer relations, putting up posts on social media, and event production for
the art gallery.
The General Store has the nostalgic feel of
an old general store. It sells a variety of items: household goods, gardening supplies, baking goods, children’s toys, art supplies, bulk candy by the pound, and more. The art gallery showcases art made by people within an hour of the store. Anyone that is interested can submit an online application and once their work is approved, they can rent the space by linear foot. Artists keep 80% of the commissions and the remaining 20% of
the proceeds goes back into the general store for classes that artists are interested in.
Borrell feels that now is the right time to focus on herself.
“I want to do something meaningful,” she said. “If you told me I was going to be working in retail and how you define that experience, I wouldn’t say that that was what I was doing. This space is more about creating community and bringing people together. It’s like retail with a mission — it’s art with an interest in community and getting people involved and an opportunity for more activity in this area.”
She said that working in the General Store and art gallery has challenged her in ways her previ-
Kayla Diggins, above, says she’s proud to be role model to young girls. At left, Jessica Lavallee with one of her charcuterie boards.
ous vocation didn’t. As a paraeducator, she wasn’t able to push the limit, as she called it. “There are no limitations in events or classes that the store wants to have, or how robust we want them to be.”
Another woman at The Mill District that is pushing the limits is Kayla Diggins. She owns an online clothing boutique named Harper James; she sells women’s clothing, accessories, jewelry, and handbags.
Diggins went to school for fashion merchan- dising and has wanted to start her own business since her first job in the wholesale side of the fashion industry. Even though COVID-19 hit, and she closed her shop for a few years, she felt it was time to reopen her boutique and give it another shot.
“It got to a point where I was thinking if I don’t try to do this now, I could regret this for the rest of my life,” she said. “In the beginning of the year, I hit the ground running — I got everything set up and started up again.”
Since starting her business, Diggins said she feels like she’s found her place in life despite the many ups and downs that are part and parcel to being an entrepreneur. Being in this season of life allows her to not only grow but be a mentor to her younger cousin who is following in her footsteps.
“It’s so empowering and I’m extremely proud to tell people that I own my own business — it bringsmealotofpride,alotofjoy,anditisa really tough thing to do,” she said. “It has its ups and downs but to be able to push forward and set new examples and standards is really exciting. My cousin is kind of in awe of what I’m doing. Being able to set that example and be a role model for someone that is younger and going through the same process means the world to me.”
Shauna Wallace, Interim Manager at the Gen- eral Store and local
art gallery, also feels empowered
Mill District
Continued on page 17
16 JULY 11, 2022
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
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