43. We’re Back! Let’s Catch Up + Taking YOUR Q+A’s

This podcast was transcribed using Descript. Please forgive any typos or errors.

Brittany: Hi, friends. Welcome to the Life with Loverly podcast. I'm Brittany, a wife, mom, and lifestyle entrepreneur here to help you discover your best daily style and encourage you to try new things when getting dressed each day. I took a tiny following on social media and turned it into a community of over 1 million amazing women, and I am so glad you're here.

I'll be sharing my heart with you beyond the 15 seconds on Instagram. So we'll be diving into things like personal growth, friendships, motherhood, marriage, and of course -- the business of blogging. Really, this space is here to serve as your go-to resource to building a life you adore while sprinkling some kindness to others along the way.

Grab an ice coffee and let's do life together. I'm Brittany, and this is The Life with Loverly podcast.

Welcome back to The Life with Loverly podcast! We have missed chatting with you guys so much. For those of you who may be new to the platform, I'm Brittany, known as Loverly Grey on Instagram. 

Nichelle: And I'm Nichelle, Director of Operations here at Loverly Grey. 

Brittany: Gosh, I could not be more thrilled to be back with you guys. The last time we were on the podcast was in August with my dear friend, Anna Page, and I feel like so much has happened since then. We've got some amazing things to talk to you guys about today, like we are building out a new Loverly Grey office. We took a break from Instagram in September. Can't wait to dive into what we did behind-the-scenes of that. We had an amazing closet sale and we went to the Like To Know It Conference, LTK Con. And be sure to stay until the end of this episode for a big announcement coming next week. It was so much fun. 

Nichelle: I can't wait to share some of this stuff that we've learned along the way. There's just been a lot that's been going on. I really want to talk about the office though. I think I'm so excited to share this with people now that they can know. We've kept it a secret. 

Brittany: I feel like that's the hardest part, keeping the secrets. We've been working on this since the end of May and we had to get all the ducks in a row and everything before we could really discuss the office build out. Pretty much, for those of you who don't know, we have an office space now which in Athens, Georgia is this little cute house that we absolutely love. It's so homey, it feels amazing. But we're just outgrowing the space as our team is growing. 

It's funny because when Nichelle started working with me and I had some virtual help as well, we were just at my house, like the two of us. Nichelle would come to my house every day and we would work from my house. As we were starting to do more and had like bigger plans for Loverly Grey, we were really like, "we need to expand, but we can't keep bringing people into our house."

Nichelle: You already felt like you needed to separate home from work anyway. You needed that separation. So bringing somebody else in was just going to make that a little more complicated. 

Brittany: Yeah. Chris worked from home. We had a nanny part-time with Hazel, Nichelle, and myself.

Nichelle: Hazel visits, every now and then.

Brittany: I do miss those sometimes, so sweet. But came up with this idea of what if we bought a house as an investment? That's how Nichelle and I sold it to Chris.

Nichelle: We were like, "let's look at office spaces." But I was like, "but what if it was just ours?"

Brittany: Yeah. So much of this job is done in a home setting. I'm trying on clothes, I'm creating outfits. I want to recreate a bedroom setting for those of you who are looking for inspiration. I'm getting dressed in my bedroom, you can get a visual of how it's going to look. It just made more sense for it to be in a house if we could even make that possible. 

So one thing about where we live in Athens is there's a ton of businesses that are run out of houses in the areas that we are. So we were like, "this is perfect." And it has been great for the last year and a half, but back in May, we were just needing more space. Our team is growing. We don't have room for everybody right now. We're starting to all just crowd around the kitchen and dining room table.

 I really want to create an amazing workplace for my employees and people who are trusting in me to work here. I want them to have a place that is comfortable.

Nichelle: And they can go be creative.

Brittany: Exactly. So we started looking at more commercial- type space and found an amazing location that we were able to build out exactly what we wanted and needed. We worked with an architect to lay out a plan, and I had a very clear, specific vision on what I really wanted and thought we would need. It's been so cool to see it come to life over the past four to five weeks. We've got framing, we just did an electrical walkthrough. We're working with a designer to get everything ready to go, and we're hoping that we'll be moved in by January of next year. 

Nichelle: It's so fun to see the Pinterest board start to come to life. . It's still very much bones right now, but we can visualize it so much more. 

Brittany: I think the cool thing is there is going to be a podcast studio, which we're really excited about because we're going to be able to offer so much more for you guys and we're really setting it up to be successful. 

When we started this podcast, this is Season Four. Season One, there were so many things about it that we didn't know what we were doing. We're learning as we're going. The sound quality wasn't that great. 

Nichelle: There were a lot of cringe moments looking back, but we learned so much just going . We put it on a goal sheet and we were like "it's coming up, we gotta go!". And we didn't know what we didn't know until we learned it. And I think it's a great experience. It's so fun to see how this has grown.

Brittany: I know. And the fact that we're going to have the studio, and then we are also going to have a photography studio. This is something I'm so excited about because we will use it for ourselves for things that we have going on in photoshoots that we're doing.

But we also wanted a space that local photographers could rent out for family photo sessions or newborn photos, or just a great space because we don't really have anything like that in Athens. And that was a need that we feel like we're constantly like "where are we going to shoot this?" Or we have a specific need for a big white wall to bring a vision to life. And now we'll have that, but we can offer it to other people.

Nichelle: Explaining that to people who don't understand this industry is hilarious. They're like, "okay...?" 

Brittany: I know so much about this industry is so interesting and even the fact that we're building out this office, I think people still are like, "I don't really understand why you need that."

But there's so many different roles in the company that is Loverly Grey. It's really amazing to see what has happened with the brand over the last six years and where we're going and some of the things that we're doing. I'm super excited about it, but we just needed more space to be able to work these goals out.

Nichelle: Can't wait to share the ride that we're going to be on.

Brittany: It's going to be so much fun. So on Loverly Grey Instagram, @loverlygrey, we've got a saved highlight that says LGHQ so you could see some behind-the-scenes and of more visuals of what this is looking like. If you want to follow along with the process, we'll put a link for that Instagram highlight in the notes. 

Nichelle: Yes, so I feel like talking about the office is probably going to make a lot of sense. We took two weeks off Instagram. That was a little bit of the reason why, but there was a lot more to it. I think that we should explain ourselves a little bit.

Brittany: Yeah. So we took, like she said, two weeks off of Instagram. I wanted to take a month, but we were like, "okay, I don't think we can actually make that happen" with just things we'd already committed to. I really wanted this to be a time that we focused and reset and just worked on the back end of the business because I think one thing that people don't always understand is there's a whole operation happening behind-the-scenes. And for me, being the CEO of that and being the creative visionary and the whole front end side of Instagram, there's sometimes I go back and forth and I have to quickly switch to like CEO hat or creator hat, and I was getting to be a little overwhelmed and we were in the process of hiring some new team members and we had to make some decisions with the office, and there was just so much on my plate. I felt like I wasn't doing either of those roles that well. 

So we were like "you know what? We need to slow down to speed up. We need to take a step back. We need to focus on what is going to be most important, what is going to help us hit those next goals." And Nichelle and I really sat down during that time for a two day period and wrote out new goals for the next year, for the next three years and five years. That's something I would absolutely encourage you to do if you're a business owner, or even if you don't own a business and you just want to set some goals for your personal life.

Nichelle: Yeah, personal life. I think it's like a lot of people do vision boards. And stuff like that. That's, I guess, the idea behind it. We were just putting pen to paper and making sure that your personal goals aligned with your business goals, because you are the owner of this business and all those things made sense. It wasn't these crazy, far-fetched ideas, they were goals that we were going to reach, that were obtainable, and it really just centered us again.

Brittany: Exactly. And I feel like on social media. It's meant to be go go go, on all the time. How many of you guys open up your phone and immediately your finger goes to one of your social apps? We are so conditioned to always be consuming what other people are doing on social media and so a big worry of mine before I started taking these breaks at different times of the year. And when I talk to other creators, this is always something they're so worried about is not being relevant if you take a break from social media. I think it's nice for people to see that " hey, she needs a break from this too" or "she's got stuff going on that she doesn't have to just be on all the time." But it's okay to take that break, and we felt so refreshed. We were able to really nail down a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff, a lot of business-related tasks and projects. And then when we came back it started creating content, it was fresh ideas, it was new. We were excited to get back into that and I think keeping that excitement is really important. So that was an awesome break, I think we will continue to those type of business breaks throughout the year because I feel like other members of our team, Ellie, I feel like we were really able to nurture her in her role. And it just has really allowed us to make sure that everybody behind-the-scenes is in a really good place too. And that's really important to me. 

Nichelle: Absolutely. So after our two week hiatus, we had the closet sale. 

Brittany: Oh my goodness. This closet sale was so good. I'm very thankful for all of the clothes that come through the store and I started, I guess it was maybe three or four or five years ago at this point, posting clothes that I was no longer wearing, or maybe it was for a certain season, things that I just wasn't able to keep in my closet anymore. I started posting them on Poshmark and then I donated all of the proceeds to a charity and every month we donate to a different charity. We've done raising money for, Chris ran a marathon last year and we raised a ton of money for St. Jude and a lot of it was from the closet sale and just Poshmark sales and that's always been really important to me. And I look at it as, maybe I share an item and it goes out of stock and somebody would've loved the opportunity to buy it and now they can buy it gently-used.

Nichelle: And we heard so much of that with the ladies that came to the sale. They were looking for something specific. They were like, "I didn't get to take part in that, but I know she had my size and I am here to get it."

Brittany: Yes. And so I thought that was really cool. Last year was our first closet sale here in Athens, and it was awesome. We raised all this money so we knew we wanted to do it again this year and make it an annual thing. So we really started prepping for it, I would say, probably in June. 

Nichelle: Yeah, right before Nordstrom anniversary sale.

Brittany: It's like a whole production that happens in the office when it's closet sale time.

Nichelle: It's never pretty.

Brittany: But we had this event and we rented out a local space and brought everything there. And I think one thing that was really exciting about this is this year we decided to donate all the proceeds to ESP, which is a local charity, Extra Special People, which is here in Athens, and it was so much fun. Just surrounding ourselves and the ESP team came, Java Joy came. It was so much fun just spending time with them and for them to be able to see that all of this is going to come back and benefit them.

So ESP, they give opportunities to kids in our community and surrounding area with all abilities. They're currently expanding, which is amazing. They just built this awesome playground and we actually went last week. It was so cool to see like the accessibility of this playground. Somebody in a wheelchair can play alongside somebody who's an able-bodied little kid. My girls loved seeing everybody that was there and interacting and it was so amazing. Right next to the playground, they have a baseball field and they had a Miracle League game going on and the girls loved cheering. It was so much fun. 

Nichelle: Literally have chill bumps from the stories that I heard from the kids. It's a brand new ball field that they've been working on this last year, and hearing the parents be so excited that their kids get to be a part of something like that. I think it just really drove it home when we were talking to Laura, who is the CEO that this means so much to those families. So this was something that was really important. We were like, this is where we're going to donate the money. 

Brittany: Exactly. So we did the closet sale and we ended up raising $21,000!

Nichelle: Guys, so amazing! And it was more than we did last year. 

Brittany: So we did about $17,000 the day of the sale for people who came and stood in line and waited. Some people had the opportunity to buy VIP tickets beforehand, so they shopped early, and all of the tickets that they bought was part of the proceeds that were donated. Then afterwards, whatever was leftover, we listed on Poshmark. So then we made up that second half of the $21,000 from Poshmark sales through the end of September. So we just ended up taking it a few days later and it was awesome. 

Nichelle: I'm so excited to go hand them the check. 

Brittany: Yes. Next week we're going to do one of the big checks and take it over there. 

Nichelle: A bunch of the kids are supposed to be there next week, so it's going to be so fun.

Brittany: I can't wait. I actually want to see if I can take my kids out of school and take them, too. I think it would be so much fun for them to see as well.

Nichelle: Absolutely. 

Brittany: It's always so interesting. One thing I talk to brands about when we do collaborations or brands gift me product and I can't physically wear everything and I've asked," would you like me to send this back to you? Or do you mind if I donate it or put it in our Poshmark and donate the proceeds to charity of the month?" And they're always like, "that's amazing. Absolutely." So it's something that I think I just have always really enjoyed doing. And it's just another way to give back. I feel very fortunate to be where I am in my life, but that's something that makes me feel really good is just by giving back into the community. I think it's definitely something we'll continue doing. And it's so much fun meeting you guys and meeting the longtime people who know Loverly Grey and maybe just have never gotten the chance to have a conversation with me in person. So that was another part of it that is really cool because it's like a meet and greet as well. There were people from Texas, from Florida, North Carolina.

Nichelle: They stayed at the hotel the night before. It was so fun. 

Brittany: It was really cool. And so I'm honored that people wanted to come and support what we are doing here ,too, and spend some time with me. We just had a great time. I'm already looking forward to next year. 

Nichelle: Speaking of a great time, I'm still in fangirl mode. We just got back from LTK. Guys, wow. It's like modern day celebrity sightings. Influencers, there are so many of them and so many have been around for as long as you have, maybe even a little bit longer. Some I don't know, but I did follow influencers before I was in this space, too. I think the people need to know what LTK Con is first before I start going into my fan girl moments. 

Brittany: So LTK Con is an invite-only conference for influencers and bloggers who are on the LTK platform, which LTK is formally known as Like to Know It and Reward Style. This is the platform that makes it easy for you guys to shop. So through the LTK app, which I talk about all the time, it's a shopping platform where I link everything and you guys could easily shop that. So they are a whole influencer community and this conference is to really help support and teach and grow the top 350 to 400 influencers in the space. And there's a lot of education, there's opportunity to meet with brands, and it's a fun networking event. It has been put on hold - the last in-person event was in 2019 and it was even better than the last ones. It was a new location, the vibe was a little bit different. It felt a lot more intimate, but also bigger, if that makes sense. But you were there, I think the hotel itself was just a little bit more intimate.

Nichelle: I didn't go, obviously, to the last one that you went to. I know that a lot of the people were talking about it being in a new location, but it was very pretty and one of the parts of it was at a different hotel as well, so it was split up. I think because the way it was laid out. That's probably what helped a ton. The lobby was different from the meeting hall, and it did, it felt very intimate. I didn't feel like there were a ton of people there. I think because of the way that it was laid out.

Brittany: I was really excited because this year I had the opportunity to teach a class, which was so much fun. I talked about the business of blogging and just how to run this as a business and how to reach your goals and set goals for yourself as an influencer in this space. And that was really cool to just put that information together and it's something I'm passionate about sharing. I've got a few other podcast episodes from previous seasons and, as we continue to grow, it will be the same topic will continue covering in this season as well. But it was so much fun just teaching other influencers in my space who wanted to learn how to really make this more of a business. Because it gets to a certain point where you're like, "okay, I feel like there's some questions I have, I really need to get answered on what to do next."

Nichelle: There's so many questions on how do you start scaling your business? And there's some people that had been in the business for a good amount of time that just had not known really where to start. Because as an entrepreneur you have to learn it on your own. And I know you'll never, you are so humble and you'll never admit this, but you had the best class. You taught the best class! And there was a lot of that feedback from a lot of the people that were there in that space that were able to come to yours.

Brittany: It's just something I'm really passionate about. So it was such a natural fit for me to talk about this. And it's funny, I actually have a call next week with one of my influencer friends who was like," I actually have more questions. Can we hop on a call? I really want to pick your brain on a few things," and those are the conversations I love having with people. Even at some of the parties, there were a few times where I was standing talking for 30 minutes with people just giving them advice or being like, "okay, what do you do about this? Have you ever tried it this way?" The community and the learning opportunities that all the influencers had, if you wanted that, you really could figure out a way to grow and share your experience with your peers and try new things. So I loved that portion of it. Then we also had just a great time mingling and for me it was more of like catching up with old friends I hadn't seen in a while. For Nichelle and Ellie, I think they were more like, "did you just see who walked past us?"

Nichelle: Yes.

Brittany: Y'all know I love a good Starbucks run in the morning, but you know what? I don't love putting on any makeup before I head out for that morning coffee. So in my dear barista that I see every morning commented on how clear and smooth my skin looked, I knew I had hit the jackpot with my skincare routine.

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Nichelle: Guys, I have to share a funny story. On the car ride from the airport to the hotel, we did story time on stories, and we were talking about who we were most excited to see. Brittany and I both said Shea McGee. She was going to be a keynote speaker at a meeting, and we were like, Shea McGee. It's that simple. Ellie had said Macy Blackwell. We are in the lobby. I'm hanging out because Brittany is talking to some of her friends and I know I need to get some stuff done. And I was like, "are you good? We're going to go ahead and go upstairs. We'll get ready for the next part. We'll meet you up there." I think that's how it happened. But we had just split apart. I get on the elevator with Ellie. We're trying to figure out the card key situation, that just tended to be a thing the whole time. But as we're trying to figure it out, we're going up to the next floor and somebody else gets on and she has all this luggage and the other girls get out, so it's just Ellie and I and this person. We're trying to help her get her luggage into the elevator and I finally figure out the key thing, and it's too late at this point because we've passed our floor. And I was like, "where are you going?" And she said "I'm going to 21." And when she looked up I was like, "Shea?"

Dead, dead. And I was trying to be so casual, so I'm like," Shea? She's like "yeah?" I was like,"Hey, my name's Nichelle, I'm with, Loverly Grey. It's so funny, we were just talking about how you were the one person we were so excited to meet." She's like "really?" Yes, really. 

Brittany: They're like, "do you know who you are?"

Nichelle: Yes. She's so adorable. Just as adorable in person as she is on any of her shows, any of her videos. But that happened three times. We split apart, and we were rarely apart. And when we did, I ran into her again. So three different times. 

Brittany: I was so sad when I got back up and they were like, "you're never going to guess who we just met."

Thankfully I did have a chance to meet her at lunch the next day, she sat down after us and I was able to talk with her and I really enjoyed telling her that a lot of our new office inspiration came from their corporate office at McGee and Co. And so that was a really cool connecting point for us because I think she was honored to know that somebody else was taking inspiration from that and that I was able to actually tell her that.

Nichelle: And she remembered, too, because it was the last day, I believe. I was able to get a picture with her. She said " so tell me a little bit more about this office space. What is the dynamic?" And I was like, "she remembered!" So that was awesome. 

Brittany: Yeah. I was super jealous that Nichelle got a photo and I didn't.

Nichelle: We tried. 

Brittany: I know. It was so fun though. It was, I just love connecting with influencer friends that I haven't seen in a while and just even meeting new people. Since the last conference, I've moved, and so I don't get to see some of the influencers even in Atlanta that I could see a lot more often. So some of them were there. It was just a really good time. 

One thing about this year is there were a ton of influencers from different spaces. In previous years I had mostly just been fashion-related. This year was so many more home bloggers and there were a few girls that I just could not wait to meet and they equally could not wait to meet me. And I was like, "no, I don't think you guys know. I am like beyond excited." It was just so funny because we were going back and forth with who is more excited to meet the person. But I think it was just really cool to see the dynamic and just the amount of people who are there with like-minded goals. It was such a good time. 

Nichelle: Yeah. The nerd at me really enjoyed the people who were really just interested in your business and how you do what you do. It was very exciting to be able to talk about that kind of stuff. We found ourselves in a corner a lot talking about that. But then also, seeing how much you've grown and people recognizing that over the last couple of years.

Brittany: Yeah. That was one thing I don't think I was really prepared for. That was really cool just to see and talk with people and all the kind things that were said to me about where my business is going and how I run it. So I was just very humbled. 

Nichelle: Yes. And secretly I was like,"haha, told you so!" I love giving her a hard time. 

So I love that we're now up to speed with what's happened.

Brittany: I feel like so much happened. There's probably even some things that we missed. 

Nichelle: Oh for sure, there's so much more. But, we have so much more coming up in this season that I think you guys are going to be so excited about.

Brittany: Yes, I am really excited for the guests and the different topics of season four. It's going to be so exciting. One thing you'll be hearing about more in each episode is that Nichelle and I will really be chatting to you like girlfriends about behind-the-scenes things going on with Loverly Grey. We just really want this to be a place where we're able to come and be vulnerable, but share a little bit more of the Life with Loverly and expand on what you really get to see on Instagram and give you more of a view of what it's looking like behind-the-scenes. At the end of the day, we really want this place to be uplifting and a place where you guys can come and laugh and just have an overall really good time. 

Nichelle: Absolutely. And one of the biggest things about Loverly Grey and one of the values that we stand for is spreading kindness.

So we are going to try to share every single episode something that we've witnessed, we've been a part of, or maybe even you out there have been a part of, and we would love to hear those kindness stories. That's one of the big things that we hope to be able put out there into this community.

Brittany: I think going back to this, I'll give an example of some kindness that we spread this week when we got back. We have a Monday morning meeting where our whole team gets together and we go over stats and the week, and it's probably like a one hour start-the-week-off meeting. And this week we had a new employee start, so that was so much fun for her to really get right into what we're doing.

One thing Nichelle started was we went around the table and everybody said something positive or kind or some way that another person at the table brought kindness or influenced them positively. We spent the first 10 minutes just bringing so much joy and kindness to our meeting, and that is how we started off our week.

 I just love that I am surrounded by people who also want to spread kindness and who want to bring my vision of that to life with our team members. So I think that was really awesome. Excited to see where some of that conversation goes as we continue to do this exercise every week. But I was really excited for us to start that last week.

Nichelle: And it's something so much fun that even you and your friends could do for each other. It's just looking for the positive throughout the week, the month, or between times of you meeting or seeing each other. Looking for the positive in a situation. I know sometimes we are very guilty of this. We have our heads down working and we forget to celebrate the little things, and sometimes even the big things because we're so busy. But it's a way to stop and just remember we have so much to be grateful for. 

Brittany: I guess one idea, kind of like what you just said about sharing kindness with your friends. This reminded me -- a friend of mine, Teresa, she has this tradition at friends' birthdays. Let's say you're going to go to dinner with a group of girls for somebody's birthday and everybody's sitting around the table. Every person goes around and says something positive about the birthday girl. My birthday was in September, and so I experienced this firsthand and it was so cool for people to just basically say something kind. It's almost like we talk about people at their funerals and it's actually telling them, "this is how you've made me feel or I really appreciate when you've done this for me." And so that's a great thing. I've loved like being part of any birthday dinner that she's always like "okay, now we're going to go around the table and everyone's going to do this." Sometimes people will cry and laugh and you're just filled with so much love and it's a great way to connect with people. So that's something anybody could easily try if you're looking for a way to spread kindness.

Nichelle: Yes. So at the end of the day, we hope it uplifts you with us sharing some of these stories, because who doesn't like a little sparkle in their day?

Brittany: And with guests like Mallory Irvin coming up on episode two, she's truly a ray of sunshine. I am so excited to have her on the podcast. We're going to have a very special guest before the end of the year that I can't wait to chat with you about. But each Tuesday, we'll be coming to you with behind-the-scenes content, uplifting stories, a bit about the business of blogging, and also serving up the best tips and tricks in fashion, decor, and family.

Nichelle: We also wanted to take some time to answer some questions from you guys to kick off the season. So we took to Instagram, and we're answering your questions here today. Brittany, they want to know how we met. 

Brittany: Oh gosh. I feel like it's so funny because people always are like, "how did you guys meet?" Or, "who is this girl with you?"

Nichelle: "How long have y'all known each other? "

Brittany: Nichelle and I met in her interview when I was hiring for a right hand. At the time, I just needed some help. It started as an assistant position and has today grown to be so much more than that. But that's how we first met. And I guess tell them a little bit about who you are and like what you do here and your side of that story. Because there are still a lot of people who don't know who Nichelle really is. 

Nichelle: Yeah. I do want to rewind on that though, because it was so bizarre how we did come to meet each other. It was from somebody who literally lived on the opposite side of the country. And we both happened to know her. So you worked with Lindsay at Insight Global and I met Lindsay through a personal development sales training program, and we just hit it off immediately. And I guess you were just chitchatting with her on the phone, like, "how do I find this person?" I know she has like a background in recruiting as well as you did. So, I knew you were just talking to her like "this is the kind of thing that I need." And then I get a phone call one day that's, "Hey, do you know who Loverly Grey is?" And I'm like, "how do you know who Loverly Grey is? Because you're in California, you're not allowed to know her."

Brittany: And she's " oh, I actually know her from before she was Loverly Grey." 

Nichelle: Exactly. But she was like, "I think that this would be a perfect fit for both of you. As soon as she said what she needed, I knew you were the one." And I was like, "all right, fingers crossed!

Brittany: I know, but it was cool because you knew who I was and followed me before this. And so I think that's something that made the connection really special is because you already knew who I was and what I did and you liked my vibe and what we do here, so it made the transition so easy. 

Nichelle: Yeah, it just made sense. So, I don't think anybody can say that everybody can be that lucky whenever finding something that you truly want to do and/ or hiring somebody you truly need in a role. I feel like we both got lucky in that position. So, came on as an assistant and now am the Director of Operations. 

I wish that I could really put into a little blurb of what I do. It's so hard because people are like, "what do you do for a living?" It's anything that I can do to help Brittany and make her life easier. Anything that I can do to help support the other team members, try to be the filter or the liaison between any of them, help train. It's anything honestly to support Loverly Grey as a brand. And, I get to be creative with Brittany, it's so fun! Like we get to use our creative brains too, so it's a dream job. 

Brittany: Thank you. So happy to hear that! We do have so much fun. We work so hard, but every day there's a part of each day that we're like, "yes that was awesome. That was so good. Oh, love this. The vision is like coming to life." So I think it's really cool. 

Nichelle: Somebody wanted to know what content they'll find here on Life with Loverly versus Loverly Grey. I thought that was a great question.

Brittany: Yes. I don't think we've really ever explained it ,either. So Loverly Grey is where I share primarily fashion, style advice, sale alerts, daily style, everything related to style and products that I use and love and have tested out and tried, and don't like. But that is where I'm styling outfits and if you look at reels, you will see fashion, outfit reels, ideas of what to wear. That is Loverly Grey. 

Life with Loverly is going to be much more of the behind-the-scenes of what happens at the office. This season we really want to start showcasing more of all of the employees who work here -- who they are, what happens at the office And as we are growing in that sense and growing with our office, we want to incorporate a lot more of how we are making Loverly Grey the brand go -- the day-to-day operations. So it's going to be behind-the-scenes and just some backstory things. But then it's also going to be a place where we can have some of those real raw conversations, open up about topics that we just don't have enough time to discuss on Instagram. The whole reason I wanted to start the podcast was because I just felt like I had so much to say and advice to give or my opinions or life lessons, but never a space on Instagram that would allow me to tell the whole story. So that's where the podcast came into play.

That's like a nutshell of it. It's a separate brand from Loverly Grey. Loverly Grey is the fashion side and Life with Loverly is more the behind-the-scenes. 

Nichelle: We were talking through this whenever the podcast started, and it's evolved as the year has gone by. I love the idea that Loverly Grey, you're there to help people get dressed and to encourage people to try new things and to show them what's out there and what's possible. And if somebody wants to hear more, there's a space that they can go to get more. More Brittany, more behind-the-scenes of Loverly Grey. And if people are here for the fashion and for you to be able to show them how to utilize different pieces in their closet, that's for them.

Brittany: Loverly Grey is where you should stay.

Nichelle: Yeah, exactly. I love that.

All right, so what are your favorite fall traditions? Especially having little girls, you're getting to make them [traditions] now. 

Brittany: Every year, I love doing the pumpkin patch or going to a fall festival. We have a big farm here in Athens called Washington Farms and they have a pumpkin patch, they have hay rides, farm animals, a giant playground, a corn maze. There's so much to do. And so every year we try to take the kids on a Sunday afternoon and they just light up with joy. I feel like we're having to drag them off the property because we're like, "they're closed, we have to go." So that's been really fun that I've really loved. And then, this year we've been making some really good Crockpot recipes and soups. In fact, if you guys want, I'll leave the recipe for this Chicken Parm Soup that we just made. Two of my other influencer friends, they have a blog together, Ashley and Emily. They put this on their blog and Chris and I saw the recipe. It's been so good. I think we could make it every single week. And it's the perfect time to do yummy soups. 

Nichelle: That's the time of year that I'll actually cook a little bit. If I can throw it in a Crockpot and make it really easy. White Chicken Chili, mmmm! All day. 

Brittany: I know! So, I'm enjoying spending time with family, of course, football and tailgating and doing the yummy tailgate foods and things like that. But, the one thing that has stuck out to me that I will always do over and over, especially with the girls, is the pumpkin patch or going to Washington Farms and just watching them experience fall. 

Nichelle: Exactly. That's something that's going to stick for years to come. That's something that we still do. Even my 17 year old is like, " are we going this year?" We go to Ellijay. I think that we're going to find a new place, but we've been going for years to Hillcrest Orchard. . And it is a lot like Washington Farms because I've been there before. They have the pig race and the goats you can go feed and all of the food experiences -- they're going to fry everything. 

Brittany: The funnel cake, the fried Oreos. 

Nichelle: Exactly. But it's been a really fun tradition over the years. You're going to really enjoy it.

Brittany: I love that. 

Nichelle: What has been the hardest part of parenting for you?

Brittany: Oh goodness. I have a two and a three year old. I think it's been challenging for me in this season of growing a business and being a mom and figuring out where I stop. Obviously, I'm forever going to be a mom, but there are times where, I'm the CEO of a company, I've got to do some things that pull me away from my kids. I would say over the last year it's been challenging figuring out what I can say yes to, what I can say no to, when they really need me there, when Nana is a great person to step in. If there's times where I know she's available, then I don't feel as bad stepping away doing something for work.

We have an episode on mom guilt from a previous season, and a lot of that is still true. I feel like I experienced mom guilt all the time. It's tough. So that I think has been difficult for me. 

Nichelle: We were talking about this last night on the car ride home from Asheville. One of the hardest things I think, for me, is working through the things I promised that I didn't want to do as a parent, but I find myself in that predicament anyway. So really the balance of what's right for my kids versus maybe what didn't work for me when I was younger, but would work for them. Or vice versa. It's really trying not to take my " trauma." It's not that serious, but things that have shaped me aren't necessarily going to shape them the same. And I have to remember that as a parent. 

Brittany: I think sometimes people are so set out to say "I am not doing what my parents did." And it's like," I am going to work overly hard to not be the mom my mom was," if that was a negative experience for you when really it's like "my kid does need some of that."

Nichelle: Right! Exactly. 

Brittany: But we had this whole conversation just about parenting yesterday, and that's one thing I would encourage anybody listening to do -- if you don't have a friend who you can just have raw conversations with and express your heart if you're going through something with your kids. I was talking to my best friend this morning and she was just telling me about something her little boy was going through. Even just that conversation can just make you feel so much better.

Nichelle: You feel so much lighter. 

Brittany: Parenting's hard! I'm only a few years in. Nichelle's, 17 years in, and I still feel like I'm constantly like, "what am I going to do about this?"

Nichelle: Yeah, it doesn't end.

All right. The last one, a lot lighter. If you could only wear one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

Brittany: Gosh. Well my first thought is some type of sequin blazer dress and a tulle skirt or something that really shows my personality. I love stepping out of the box and wearing things that are unique or that I feel like the best version of myself. I love girly pieces, so I literally envision myself wearing a tulle skirt and a button down cardigan and sneakers or booties. I could thrive in that every day. But I also think I could do a midi dress or a maxi dress. Depending on the time of year, the style could change a little bit. But I love a good dress. I'm such a dress girl. There will be times I looked through my feed on Loverly Grey, and I will see dress after dress and I'm like, "I really probably should throw some other outfits in here for the people who don't like to wear dresses." So some type of tulle or dress is what I would wear every day.

Nichelle: This one was really hard for me because I feel like there are two "me"s. There's the one that really wants to dress up and feel a little elevated, like wearing something like what I have on today -- long-sleeve dress to the knees with some boots. That's my fall vibe right there. Fall and winter, love it. But I may die without my graphic tees.

Brittany: Yeah. When we read this question, I first thought of Nichelle in a graphic band tee with jeans, probably black jeans or a dark wash, and a blazer over your graphic tee. That is a classic Nichelle outfit. That is what I would picture you wearing every day.

Nichelle: That's why it would be hard, because it's like I need the outfit, not the one piece. But I guess if I had to break it down, the graphic tee can go with so much. Dress up, dress down. So, I guess that's where I would be. 

And we're going to have to end on a really exciting note! You need to share -- we have some exciting news for these guys. 

Brittany: Okay, so coming next week, November 1st, we are launching podcast merchandise!

Nichelle: What?! 

Brittany: I am so excited! We're actually going to do an entire episode on the merch line and go into the nitty gritty, but we wanted to let you guys know to put this on your calendar. We are going to have sweatshirts, t-shirts, coffee mugs, pens, and my favorite piece of the collection is the notebook that I created. Every piece is just so special to me. We've been working for over a year to bring all of these pieces to life. So I'm so excited! But that's definitely something that we'll get in more next week, but absolutely mark this on your calendar because it's going to be good. 

Okay, you guys, I'm so excited to be back on the mic with you each week. There are so many fun things planned for you this season, so be sure to hit the follow button on your podcast app so you don't miss a single episode. And until we meet here next week, go spread some kindness!

Hi, friend. If you're loving the show, will you go find that follow button on your podcast app? This will ensure that you won't miss a single episode. I love having you in this community. Until next time!

This season of Life with Loverly is produced by Elizabeth Evans Media Productions.