Fostering their passions and following their instincts, five Southern women pursue creative endeavors with business savvy that propels them to success. Learn about these wonderful Southern entrepreneurs featured in our January/February 2022 issue.
Riley Sheehey
Riley Sheehey
Falls Church, Virginia
A fun, fantastical view of the world translated into a business venture for Riley Sheehey, a Virginia educator turned multimedia artist and textile designer. Her journey began in 2014 with prints, wedding invitations, and other nuptial frills. Last year, she gave up the wedding arena to launch her first textile and wallpaper collection.
Emily’s Heirloom Pound Cakes
April McClung
Birmingham, Alabama
When the first bite of her family’s heirloom pound cakes made customers giddy time and time again, April McClung traded her successful career for a scratch-made venture. Flavors like melt-in-your-mouth Original, Lemon Blueberry, Key Lime, and Chocolate are sold by the slice, loaf, round, and even as colorful bite-size delights on a stick called Pound Pops.
Music City Suds
Rachel Mullen
Nashville, Tennessee
Born of Rachel Mullen’s struggle with sensitive skin, Music City Suds showcases homemade products dubbed with clever titles that have a distinct Nashville vibe. Wrapped in sheet music and titled with country ballad puns, the soaps get top billing with heady fragrances like lavender, citrus, rose, and mint. Rachel’s products also include bath soaks, bath bombs, and lip balms, with a new line of candles planned for 2022.
Nicola Bathie
Nicola Bathie
San Antonio, Texas
Finding inspiration in both the beauty of nature and enduring elements of style, Texas-based designer Nicola Bathie crafts jewelry that feels at once au courant and abiding. A stumbled-upon jewelry-making class influenced Nicola’s distinctive line of artful earrings that are embellished with floral elements, mother-of-pearl, gilded accents, and kaleidoscopic gems. Though earrings remain Nicola’s bread and butter, she offers a few coordinating items, like a new chinoiserie bracelet, and plans call for expanding the hand-sculpted potted papier-mâché blooms that spearheaded her Jewelry for the Home creations.
Lenora
Claudia Garrard
Columbus, Georgia
Setting out to help a designer market her line of ladies’ nightwear, Georgia shop owner Claudia Garrard came away with a partnership with Dina Yang and the beginning of a flourishing new enterprise—Lenora. The thriving online business sells handcrafted products, such as ladies’ nightwear, travel accessories, layette clothing, and gifts.
Read more about these inspiring women and their businesses in our January/February 2022 issue.
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