We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maari Simcox. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maari below.

Maari, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

I opened my gift shop in November 2020 (yes, in the middle of the pandemic). It was a dream of mine as a child to own my own boutique, and I felt called that now was finally the time. Our opening day was the day we found out that America would have its first female vice president, which felt like absolute kismet for us given the fact that all of our products are made by women/women-owned companies. The past two years were a dream. The most magical dream. We welcomed tourists and residents alike into our positive, joy-filled, empowering shop full of inspirational trinkets. We held events like “Momsgiving” which was a shopping event that helped raise funds for the local preschool, Galentine’s Day, Luminary in December, and so much more. And then, Hurricane Ian struck in September 2022 and took the shop away from us (for now, anyway). It has been the most heartbreaking experience. We have had to clean out the moldy shop, throwing away more than half of our inventory, and had to watch the walls get cut and the floors ripped out. The shop that was once filled with so much joy now looked like a ghost. Luckily, we were able to pivot and our online sales and social media presence have been stronger than ever. It’s of course, not the same. With that said, the mission of our store has not changed. We are still lifting others up and empowering women across the world, whether we have our physical store or not. We have survived opening up a store in a pandemic, and we will survive a category 5 hurricane. One of the products we sold in our shop was a journal and the cover reads: “There is no such thing as failure. There is only learning. Sometimes you end up learning what not to do and that’s okay. And sometimes what seems like a terrible failure will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you: even better than you could have imagined. So freaking relax already.”

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?

My name is Maari Simcox and I am the proud owner of Priscilla’s of Sanibel, Nellie’s of Palm Springs and Elizabeth’s of Aspen. Priscilla’s of Sanibel is our online and retail shop located in Sanibel, FL and Nellie’s and Elizabeth’s are both online only. All of our products are made by women/women-owned companies. We believe that all women and girls have stories to tell, and big dreams to achieve. Our empowering gifts support self-care, lift each other up, and remind us of all that we can do. I am an old soul, inspired by the many women before us, and with us, who have worked so hard so that we can all enjoy this beautiful place on Earth. We moved to Sanibel, FL in August 2020 and I opened the retail shop in November 2020. Priscilla’s is named after Priscilla Murphy, the first realtor on Sanibel. She moved to the island in the 1940s from Michigan, and opened up the first real estate office on island in the early 1950s. She was a true trailblazer and was called the “Queen of Sanibel.” She is my inspiration and my muse. In addition to Priscilla’s, we have launched two online shops “Nellie’s of Palm Springs,” named after Nellie Coffman, dubbed the “Mother of Palm Springs” and Elizabeth’s of Aspen, named after Elizabeth Paepcke, nicknamed the “Dame of Aspen.” Our mission has always been to spread joy first and foremost. After leaving my corporate job in October 2020, I wanted to be sure that all of our products inspired our customers to dream big and take leaps of faith. Since opening up our shop, we have heard so many heartfelt stories from women who have come to our shop and then took a risk, quit their job and tried something new, stood up for themself in a situation, stopped doing something that was harming them, and so much more. Stories like these are what give us and our brand life. We are so proud of the joy that this shop has given to so many. Our shop muses were all trailblazers who took big risks despite many others telling them that it would never work, and look at what they accomplished! That energy can be felt immediately when visiting our store or scrolling our Instagram pages. We hope that you feel a little more inspired after hearing our story today.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A big lesson I had to unlearn was to stop taking the linear path of life, and to trust that everything was happening as it should. Despite my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, I felt that I had to do the path of least resistance, otherwise I was “irresponsible.” This meant going to college, getting a corporate job, leaving every few years in order to “climb the ladder” and keep going until retirement. While I’m certainly not bashing that life path, I simply knew that that path wasn’t me. I wish I could go back and tell the teenage me that college isn’t necessary, and that it’s OK to not play it safe. I also had to unlearn that the linear path of life was safe, and everything else was risky. When I decided to open up my shop, all of the stars aligned. I had no idea what I was doing — I had never opened a boutique before. And yet, everything aligned. The people who could help me with merchandising showed up for me. The experts in financial and legal appeared. The mentors. The customers. The landlords. The community. Every door opened and kept opening, and that is when I knew that I needed to trust that everything was happening as it should. I learned that the linear path of life only looks safe on paper. The zig-zagging entrepreneurial side is scary at first, but when it’s meant to be, I promise that you are divinely protected. I am experiencing this now after losing our physical shop in Hurricane Ian. I’ve even considered going back to corporate until my shop can reopen! The path is not linear, and that is OK. I trust that I am exactly where I am meant to be, and that it’s ok to pivot, to zig, to zag, to take a risk that looks scary on paper but feels right in your heart. Whenever your heart and your soul is talking to you, you must listen.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honesty. Authenticity. Positivity. Our shop became a destination for people to come visit and connect, not only to shop and buy products. Our mission was to bring joy to customers first, and the rest would follow. You can feel this energy the moment you walk in the shop. We would have customers on vacation for a week and we would see them three times. We are passionate about our mission, and the history of the women who inspired these brands, which helps build trust for our customers. They see that our shop is more than a shop. It is an inspirational platform for people to feel valued, loved, heard, connected, safe, empowered.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Priscillasofsanibel.com, www.nelliesofpalmsprings.com, elizabethsofaspen.com
• Instagram: @priscillasofsanibel @nelliesofpalmsprings @elizabethsofaspen
• Facebook: @priscillasofsanibel @nelliesofpalmsprings @elizabethsofaspen