Below is an excerpt of a lovely profile recently written about me and posted online at the Kappa Delta website. My thanks to writer Sherry Egan Anderson and The Angelos of Kappa Delta!
Soon after Michelle Avery Weston, Kappa Alpha-Florida State, launched her online boutique, she faced an unexpected challenge – the news that her husband, Gil, would be deployed to Afghanistan in less than 60 days. “Up to that point, we did not have any sort of child-care support, other than a baby sitter for the occasional date night, but when I learned of the deployment, I knew that I would need some serious help. Our children’s ages were then 4, 2 and 9 months!”
Michelle hired an au pair who lived with her family for the six months that Gil was overseas. This gave her some time during most days of the week to dedicate to her growing business, A Gracious Plenty. Today, Michelle works during the mornings when her children are at preschool and in the evenings or on weekends when Gil is available to help with their children. “Spousal support and understanding is essential,” she says.
Prior to starting their family, Michelle worked as a staff attorney for the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse, then as a program manager at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. She says, “When our first child was born, I switched from overseeing programs around the United States to a daily routine of Gerber, Pampers and Baby Einstein. It wasn’t long before I realized that I needed to find some way to exercise my mind and professional muscles while still being the primary caregiver for our son.”
Michelle says it took her a couple of years to figure out how she could make that a reality, and by then her second child was born. Shortly after she settled on her business concept and drafted a business plan, she learned her third child was on the way! “When our youngest was 6 months old, I started dusting off my business plan,” Michelle says. With her business finally launched, Michelle couldn’t let her husband’s deployment detour its progression. “I plan to continue this business for a long time,” she says. “I’ve got the marathon, not the sprint, mentality... and my first priority for the company is to provide personalized attention to every order to ensure a consistent level of quality services and products.”
Providing good customer service is what Michelle loves best about her business. She describes her previous professional work as “rewarding but emotionally draining.” Michelle says, “I still have a passion for child protection and crime victim advocacy, but for now I want to dedicate my emotional energy to my own young children. While I was itching to do something that would challenge my professional side, I also knew it had to be something fun and enjoyable – something lighthearted. I began focusing on creating a personalized gift boutique filled with great products that I would enjoy giving or receiving myself.”
The name “A Gracious Plenty” comes from a phrase used to denote abundance, most typically to convey that someone has received an abundance of something desirable, usually via the generosity of another. Michelle says, “Over the years, especially as my husband and children have entered my life, I have felt increasingly blessed from above with ‘a gracious plenty.’ Thus, this phrase has special meaning for me and was a sentiment I wanted to share with others through my business.” She adds,” It really brightens my day to hear the story behind the gift – a husband ordering matching monogrammed silver bracelets for his wife and newborn daughter, a sister ordering monogrammed barware to thank her older brother for taking her on a trip she could not have afforded herself – it’s impossible not to be uplifted!”
