Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be.

Welcome to Boutique Chat, where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek.

We'll hear from product-based businesses of all types, retailers, e-commerce, and wholesale brands,

along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry.

I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the boutique hub, and I can't wait to chat.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the podcast this week.

I have been looking forward to this episode. I have to be

honest, Christy, when we get started, I hope everyone who is listening today is prepared for today

because this is going to be an episode that probably touches a lot of heartstrings in a very

deeply personal way. And it's also going to be very tactical. We're going to bring you both. We're going to bring you tactics and strategy, but also, I think, a bigger conversation that goes beyond business. So I'm so glad that you're here and willing to share your story and have this conversation with me. So let's jump right into it. Should we? I'm so excited when you invited me. Oh my gosh. Well, in case anyone doesn't know,

Christy was on stage at Summit doing a photography workshop, a posing workshop for photography,

and it was awesome. We had amazing feedback and review. So I'm so glad you did that. And then I was like,

okay, we're modeling this up. I loved it. Yes. It's going to be so good. All right, so let's get

into it. Take me back. You know, everyone has an origin story, how you were led to this industry. Where did it start for you? So I actually have a nursing degree. That's what I did by trade. And then I had, I always knew that I was supposed to be something artsy instead. But I grew up in the South. And my, it was back before the internet was really accessible to us.

And so my high school counselor was like, okay, girl, you are a good Southern Christian girl,

which one are you going to be a teacher or a nurse?

And I was like, nurse, I guess.

So I went to nursing school.

And I liked it and I was good at it, but it was not something that

like made me feel joyful. And then it was like super fulfilling for me. And so while I was at

the hospital that I worked at, I actually started a photography business. So that's kind of

where my background in photography comes in. I grew that business super fast. We were a six figure

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