We recently connected with Brandy Stone and have shared our conversation below.

Brandy , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The vision for Celestial Vista was created in bits and pieces and if I am being totally honest, its still sort of coming together. But from day one, the intention behind the space was very clear, and my husband and I allowed that intention to slowly take on a life of its own. I know that is super unconventional, and not the way most successful business owners would tell you to do it, but we both knew that if we could pace ourselves and allow things to unfold while continuing to move forward, we could create something truly amazing. Our intention is rooted in creating a deeper sense of community and connection in our area that is growing so quickly. The intention was created from the realization that because of the growth in this area, that closeness with neighbors is slowly going away. Events are huge and sometimes overwhelming, so the possibility of actually meeting new friends, has become a little challenging. We want to be a space that encourages people to slow down, be present, and intentional with their time. We plan on collaborating with other brands and businesses to curate cool experiences, opportunities to discover new art or music, and get to k now the people around you. Adding a coffee shop into the space, only made sense once that vision started to come light. A space that builds community, creates connection, and feels a little bit like home.

Brandy , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Celestial Vista has been a vision that sort of ebbed and flowed until the picture of her became clear. Having three kids, my husband and I put a lot of thought into the mark we wanna leave on the world, and the impact we want to have. This space really represents that. Family, community, bringing people together, joy….the parts of life that are incredibly important, but we sometimes forget because our day to day grind takes over and we get little lost in it. This space is about showcasing, and reminding others about what it is that really makes life magical, and we wanna do that through the events we create, host, and the overall vibe when you walk through our doors. We will have a coffee shop called Sonder, bourbon tasting events, music, and unique pop up experiences just to name a few things. This space is really focused on collaborating with other brands as well, because co creating with people you vibe with means you can make something even cooler than what you could do alone. Ive got a 6 foot whiteboard at home with all of the fun and unique ideas we want to bring to life here, so just you wait. I guess at the core of it all, our goal is to be a gentle reminder of the beauty of life, and to create a name for ourselves as a space that makes you feel it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

This answer is going to be unconventional, but its going to be honest. When it comes to business and social media. throw the rules out, drop the perfection, and just start putting it out there. I think the number one mistake businesses make on socials, is to try to create the illusion of being perfect and having it all together. No one does. Period. And the more relatable a business owner is, the more people want to do business with them or at least give them a shot. I posted my first tik Tok for Sonder, the coffee shop piece of the space, and had a messy bun, and old tshirt on. It went viral. Pure luck. Once I had the attention, I went out of my way to talk about our vision, share the hard parts of it, and just be myself on there….and it works. We are constantly growing in followers, because I am an average person, being real, and honest, and talking about our hopes and dreams. Doing the trends is fun and there is def a time and a place, but not underestimate the power of just showing up on social media and being REAL. I think that in the end, that’s where true customers and clients will be found.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I can tell you that nothing about this dream of ours has been easy. We have gotten this far because we have found all of the ways that don’t work when it comes to getting a business going. Lots of failing forward, stress, worry, tears, questioning if we could really make this happen, its all part of the journey. I feel like chasing your dream and starting a business, is lifes opportunity to throw some growth your way. Social media loves to glamorize entrepreneurship and how magical it is, but it takes a lot of work to get to that magical part. We feel like we are slowly starting to see things come together for us, but resilience is the only reason we have gotten this far. A few months ago we thought we might have to give the barn up completely, and that all of the money and hard work we put into it so far was just going to be wasted. We had been jumping through hoops to get the coffee shop finished, and hit a point where we could not afford to have another setback. We had nothing left to give. Luckily we had people in our life that helped us find a way to keep pushing forward, and we were able to overcome some of those hurdles. It just strengthened our belief that having people in your life that support you and wanna see you win is something to be really grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.celestialvistatx.com
• Instagram: sondercoffeelounge
• Other: tik tok: sondercoffeelounge