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Ashley WilkinsonWhimsy Willows58 • SEPTEMBER 2021
– W O M E N I N B U S I N E S S –A D V E R T O R I A LFlorence native Ashley Wilkinson loves herjob because she gets to make women feel goodabout themselves. “I know what it’s like to bea plus-sized woman. It’s difficult to findfashionable clothes – there just aren’t manyplaces to shop.” Knowing there had to besomething out there, Ashely went on a journeyin 2015 to see what she could come up with. “I found a lot of things I liked, so I figuredothers would like them as well.” Starting withtwo clothes racks in her dining room that fall,Ashley had no idea how quickly her businesswould take off.Today Whimsy Willows is a full-serviceboutique that caters to “real” women who havea strong sense of style and a love for fashion.Ashley has created Whimsy Willows to be aplace where women love to shop. “I get tomake women feel good in the clothes theywear. When a woman feels good, she canconquer the world!”Ashley hasn’t always been in fashion. As amatter of fact, she was a nurse for eight years.“I was passionate about nursing, and I stillmiss it. I think being a nurse prepared me forthis in a way as I had to deal with people andtheir emotions.” Ashley also cut hair for tenyears. “My father owned a barber school, andI worked for him for a while as well.”But retail was in the cards for Ashley. Afterthe surprising success of her dining roomboutique, Ashley’s husband said something hadto give. “It just grew and grew and was takingover our home!” Married to Eddie Wilkinson,Ashley says that she is fortunate to have ahusband who is such a big supporter of whatshe does. “He grew up not far from me, inRichland. Eddie works in the oil fields for 28days at a time, but when he’s home, he helpsmen any way he can.”In January 2016, Ashley went to the apparelmarket in Dallas for the first time. “It was sooverwhelming! I almost quit that day. But mymother-in-law was with me, and she told meshe had never seen me fail at anything I tried.She said I could do anything I set my mindto.” So, Ashley pushed ahead and startedbooking shows.“I did Florence Day first, the Novemberafter I started in September out of my home.We did great, so I kept booking shows.” Herlast full year to do shows was in 2018. “Wedid 43 shows that year.” Now she only doesMistletoe Marketplace in Jackson, andanother big show in Amite City, Louisiana.When naming her business, Ashley wrote alist of different things, but her husband wasn’timpressed by any of them. “He said I shouldfind a name that uses ‘Willow.’ That was a bigjoke between us,” laughs Ashley, “becausealthough we had been married 12 years beforewe had our child, I always said I wanted a girlnamed Willow, because my grandparents hada big willow tree in their yard, and I loved it!He said he wasn’t going to have a daughterwith that name.” Since the business was,essentially, like a first child to Ashley, she namedit Whimsy Willows. Just after opening herfirst store Ashley found out she was pregnantwith their daughter, Ellyanna.The boutique has been in two otherlocations before landing in its current locationat the Outlet Mall of Mississippi. The storeemploys three people, including CharleeMcDaniel, the boutique’s manager, who startedas a temporary employee for the store. “Shealso does our social media and online store,”says Ashley.Self-taught in business and retail, Ashleyadmits she’s made a few mistakes, but she haslearned from them. A lot of Ashley’s educationin business came from working in her father’sbarber school. “While working for him, I sawwhat it took to run a business. Watching himtaught me life lessons about managing abusiness. He also taught me to be sure wewere covered financially for a couple of months,which was good advice as we endured theCovid pandemic.” The store closed for amonth, then operated on reduced hours for awhile. “That gave us time to revamp ourwebsite, which I wasn’t crazy about anyway.I like to interact with people and Covid madethat hard for me.”Looking back, Ashley says that all theexperiences she has had have shaped her to bewhat she is today. “All the bosses I’ve ever hadhave influenced me in some way.” When she isnot working, Ashley says she loves to travelwith her family. “We love to hunt, and we arecrazy about Mississippi State football and theNew Orleans Saints. We have a travel trailer,and we love to go camping.” Since having theirdaughter, Ashley says pretty much all they dois about creating experiences for her.Whimsy Willows Boutique is located at200 Bass Pro Drive, Suite 410 in Pearl.Visit whimsywillowsboutique.com for more information.Hometown RANKIN • 59
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