The crush of the holiday season is upon us. As you’re rushing to and fro, shuttling from holiday party to kids’ concert to the mall to pick up yet another stack of gifts, it can be easy to forget that this time of year is supposed to be a moment to celebrate family and community. One way to return joy to the busy-ness of holidays is to shop local. Doing so keeps your money in the community, helps create more jobs, and helps an entrepreneur achieve their dreams.
And when you shop local, you can meet some pretty cool neighbors as well, the folks who are out there making Nashville a better, more creative city. Basically, it’ll give you a new taste of Nashville. Over the last few years, many of the most innovative new businesses to open in town are female owned. As a female-owned company ourselves, we think that’s pretty rad. To simplify your shopping here’s a list of some of our favorite Nashville entrepreneurs, who also happen to be women. No excuses for why your gifts aren’t the best ones under the tree!
Tea Rose
Nashville native Jasmine Rose loved taking her daughter Jaila on special mother-daughter tea dates. In October 2021 the pair decided to use their tea room experience to host tea parties in homes and event spaces across Middle Tennessee. For their private events, they bring a selection of loose leaf teas and delicious nibbles as well as beautiful china and a hostess to oversee the festivities. They handle all the details from setup to breakdown. They also set up booths and host miniature tea parties at events around town. You can always catch them at the Shabby Lane Market. On December 3, they will be at the Murfreesboro holiday market where you can decorate your own tea cup or create a special holiday ornament while sipping on your tea!
Jasmine Rose and daughter Jaila enjoying their mother daughter tea party
From Nashville with Love
Looking for locally-made jewelry or other Nashville-made gifts? Head to From Nashville with Love, located in the historic Arcade, Nashville’s oldest shopping mall. In addition to being a curated gift shop stuffed with hand-crafted goods, From Nashville with Love is also a working studio. Nashvillian Marrah Florita makes her own jewelry in the store. One of her most popular lines is a selection of hand-stamped charms celebrating Music City. The store also represents the network of artisans Marrah has befriend over the years, and she fills the rest of the shelves with a selection hand-made soaps, hot sauces, teas, candies, lotions, candles, prints, books and cards. Marrah also offers permanent jewelry on site, just sign up for an appointment via the From Nashville with Love website.
We love stopping by From Nashville With Love for our favorite Gold + Ivy candles (featured later in this article), local Hatch Show Prints, prints from local artists, and delicious goodies like Olive and Sinclair chocolates.
Owner Marrah Florita and her dog Lu in her shop in the historic Arcade in downtown Nashville
FurEver Friends -
Abby Walters’s FurEver Friends makes durable leashes, toys and bandanas for dogs (along with some shirts and mugs for doting pet parents). Each of the doggie gifts is also made from recycled t-shirts, which makes them good for the environment. Abby has also worked hard to make the products good for the city as well. She donates part of the proceeds to local rescues and dog organizations, including East C.A.N and JoJo’s Doghouse. She also partners with Dino’s Bar to produce a calendar called “Dino’s and Dogs,” which features a lineup of dogs wearing FurEver Friends apparel; all of those proceeds go to support local rescues. She can also customize items for your pet or yourself (or both, if you’d like to show up at the local dog park as twinsies).
We love Abby’s thoughts on running a small business, “Running a small biz means that you have to 100% bet on yourself. It’s challenging, hard work, and all heart, but it’s these things that make every sale that much more special. The most rewarding part of running Furever Friends is the loyal customers I’ve made through the years.” You can order from Abby’s website for yourself or the dog lovers on your Christmas list.
Owner Abby Walters showing off her beautiful handmade bandanas on her cute pups
You Do You
Mandy Hougas founded You Do You after a night out with her friends. While hanging out at the bar, she listened to them joke around, throwing off one liners. Why not put those sassy comebacks on a shirt? A new business was born. When they call themselves a lifestyle brand, what they mean is live your life with attitude, and wear one of their hoodies or t-shirts to announce your mantra to the world.
They also believe in supporting other Nashville small business owners, so they are collaborating with entrepreneurs across the city to highlight how their brand embraces the You Do You culture, finding the perfect apparel to highlight the business’s vibe. They can also create a custom design for your business, and shipping is free on all t-shirt orders.
Thistle Farms
If you’re looking for a gift that also celebrates women, look no further than the handmade products at Thistle Farms. Thistle Farms began in 1997 when Becca Stevens opened up a home where five women who had survived sex trafficking and exploitation could find shelter and have time to heal. Four years later, Becca, the residents and a team of volunteers began making candles to support the project. Today, 36 survivors of the exploitative sex trade in a residential setting. Every woman who joins Thistle Farms is given two years of free housing along with healthcare, trauma therapy and employment. And their program works. Five years after graduating, 75 percent of the women are living independent, healthy lives.
Thistle Farms does all of that work without taking money from the government. Instead, the nonprofit is supported by a cafe on Nashville’s Charlotte Pike and a shop that sells candles, soaps and lotions, essential oils, home decor, apparel and jewelry. Most of the products sold by Thistle Farms are handcrafted by the survivors participating in the program. The rest are made by other social justice organizations who are part of the global fight against sexual exploitation and trafficking. You can pick up all of their items online and in many local gift shops around Nashville.
We love their slogan, “At Thistle Farms we celebrate the women and their families because #loveheals”. Their Love Heals candle collection is especially popular at Christmastime. We love their fresh lavender lotions and their Love Heals candles.
Becca Stevens, Founder and President of Thistle Farms
Gold + Ivy
While studying graphic design, Alexis Smith realized she needed a hands-on way to be creative. A self-proclaimed candle addict, she decided to focus on that product. Unlike many industrially-produced candles that are full of cancer-causing carcinogens, the ones Alexis pours in her home studio here in Nashville are all natural, made of American-grown soy wax, cotton wicks and phthalate-free oils. She combines these to make complex aromas that mix traditional candle scents with unexpected accent notes that help keep the experience of burning a Gold + Ivy candle fresh and unique.
Our favorite Gold + Ivy candles are their Nashville candle, sporting whiskey, music, and good times, and their Evergreen Forest which smells like your fresh cut Christmas tree.
Gold + Ivy owner Alexis Smith (front) and her team
Poppy and Peep
With this one, we’re going to stretch the definition a little bit and allow a man onto this list (we LOVE family owned businesses). Poppy and Peep is founded and operated by father-daughter duo Mark and Evane Stoner. Their micro-chocolate factory produces colorful, whimsical, delicious bonbons, chocolate bars and other confections. They have a storefront, but you can also find their goods in Barista Parlor, The Joseph, The Hyatt Centric, The Graduate and elsewhere around town (as well as online - they are happy to ship their chocolates to the non-local members on your Christmas List). Evane also operates two chocolate-themed Airbnbs.
