We were lucky to catch up with Sophie Nevel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophie, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I am the owner and founder of Maple & Co. your one stop shop for all things vintage and antique home decor. We currently have an online shop on Etsy where you can find us @shopmapleandco and at a small booth space in Alpharetta, GA at Queen of Hearts Antiques and Interiors.

Maple & Co. was named after my beautiful little cat, Maple. I was someone that grew up with dogs and a month before my wedding my husband and I spontaneously decided to adopt a cat. I am now a changed woman and am full in on the crazy cat lady life style. In the least dramatic way possible, Maple changed my life so when I began dreaming of having my own business I knew I had to name it after her, Maple & Company. She is always right by my side regardless of what I’m doing.

I have big plans for Maple and Co. and one of my goals is to eventually partner or collaborate with cat specific adoption or fosters and be able to donate a percentage of sales or have pop up shops.

Sophie, 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?

I fell in love with antique shopping and thrifting at a very young age. Some of my fondest memories are weekends spent in and out of flea markets and antique stores with my mom.

When I moved into my first home with my husband, I felt our modern home was missing something so I started sourcing specific vintage and antique pieces for our home. I love the way that incorporating these elements aged our space the right amount and added much more character and charm to our home.

Although my personal style will continue to evolve as we move and grow, my dream is to make my style accessible to others. Maple & Co. is a carefully curated selection of finds for the modern home; however, I am a firm believer that regardless of your personal style, Maple & Co. will have a little something for everyone.

One of my main goals with Maple and Co. is simple: to have a little something for everyone. My in store product prices range from $10- $1,000 and I strongly believe there is something for everyone in my shop. Whether you are just starting your collection of vintage items or are sourcing a specific trendy table you saw on Instagram, Maple & Co. is here to help you out. I want to make my style accessible to everyone while also providing pricing that works for everyone’s unique budgets.

As someone that is very involved in the ever changing world of social media, I do find myself keeping up with all the home decor trends and another goal of mine is to bring that to my shop. I spend a lot of time researching and sourcing to find the best items but also the items that are trending.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When it comes to jobs, I’ve sort of been all over the board, but creativity has been at the core of everything I do whether that be fashion, interior design, or graphic design.

I have a degree in graphic design and in college I ran social media accounts for a local pizza shop and local yoga studio. I was sure I would have my own marketing business one day, however when I graduated college I got a retail job at an clothing store and started as a stylist and worked my way to a small management role. After my time there, I used my graphic design knowledge along with my social media knowledge and took that with me to working for an Interior Designer, it was there that I really learned that I ultimately wanted to work for myself and run my own social media accounts.

I ended up taking 6 months off of work all together after I left the interior designer. I was battling some mental health struggles and those 6 months are when I fully developed my Maple & Co. concept and applied for a booth at my local antique store. I launched Maple & Co on Etsy first and then I was accepted into the antique store later that year in February.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Social media is an amazing but a very frustrating tool. With my following on my personal account, a lot of people became invested in me and my business, so when I launched Maple & Co. I had a decent base of friends and family already supporting. From there I became internet friends with a lot of the other folks that have booths at the same antique store so we all began following and supporting each other.

TikTok has been a surprisingly amazing and unexpected marketing tool for me. I share a lot more bts videos of sourcing for my shop and what it’s like owning a small business. This has sent a lot of people from TikTok to my shopmapleandco Instagram page.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/shopMapleandco?fbclid=PAAaYLI9CV6NidnjyoUvsboKOF9hfD0BXb6jgPSF5EwTvUTqelHHp67KwPc5A_aem_AQrcLrVK-n4QXh46iv_Sp1HJz_sdS1a6JcctbTprgK29z0VAsRvoDbWKG4PGZlyHcFo&load_webview=1&bid=URtr2i7tvGXIlBRM0If1fVU8UL2b
• Instagram: @shopmapleandco @sophielnevel
• Other: TikTok @sophielnevel