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

Emily , appreciate you joining us 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.

Since I was a small child, my faith and entrepreneurship have overlapped. I always felt connected to a purpose bigger than myself and knew the creative arts and innovating ideas brought me great joy. I loved to sing, write music and poems while exploring how to make enough money so I could buy a vanilla Dr. Pepper down the street from my house. I enlisted my two younger siblings to help and sold repurposed toys and God-awful cookies to my retired neighbors.

Eventually I ended up at Baylor University pursuing a calling in ministry which naturally did not seem to be a “successful” attempt at earning a wage. My husband and I were in a Christian band that eventually led us to a conference in 2004 where I heard about women in the sex industry. Their stories changed my life. I had a salient moment where my calling became clear, I needed to know these women. Their stories included the thread of sexual abuse which was part of my childhood. I needed to learn from her, she had clues to my own story.

After walking alongside women in the sex industry for a decade and founding a non-profit to serve them, the glaring problem continued to be that 89% of women in commercial sex trade wanted out but had no means of survival. This had to change and I wanted our non-profit to be a part of the solution. In 2014 we gathered women in the industry to teach us about their hopes and dreams and how we could support them in a more tangible, sustainable way. Unequivocally, their response to our questions involved job training, livable wages and some even desired to start their own businesses.

So, in 2016 we launched Lovely Enterprises!

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?

Lovely Enterprises is a justice enterprise focused on giving survivors of exploitation and trafficking a livable wage job and micro loans. We sell only ethically sourced, socially responsible products that don’t harm people or the plant. Our products include handmade home, bath and body products as well as awareness apparel. Every product is survivor made, survivor paid in Waco, Texas.

We would distinguish our justice enterprise from a social enterprise because our workforce is made up of the women that our mission reaches. We are not a for-profit company who gives back a percentage and has a social impact. We are a non-profit program creating revenue and increasing the socioeconomic capacity for survivors of exploitation and trafficking.

Lovely partners with the Texas Workforce Commission as a safe haven and placement for women most vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Our staff not only includes survivor leaders but we are all trauma-informed and trained in TBRI (trust-based relational intervention) making a Lovely a therapeutic workplace for survivors to grow and develop.

Some of the most exciting things we’ve been a part of are watching survivors start their own businesses and helping them to grow and scale them. We leverage every connection and community resource we have available for their flourishing. Businesses like Luna Juice Bar and Waffle Chic Waco are a couple we have watched soar.

We’ve also been able to land wholesale accounts with Magnolia and other boutiques in town that wish to support justice for women through free enterprise.

However, I’m probably most proud of the way we continue to navigate hardships and continue to show up for each other and the vision. As we say in our manifesto “when you show up, you grow up.”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic really threw a wrench in our business plan. Suddenly, we could not sell at the pop-up markets planned and every retail storefront was shut down, making our wholesale options bleak. So, we did what every entrepreneur is wired to do – pivot….and FAST.

We created a hand sanitizer according to CDC guidelines with fragrant essential oils and healing aloe so not to dry out the skin. We also developed a lightweight hand oil with the same fragrance blend for all of the harsh hand washing effects. We called the fragrance HOPE and ordered beautiful Lovely Neighbor boxes that the sanitizer and oil could go in. Each Lovely Neighbor box included a set for you and a set to give a neighbor. We sold out! It was just what that time needed, a way to clean and connect in a safe way through the pandemic.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My husband and I work together on the vision and stewardship of Lovely. He is our non-profit CEO after I fired myself from that role. I needed more space to ideate, more autonomy to create and less day to day management especially concerning finances. Brett and I met singing in a Christian band at Baylor University. He was intense, passionate and everything in the late 90’s seemed to be of utmost urgency and importance. He had an entrepreneurial fire that I resonated with and he wasn’t afraid to take risks.

Our connection over faith drew us together, but our ability to collaborate and build things together seemed rare and special.

Some people can’t imagine working with their spouse, I can’t imagine any different. While we have learned to navigate the complexities of healthy boundaries and when to “turn off” work mode, it also feels really fun and natural to dream up ideas and innovative solutions together. We’re a great team!

Contact Info:

• Website: OurLovelyStore.com
• Instagram: @lovelyenterprises
• Facebook: Lovely Enterprises
• Other: @therealemily.mills

Image Credits
@lovelyenterprises @alexwolfphotography