Lilly Life

This section of my blog covers all things Lilly in my life!! I manage a Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store in Asheville, NC called Palm Village! I started my journey with Lilly by happenstance when I was working in Property Management – a career in which I spent the first 16ish years of my professional life. I was working at a property undergoing a HUGE renovation in Rock Hill, SC as the Leasing Manager. I was sitting at my desk when our rep from Apartments.com walked through the door to go over analytics for our property on their website and see if we needed anything from them. We went over everything and started chatting about other things. Through our conversation, she told me she had recently left the Lilly Pulitzer store in Charlotte at the SouthPark Mall, as the Store Manager, and thought I would fit in nicely with the team there and I would make a great Lilly Girl! (insert starry-eyed emoji) We talked about her time there, some of the team members and how great they are! At this time, we had a few changes coming up for our family that would end up bringing us to Western North Carolina. My husband was currently the Kitchen Supervisor at the Ritz Carlton in uptown Charlotte, but was going to have a wonderful opportunity presented to him that would eventually move us away from Rock Hill. I was also feeling a little disheartened with my position at that property and decided to take a look at the job posting for the Lilly store. I educated myself on the culture of the brand and the story behind it all and fell in love immediately! Ryan ended up getting that call and went to the Grove Park Inn for a tasting that would land him a job almost immediately (he’s very talented). This brought in an opportunity for me to step away from Property Management and follow a new path to a Sunny State of Mind! I started working at Lilly shortly after that and found that so many of my talents from Property Management were very applicable with Lilly and knew the change in career was the right move!! I was able to exercise my love of sales AND help amazing ladies find beautiful new pieces for their wardrobe that made them feel amazing and confident! I was completely hooked and found myself wanting more in this career path! That opportunity would come to me shortly after our move and eventually became one of the reasons you are here reading this, right this second!! During my time in Charlotte, my love of the brand continued to grow and I decided to reach out to the Signature Store in Asheville so I could continue my work with Lilly Pulitzer. I met the manager and told her our plans and asked if she could use a PT employee and eventually interviewed and got the job! We eventually settled into our home in the mountains of Western North Carolina several months later. The move took place in early April 2019, after a 5 month renovation on our home in RH, but it was well worth the wait! Spring was starting to show its beauty and the mountains were a beautiful green! The home we purchased is on 30+ acres of land, allowing plenty of space for our farm!! It was destiny! I took a couple weeks to settle our family into our new place before starting at Palm Village, but once I walked through the doors I knew I was where I was supposed to be! The vibe was completely “Asheville,” very laid back and colorful, the team was very welcoming and eager to learn about my time in Charlotte, and I hit the ground running! I would eventually take over social media for the store, learn more about metrics and “behind the scenes” operations for the store, get promoted to Assistant Manager in October 2019, and in November 2019 I would step into a new position as the Store Manager!! Two weeks after that promotion, I would attend my very first Lilly Market Trip in the ever famous Palm Beach, FL!! It was so surreal, finding myself back in Management, but finally in an industry that resonated with me so deeply (fashion has always been my jam, like ever since I was in the single digits) and working with a brand that exists to bring optimism and beauty into the world! Literally, this is 100% my jam!! This page links you to 4 catergories that matter to me: My Faves, OOTD, Thoughts on Seasonal Releases, and Market Trips! I hope you enjoy viewing the brand through my lens!!