We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Maniscalco a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ashley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Sunflower & Sundries was started by Ashley Maniscalco as an outlet to help her grieve with the tragic loss of her Mother, Janet. Her Mom would always sing “You are my Sunshine” and sunflowers reminded her of her Mom. Ashley has always had a desire to help others and hopes that Sunflower & Sundries will radiate that light, love, and natural goodness into the lives of her customers. Her products are made from non-toxic, sustainably sourced, quality ingredients, and are handcrafted with love.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ashley Maniscalco has spent her career in Hospitality so she has a passion for taking care of others. She wanted to create beautiful products that were also made with good ingredients. The want to make better and non-toxic products remains one her top priorities. She ensures she is sourcing ingredients sustainably, locally when possible and using non-toxic and organic raw ingredients to make safe, healthy and lovely products for her customers. She loves giving back to her community and donates or gives to important causes. She really enjoyed building and developing meaningful relationships with her customers. She loves the freedom, creativity and individuality that being a small business owner provides.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Ashley has a tough background and story and in many ways has showed resislancy throughout it. Three years ago she became a kidney donor for her brother. It was a beautiful gift of love and life she was able to give to her brother. However, there were many health, financial, emotional and business setbacks for this chapter in her life. In many ways, she credits her business for helping her through this time and used the experience to make even better products. Though she has some health challenges she used this to make better, cleaner and safer products. A year later she was close to getting ready to launch in Eclectic and her backpack was stolen thay had all her business information, recipes, keys, laptop and many other personal items in it. She had to completely rebuild her business in many ways and start from scratch with recipes. She used this painful experience to develop better recipes. With the support of friends and family she was able to get into Eclectic 6 months later!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I am fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people. I would say Colorado Springs is truly full of an incredible small business community. Being part of Eclectic connects me to 150+ small businesses and I feel I have grown customers through that amazing support system. I enjoy doing Markets and have created great new relationships or new customers that way as well. I am really grateful for the amazing customers and supporters I have!      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sunflowerandsundries
• Facebook: Sunflower & Sundries
• Other: I am not able to do this full time yet so focus on social media, in-person retail and markets

Image Credits
Photo of me with umbrella by @myname.is.dj