The suggestion of, “Hey, let’s do a fashion show,” by Hite turned into a biannual fashion show, which happens every spring and fall, started with a desire to do something with other businesswomen.
The Spring Fashion Show is a brunch on March 8 at Basil’s that features women modeling clothing styles from Sara’s House and hair and makeup styles from BeYoutiful Salon.
The Journal-News is featuring women in business in a monthly profile to showcase the talent in Butler County.
The three Hamilton businesswomen said “giving up” is not an option and they always are looking at ways to improve their businesses.
“What works one year may not the next. You just constantly have to re-evolve and adjust,” Hite said if something isn’t working, or isn’t working anymore.
Vallandingham uses the term pivot when changing directions. Thompson says merge.
“Forget the phrase, ‘This is always how we’ve done it.’ That needs to be eliminated from your vocabulary,” Thompson said, who brought BeYoutiful Salon from Fairfield to Hamilton seven years ago because of the changes happening in the city.
Besides having an intestinal fortitude to push on, Thompson said to be successful in anything, “You better have a real strong ‘why.‘”
“When that tank is empty, and that ‘why’ doesn’t give you the fuel, you will run out of gas real quick‚” said Thompson, who said she has a personal “no-quit policy.”
Collaboration contributes to part of their “why,” they said.
When things get stressful, Vallandingham and her daughter, Maria, who runs the store with her, will always come back to the question, “Where’s the fun? Not that’s your driving force, but when all the joy is gone, you can only go so many days, so many weeks, months in that mindset.”
Stress often comes when the economy isn’t the greatest. Hite said, those are the times “you have to re-invent yourself.”
“You got to constantly be working at new things,” she said.
The fashion show event developed organically, Vallandingham, who brought Sara’s House to Hamilton from Bridgewater Falls a little more than 10 years ago. She said that’s probably why it has become popular as it has grown each of three previous times it was held.
“Day in and out, each of us are pushing hard to keep the machine of our own businesses going,” said Vallandingham, a Nashville native. ”This is one of our opportunities where we each get to bring our best of what we do, and create something bigger. It really seems to have hit a nerve in terms of something what women want to do.”
Thompson, who opened BeYoutiful 13 years ago after two bad experiences working for others, embraces the support the others provide, and said that’s really the vibe in Hamilton. It’s more common to find businesses in Hamilton, she said, lifting other businesses and collaborating than most other places.
“We see stuff like this all the time. A ton of collaborative stuff. It’s a thing in Hamilton to collaborate with other businesses, to try to engage the community,” Thompson said.
While this spring fashion show event has a direct benefit for the three involved business, they all said it’s also giving back to the community by creating an event that brings people into the city’s core, and that has a positive economic impact.
Hite, who previously worked at Courtyard by Marriott on Riverfront Plaza before being named Basil’s general manager eight years ago, said it took a while to build the restaurant’s Saturday and Sunday brunch offering, but as the fashion show events gain popularity, so are Basil’s weekend brunches as Sundays are almost as busy as Fridays nights at times.
“You get what you give,” said Vallandingham, who runs Sara’s House with her daughter, Maria. “When you can lean on other women, you can give to other women or business owners, and really just develop this mindset of sometimes your the giver and sometimes you’re the receiver, and sometimes you’re both.”
LEADING LADIES OF BUTLER COUNTY
This is the first in a series of stories featuring women in Butler County who shape their communities. These stories will feature women who are leading small, business and large businesses, institutions, and organizations. To nominate someone, email mike.pitman@coxinc.com
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