Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to T. McCall Stern. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

T. McCall, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I started my law practice in 2014 while caring for my great-grandfather and raising two young children. That experience shaped my commitment to helping families navigate transitions through estate planning, business law, guardianships, and fiduciary matters. In 2016, my own health challenges shifted me from caregiver to patient. After months of specialists and testing, the diagnoses were uncommon and offered few traditional treatment options. I learned to adapt and turned to holistic practices like yoga and natural wellness. By 2019, I was creating skincare products for myself, family, and friends—the early seeds of what would become Hippie Gypsy of MS, LLC.

Although COVID and the demands of my legal practice delayed my launch, the dream never left. In 2024, a brain cancer diagnosis turned my world upside down. During treatment, holistic practices not only aided my recovery but also allowed me to encourage other patients—one radiologist even told me, “You take the fear out of fighting.”

This journey inspired me to embrace creativity more fully. I began writing a devotional memoir, creating healing art, and formalizing my vision for Hippie Gypsy. With a 1-, 3-, and 5-year plan in motion, I am now preparing to launch hippiegypsyms.com within the next two months. After years of refining products, labels, and quality standards, I’m finally ready to share this dream—a brand born from resilience, faith, and the belief that beauty and healing can rise from life’s hardest battles.

T. McCall Stern, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an attorney, natural-wellness entrepreneur, and watercolor artist based in Mississippi. Life’s path is never a straight line. However, the greatest blessings and meaningful growth are often born in times of trial. My experiences reshaped how I work and create: I value integrity over appearances, faith over fear, and action over excuses. We all hold the power to choose—will pain and the actions of others stand as a blockade, or will we till the soil and let them become the fertilizer from which true beauty and growth take root?

Legal Practice:
My private practice focuses on estate and business law, where clients entrust me with protecting their families, businesses, assets, and legacies. I honor that trust through precise legal strategy and plain-spoken guidance, helping people make confident decisions and avoid the costly pitfalls of poor planning. My firm’s tagline, ‘Wisdom, Justice, Equity,’ inspired by Proverbs 1:1, captures my mission: to deliver clear counsel, ethical advocacy, and sustainable solutions.

Hippie Gypsy MS, LLC: Healing + Beauty + Art
Hippie Gypsy MS, LLC grew out of my love for natural wellness and art. It’s a Southern-boho brand offering handcrafted skincare, essential-oil blends, and inspirational artwork. Whether it’s a botanical face cream, a devotional, or a transformation-inspired art series, each creation shares the same purpose: to bring healing and beauty into everyday life.

Products & Services: Essential-oil skincare lines (signature scents like Mississippi Rain and Gypsy Dusk), natural body care, and limited-edition art prints for homes, yoga studios, and galleries.

Problems We Solve: We give customers clean, effective self-care alternatives and artwork that invites calm and spiritual reflection. For retailers and wholesalers, we provide distinctive, high-margin products with a clear story and cohesive aesthetic.

What Sets Me Apart
Integration. Most people see law, wellness, and art as separate lanes. I see them as one mission: helping people build stable and meaningful lives and to be intentional about the legacy they leave behind. My legal clients appreciate that I bring the same creative problem-solving and strategic rigor to their cases that I bring to designing a wellness line or creating art.

What I’m Most Proud Of

Resilience: Turning a cancer diagnosis into a catalyst for a fuller life.
Legacy Work: Guiding families through estate planning so they can leave clarity instead of chaos.
Community & Craft: Launching a brand that celebrates natural beauty, spiritual depth, and Southern artistry.

What I Want Readers to Know
Hippie Gypsy isn’t a hobby or sideline to my law firm. Both are intentional ventures grounded in the same purpose: faith, strategy, and creative forward-thinking. Whether you need airtight legal counsel or a handcrafted product that elevates your daily rituals, you’ll find the same core values in my work: authenticity, meticulous quality, and a belief that beauty and justice belong in the same story.

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

<span style=”white-space-collapse: collapse;”><b>Truth is often stranger than fiction. I sometimes joke that I was “sold in the classifieds and traded for a set of tires”—and, strangely, that isn’t far from the truth. </b></span>At three years old, my guardian angel Gloria came to buy a refrigerator from a woman who had packed its contents into an ice chest. She learned it wasn’t being sold to upgrade—but to afford food. When Gloria realized I was set to be surrendered to DHS the next day, she didn’t hesitate. She called her daughter and gave her an address to come to declaring, “Congratulations—you’re a mother.” Her unstoppable spirit is a lesson I hope to pass on. Her swift action altered the course of my life. She was not going to let something as little legal paperwork stand in her way. She had claimed me as her own — the rest of the world could catch up later.
A beautiful story and lesson– but also the root of a lie I carried unknowingly for years. When the time came to make the adoption legal, my biological mother asked for money. Uncomfortable about giving her cash, she ultimately received a new set of tires- her price to sign me away. Before I had words for abandonment, my heart had memorized its weight.
I was rescued, but I was also given away—and both can be true. The silent belief that settled in my bones was that love must be earned. I became a perfectionist, overachieving to keep connection, quietly fearing I could be passed on again. It wasn’t until adulthood that I realized this lie was buried in my subconscious. That was only the beginning. It took years to walk through the process of unlearning that lie and discovering a deeper truth: love is not a wage; it’s a gift. I didn’t need to perform for acceptance or rewrite my beginning—I needed to reclaim it.
Today I parent, practice law, and build Hippie Gypsy from a place of security instead of striving. That shift—knowing I was never a mistake and that worth isn’t performance-based—has changed how I love, create, and lead. And it’s given me the freedom to help others believe they, too, are worthy of love exactly as they are.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Competence. Integrity. Commitment. I’ve built my reputation on those three pillars.

Competence – Whether I’m drafting a complex estate plan, negotiating a business reorganization, or formulating a new essential-oil blend for Hippie Gypsy, I don’t take shortcuts with quality. Clients and customers trust that I do the homework, master the details, and deliver work that stands on its own merit.

Integrity – I don’t play games with people’s money, time, or emotions. In law, that means honest counsel—even when it’s not what someone wants to hear. In business, it means clean ingredients, transparent pricing, and art that stays true to my vision instead of chasing trends.

Commitment – I show up and follow through. Surviving brain cancer taught me that consistency matters more than perfection. Whether guiding a family through probate, building a wellness brand from the ground up, or parenting my three kids, people know I keep my word.

Those three qualities—competence, integrity, and commitment—form the through-line from my personal story to my law practice to Hippie Gypsy. They’re why clients, collaborators, and customers return and refer others.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hippiegypsyms.com
• Other: www.mccallstern.com