We were lucky to catch up with Paige Sullivan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Paige, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Thankfully, (now) I’m able to earn a full-time living from my creative work + support others along the way. I wasn’t always able to do this… I’ve been very familiar with working many jobs at the same time in order to support myself while nurturing my true passions: sewing, fashion, business. From a business/leadership maturity standpoint, I think the timing of my career happened the way it should have.
I’m able to multi-taste, appreciate really hard work + Identify lazy when I see it!
The short version of my journey is this:
-I majored in fashion design + retail management at Syracuse University as a D1 (walk-on) field hockey player (got a full ride + was an All-American by my junior year!)
-My junior year (summer) I interned for Anthropologie + Revman International in NYC while waitressing in Hoboken. (I’ve always been a hustler)
-After graduation, I got a job as a visual assistant at Anthropologie in Wayne, PA + had a part-time job (30hours) at Cheesecake factory at the same time. I did this for 7 years, while dreaming + planning for my own business.
-Over those 7 years at Anthro, I became a store opener country wide, visual manager, online stylist + employee trainer.
-After the hours became too much, I consolidated my jobs and became the General Manger for a well-known Philadelphia restaurant, White Dog Cafe.
-I stayed there for 5 + years and simultaneously worked on building my own brand + started selling my work at art shows on my days off from the restaurant.
-In 2015, I opened Christine Shirley Sewing & Design Studio in Wayne, PA. I stayed at White Dog for a while as I opened and ran my own business…
– …There is a lot more, I’m just I’ll be able to cover it in the next questions!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My official business started in 2008-2009 with me sitting at the kitchen table sewing little clutch purses. Well, this was when it became something “real”. My hustle actually started at 9 years old… I made scrunchies and sold them at yard sales! Bless my parents!
I was selling the clutch purses out of a plastic ziplock bag in my apron while working at Cheesecake factory in 2009-2010. Once I realized people liked my work, I started selling at outdoor craft/art shows. Working full-time jobs at the same time only allowed me the freedom to moonlight and still work shows on my days off. My ultimate goal was to open a creative studio space where I would teach adults and kids how to sew. This space would have a small shop/studio space to be creative and teach. I could still do the outdoor markets to sell and promote my work.
Fast forward to 2023 and I now have 2 sewing studios where we teach 100’s of kids/adults each year, a sold out summer camp program, 2 women’s stores, a full calendar of art/retail shows all over the country + 15+ employees! Dina, my best friend and I share each space. She has an office in each location and we have a sewing studio and shop. She’s a counselor + I’m a seamstress. We always say we’re offering all kinds of therapy: real therapy, retail therapy, art therapy and the occasional liquid therapy!
I’m proud of a lot. I’m really proud of how I treat my customers and employees. I spent many years working for various personalities and I am thrilled I get to nurture an environment I always wanted to have. I’m proud of my creativity in how to problem solve and evolve. I take it all as a challenge and when business gets hard, it’s a perfect time for my competitive nature to shine. I’m proud of “raising” some of my students. I have interns, teachers and assistants that I was mentoring and teaching when they were 9… they are now going to college!! We are teaching the life long skill of sewing, and people really love it. They feel accomplished, proud and excited at what they can make. This makes me happy!
My boutiques are where I really shine + feel continued success. (They are next to, or in each of the sewing studios) Let me explain what we do with the shops.
While sewing masks all day during the pandemic in March 2020 (we sold 18,000 to 48 states and 4 countries while I had a broken hand from a head-on car accident!) I brainstormed a lot about what business would look like in the future. An idea developed for the boutique that was unique and ingenious: create an entirely new space every single month by flipping the whole store, top to bottom. And that’s exactly what we did in 2021 and continue to do as of today!
The designs include ever changing paint colors and wallpaper on every wall, hand-sewn display, handmade installations, apparel, home goods, and a distinct motif every month. We’ve executed themes like: a farmer’s market, butterfly herb garden, Nantucket, candyland..etc.. at this point I think we’re on theme #26! Scroll through our insta and you’ll see them all!
The idea soared and our customers love it. The monthly shopping event that lasts only six days per month requires two hundred hours of work by my team. The space transforms before our eyes into a curated shopping experience. Customers return regularly to witness the imaginative artistic displays, and have become some of our sweetest friends.
We never thought there’d be a silver lining so spectacular as this to Masking America (what we called the 65 straight days we worked during 2020 to make masks, and preserve the business). Each month we look forward to our shopping event and customers’ reaction to the changes. We’re so grateful this concept has been our most successful endeavor yet!
We’ve got a lot happening. It gets confusing for people to understand, but it all works!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn a lot. 1.
All debt is bad + risk is not good. I purchase goods with my own money, buy supplies with my own money, payroll comes from my bank account + all bills leave my checkbook. I have no investors, no massive lines of credit + no spouse paying my mortgage.
Of course, there is going to be debt as a result. The goal is to be a debt free company, but I’m not there yet. I had to “un-fear” myself. I am not risk adverse and I’m not a fearful person. But, I did grow up in a community and environment where most people are/were. I had to be honest with myself often and remind myself that I am not innately this way + other peoples doubt, fear and way of living didn’t have to be mine. I’m confident in my gifts, extremely resourceful , a hard a** worker…failure wasn’t an option!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My original mission, which continues to fuel me is: ” be who I needed when I was younger”. I found a magazine clipping that said this, and it became my life mission many years ago.
I was an interesting kid. I would say I was the “most popular unpopular kid”. I was class president, but had no friends. I was incredibly focused, intense, competitive, opinionated and passionate. Many of those qualities are helpful as an adult, but isolated me as a kid. I loved all things creative, took class projects to the next level, made my own clothing, started charities, loved mission trips + often felt left out of everything social.
Now, I’m appreciative for those experiences. As a result, I never feel left out and never have fomo. I’d say I’m an “extroverted introvert”. I like to be alone, but I love to be with people too. I include people, but don’t get my panties in a bunch when I’m not invited. I am an athlete, but also creative. I use all of this to help our young students love and appreciate who God created them to be. Whether peers like it or not, they are special and unique and they don’t have to be “one thing, or another”. Kids need mentors now more than ever. I’m happy to be that for them. I also love encouraging women. We are all a product of our experiences and I love to use my own wisdom and life’s experiences to be a bright spot in theirs. I’ll cheer your on, keep you accountable if you want me to, and ask you more questions than you expect.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.christineshirleydesigns.com
- Instagram: @ChristineShirleyDesigns
- Facebook: Christine Shirley Designs