Meet Sonja Miller | Entrepreneur & Shop Girl

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonja Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonja, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started working in my parent’s business when I was around 8 years old. I was the demo girl at tradeshows, worked around the dining room table putting displays together, helped unload containers with product into our garage. As I aged, the responsibilities started leaning towards bookkeeping, telexes, later faxes and admin work. As we grew I moved into leading production, unloading tractor trailers with a forklift, working with insurance companies, freight companies and general admin. I did it because that’s what was expected of me and I realized after coming back from college and continuing that it was all great but we didn’t make anything that I was passionate about. I loved home accents, home decor, fabrics, sewing, creating things that were pretty to look at and functional to use. As our family business was a contract packaging business, I started looking for clients in those realms and quickly had five or so small production companies that made belts, baby bibs, hair accessories and tablerunners & placemats. As they were small customers and not something the family business was really interested in pursueing I didn’t get any backlash when I said, I want to go out on my own and take these clients with me while I set up my own business creating. I liked the autonomy of working for myself but I wanted it to be in an area that fit my personality and my likes. I became my own client and after a few years I grew enough to be my only client.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started creating things that made sense for me on a personal level. I would find things that I would like to have and if I couldn’t find just what I was looking for, I would create it. My Samantha Grace Designs brand was born that way. I had two small children with lots of little toys and a house full of stuff that needed to be organized. Life was too busy personally and professionally not to try to find a few loop holes to simplify. I started creating clear bags so we could find things quicker and the clean up of toys was easier if the kids didn’t have to dump out bags or buckets every time they wanted to play with something. Once I made the first one, it just kind of rolled from there into other sizes and functions. Soon I had clear organizer bags that fit into my handbag, ones that I could travel with, beach totes that I would take on vacation, storage bags for everything from junk drawer items to pen and pencil cases to larger bags to store ribbons, trim, colored papers, coffee pods, you name it, I was organizing it. I love color so I found fun, colorful fabrics and I found a method to laminate the fabrics so they would easily wipe down for cleaning and would be sturdier for toting around. I used the laminate fabric to accent the clear plastic and I developed a full line of clear bags that all closed with a velcro strip across the top. I quickly realized living in the South that people liked their items monogrammed so I bought an embroidery machine and started adding monograms to the top strips of the bags to personalize them. Next I purchased a vinyl machine to do the same on the clear portions of the bags. I was doing all of it out of my garage and had one employee doing all the sewing while I did all the cutting, pattern making and embroidery. Once I took the line to market in Atlanta, the wholesale orders started coming in and before I knew it, it was time to find a bigger space. I lucked out and found a cool space downtown Greenville in the back of a retail building and set it up as a cut/sew operation with a small showroom. I was anxious to sell direct to the public but I didn’t have retail frontage where people could see what we made so I patiently waited until a space opened up in the front of the building and that’s when I mixed my own line of products with 40+ other American manufacturers to create an eclectic gift shop. It wasn’t until a few years later that I added apparel to the mix and now I carry 60+ different brands and I have curated a nice selection of products that beautify and simplify your everyday life. That’s really what my focus was from the beginning, creating and later curating products that make you happy, can make life easier, can put a smile on your face and that make you feel good. My business has been a journey, ever changing to adapt to what mine and other’s needs are. I listen and learn and soak up information constantly, I pivot when things aren’t working and I am not ashamed to say, wow that was a mistake, let’s go in a different direction. I think that’s very important when you’re in business for yourself. You will never anticipate every obstacle and you can not get too proud of a direction you are going in when it’s not working. You have to roll and dodge and flip around and keep trying different angles. When you think you have it, most likely things will change and you need to rotate again. Go with it, don’t fight it. Flexibility I think is the key to survival.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ooh I just love Greenville, South Carolina and I am always excited when friends come to visit. There is so much to do and see and eat and drink. We are super lucky in that we live in an area that also has some other cities close by that complement and terrain that offers things to do for the athletic as well. Whisking someone from the airport, I would set them up to get a good night’s rest at Chez Miller and the next day we would start with a coffee and an early morning walk from the Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery up the trail for a few miles and back for a stecca and egg breakfast before perusing the grocery for what we would make at home for dinner that evening. In the afternoon we would take a stroll down Main Street so they would get the lay of the land with a stop at Jiannas for a drink on the balcony overlooking the entrance steps into Falls Park before heading home to cook up all the goodies from local farms we picked up that morning at Swamp Rabbit Grocery. Our day two would start at Reedy River Bikes to grab our electric bikes and head up to Travelers Rest for a long lunch at one of the many restaurants and a stop in Unity Park on the way back. Day three would be a shopping day. I am partial to the West End as that is where my shop is and we have just a plethora of great women’s boutiques so you can certainly spend a few hours trying on clothes and finding cute knick knacks for your home. A walk through Falls Park with a late lunch at Between the Trees would be the perfect end to the shopping. A drink on the balcony overlooking the falls and a walk through the hotel to see all the amazing artwork would finish off this fabulous day. Day four we would head over to the other side of downtown and walk from the Hyatt all the way to the old courthouse diving into shops along the way with a late lunch this time at Soby’s to take in their great southern cuisine. For a day out of town, I would head to Asheville to take in either the Biltmore estate or spend the day in downtown and have dinner at Curate to cap it all off. During the summer, a nice drive through the mountains to Saluda or to Tryon or to Landrum, all are great little towns to make your destination for a day. If it’s raining, I would head to the cultural corridor in Greenville and take in the Upstate Country Museum, Sigal Music Museum and the Art Museum with a pop into the Cook’s Station at the end of the day for a cooking class. Still wanting to be active, we could go take in a float down the river on some tubes on the Saluda or rent a pontoon and go out and spend the day on Lake Jocassee for some float and soak time. Yes I believe we have a pretty awesome area that we live in with lots of options, I would love to be a visitor to my own city and sometimes I do just that.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family deserves credit for much of my ability to go out and be “me”. My parents always encouraged me to believe I could do anything I put my mind to and eventually they were the push that said, “go, reach for it”. My husband stood by me and encouraged as I gave up a very handsome salary to go out on my own and try to make something for myself all while we had two small children to raise. Financially and emotionally that was probably harder on him than on anyone else and he has been supporting that dream with me ever since. My children certainly lost out on some mom time with me and their lives were surrounded by my work just as I had been brought up with my parent’s work surrounding me, at times that can be a lot. I have also been extremely lucky with mentors in my professional life, women who encouraged, led, explained, showed, taught, supported throughout my journey. Some are still very much a part of my business, some have passed, others have moved away but anyone who has been there for me in this journey will always have a special place in my heart. I consider myself very lucky to have had so many women along the way who have wanted to help guide without asking for anything but thanks in return. I try as much as possible to pass this on every step of the way as I know that without them I would not be doing what I do today.

Website: httops://www.samanthagraceusa.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthagdesign/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjamiller/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaGraceDesigns/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/samantha-grace-greenville

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SamanthaGraceDesignsGreenville

Image Credits
all photos taken on premises at Samantha Grace by owner Sonja Miller