A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION CHAMPIONING OUR LOCAL WOMEN IN BUSINESS. PHOTOGRAPY BY JESSICA WHITLEY.

A Girl Like Me Art
CEO, Owner and Artist
PO Box 154, Bolingbroke
478-394-3447
she@agirllikemeart.com
agirllikemeart.com

What is the mission of your business?
“A Girl Like Me Art” is built upon a belief and passion that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. I believe “girls can’t be what they can’t see,” so I intend to show them. I believe girls and women can be anything, but often they don’t know it because they haven’t seen it. My mission is to disrupt outdated gender roles by empowering young girls and women to define their own role in the world through inspiring artwork that shows them any dream is possible.

How has your business shifted because of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Fortunately, I exhibited at the Atlanta Mart in January 2020, just before COVID-19 hijacked our lives. I was able to secure 14 new wholesale accounts, which helped my business survive last year. As physical wholesale marketplaces closed, online marketplaces became the only game in town. “A Girl Like Me Art” is now in more than 30 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada. My art is exclusively available in Middle Georgia at Travis Jean Emporium. Owner Scott Mitchell did an outstanding job creatively ramping up his online sales, which benefited my brand as well.

What is the most gratifying part of your job?
I still get so excited when a young girl or woman connects with a piece of art that I created. I still do a happy dance every time I secure my art in another shop or gallery. I remember the first time a father bought a piece of art for his daughter to empower her to use her voice. I remember when a mother bought an original piece for her daughter because it brought her to (happy) tears. These are the most gratifying moments.

You might be surprised to know: Although I’m now an artist and business owner, I have zero training in art! I graduated from Georgia Tech and for more than 20 years, I was a robotics programmer and software developer in the Department of Defense industry working on classified weapon systems.

How can women better support each other?
Reach out to other women, share knowledge, promote other women and buy from other women-owned businesses.

How can men better support women business owners/leaders?
As cited in Forbes 2020, companies with a female founder performed 63 percent better than investments with all-male founding teams. Businesses founded by women deliver twice as much per dollar invested than those founded by men.According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, women spend about four hours a day on “unpaid” work (household chores and child care), compared with about 2.5 hours for men. Men can better support women business owners and leaders by recognizing and verbally applauding women’s accomplishments and value; integrating women leaders into the well-established “men only” networks; and doing an equal share of “unpaid” work.

Your advice for women wanting to start their own business in Macon?
Two words: just start! Even if you only have time to start a business as a side-hustle, if you have a dream and desire to start a business and you are committed to the hard work, just start. There are so many other women out there who will help and support you along the way.

How do you define success?
I believe success is different for everyone. I’m a very goal-oriented individual, so I always have goals that I’ve written down. For me, success is not just meeting those goals, but exceeding those goals.

What are you most excited about right now in our community?
I’m really excited about the growth in the downtown area. New shops are opening, art is popping up in new spaces, Erin from Mama Hawk Draws is painting our town in color, and there’s a contagious energy in downtown.

What has been the most challenging part of being a female business owner?
Since I retired a few years ago and started “A Girl Like Me Art,”the challenges associated with being a woman in business have decreased greatly. My previous career was in a primarily male-dominated environment; when I started in 1990, I was typically the only woman in the room. When I retired, I had a few more female professionals alongside me. Women are still judged differently than men, and women are still held to different standards.When a woman walks into a conference room, points are “deducted” simply because she is a women; when a man walks into that same conference room, points are “added” simply because he’s a man. Inequality is alive and well in too many spaces. That’s my experience.

I admire women who:Bravely push back against misogyny, who other women, who marched for our rights, who challenge the norms.

What was the best business advice you ever received?
“You are who you surround yourself with.” I’m sure my mom said this to me in some form when I was young. I know I said this to my daughter, probably too many times. But, I think it is so applicable to our professional lives as well. Another is,“Don’t ever write an email when you’re angry.” It almost never ends well.

I hope more women will: be empowered to create their own role in the world rather than allowing societal norms to define their roles.

Looking back, I wish I had known:How important it is to focus. My inherent self wants to do “all the things,” which doesn’t fare well when building a successful business. For me, focusing my energies on the right tasks that support my primary goal is a daily work-in-process.