Humanité Boutique, Hurricane Helene and the Power of Community

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.

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My name is Amelia Old and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration.

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Join me as I share stories of friends, family and strangers from my everyday life and travels.

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We will laugh, possibly cry or walk away, feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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What's yours?

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Thank you so much for taking time to be with me today.

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I know that it's a weekend and you're getting ready to go out of town.

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A lot of things going on so I appreciate you taking time to share a little bit of your story with me.

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Yeah, I'm more than happy to.

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Thank you so much for having me, so let's just jump right into it.

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Can you just start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your business in Bryson City, North Carolina?

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Yeah, so I am a wife and a mom, I have 10-year-old twins and I own Humanity Boutique.

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It's in Bryson City.

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I had started it 14 years ago.

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We're going into our 15th year, which is wild to think about, and as anyone that has been in small business or been an entrepreneur, you know that 14 years is a lifetime in that world and you know it's a roller coaster.

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Every year is different.

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I am originally from Bryson City.

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I was gone for about 10 years.

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We lived in other cities and I had different jobs and we moved back here purposely to raise our kids here.

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And, yeah, that's when I started humanity.

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So can you talk about how your experience with humanitarian work has influenced your perspective on life in this business that you have created?

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Yeah, I think that, like I said, being a small business owner is one of the most difficult careers I think that anyone could pick.

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I mean, it's not easy, but it's very fulfilling.

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A constant thought as an entrepreneur is how can I serve the community that I'm in currently?

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Because they, you know, those are my friends, those are my neighbors, that's my family, those are people I've known for all of my life.

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So, having a real local, um sense of community as well as what is happening in the world at large, so I wanted to provide a way, um where, that provide a business.

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That was that was at front of mind about you know what, what do we need locally and and what, what?

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Where can we give back?

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Where can we help?

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And 14 years ago, there weren't any clothing boutiques and there probably weren't any clothing boutiques all the way through until, you know, 45 minutes from here, and I came from a place that that's just where we shopped.

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So I saw this opening and I thought this is this would be great here and I can also combine a need for our community, but I can also use it as a way to give back through different experiences that I've had in my life and then also to my local community.

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I love that.

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I love that.

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I think that is really special that you kept your community in mind.

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I'm really big on giving back to the communities that we visit, and so I really appreciate that and I think that that is a really great thing that you are doing.

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What's one way that Bryson City has changed or grown since you've started your boutique?

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Oh yeah, such a great question.

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It has changed and grown leaps and bounds for the better.

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One great thing about Bryson City is we will never be a large, sprawling metropolis.

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80% of our county is park, so it's federal land, so it will never be a, you know, a Gatlinburg or a Pigeon Forge, and we love that.

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We are a small town, we have the small hometown feel.

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We are a small town.

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We have the small hometown feel.

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We have a great downtown and what has changed about it is the quality of things.

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You know, I am from here, I was raised here, and you know the 80s and the 90s looked a lot different than it does now, because now we have quality things.

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We have great shops.

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It's amazing what we can find in the local stores.

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Here I mean stuff that you would buy online that you normally wouldn't find in a small town.

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We have such great amenities in that sense.

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We have great restaurants.

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People that are coming in really care about the area.

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You know you usually don't move to a small town, especially beside a national park, unless you really want to be there and you really want to embrace.

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You know a little bit of a slower lifestyle and you want to embrace the outdoors.

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So it's really cool to see how much it has changed since growing up here, and it's great to see people that really care about the area and want to continue that just quality of things coming in here and really curating what we have to offer.

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So back in September, your community and surrounding communities in Western North Carolina got hit by Hurricane Helene and caused a lot of devastation, a lot of challenges.

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And caused a lot of devastation, a lot of challenges, and a lot of people in surrounding communities to Bryson City are still in the midst of picking up their life.

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Essentially, Can you talk a little bit about your experience in those first couple of days, as you know, just as a resident of Bryson City, but as a business owner as well, yeah, those first couple of days were just a lot, when the we knew a storm was coming in and we just didn't know to what degree and when.

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When the storm hit and everything happened so quickly that first day it we no one in Western North Carolina thought the waters were going to rise that high.

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I certainly didn't think it was.

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I was watching Noah, um, that has the the river uh measurements.

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I was watching that hourly.

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Um, the day before, I mean days before, and the morning of and um, it just happened so quickly that, um, so quickly that, um, seeing being down at the store and seeing the waters rise, as we were, you know, putting up uh sandbags and and doing all that was, was terrible.

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The great thing is Bryson city was spared a lot of what happened east of us, in the other parts of Western North Carolina.

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I mean, we were able to open up, you know, just a few days after it happened, the stores I opened up eight days later after cleanup, um, it, with the communications that were down for those just few days, it was trying to figure out you know what is what was happening elsewhere.

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Um, Western North Carolina is it's made up of a lot of different counties there's.

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There's actually eight different.

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There's eight counties West of Asheville and and we're part of that, um, and so each county had varying degrees of of flooding, some, some none, some, um, that were spared, most like us, like Swain County, um, but then there was Asheville and Boone and, um, those larger counties, um, and the thing about Western North Carolina is, um, we, everyone that lived here in that during that time, you know, if you're from Western North Carolina, no one was, um, no one was untouched by that.

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Because we're being from Western North Carolina, asheville is kind of like our town square.

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You know, when we have to go to Target, we go to Asheville when we have, you know, doctors there and I have different stores that I shop at.

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So that's our town square in a sense.

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That's our town square in a sense.

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And seeing something like that happen, you know, further east of us, especially in Waynesville and Canton, everyone in western North Carolina was just thrown through a loop.

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I mean it was really hard to watch, especially when, like I said, bryson City was spared so much damage and it really only hit our downtown and you know other parts that were on the river.

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But, like I said, we were able to clean up very quickly and seeing, you know, the towns further east of us seeing that happen, it was almost like for people in Bryson city and other parts of Western North Carolina, it was almost like survivor's guilt.

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You know, we wanted to, we just couldn't believe this was happening and we wanted to help.

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And you know there are business owners that, um, we all reached out to in that area and you know what can we do?

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How can we help?

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Um, it was just that part was really difficult to watch and it's still difficult for for most people.

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Um, the really great thing is that I saw come out of it as such a horrible situation is that sense of community.

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My store is located on Everett street and that's where a majority of it happened.

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The, the business owners, all of us that were in that row of where we had water come in.

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We just banded together and absolutely what it was whatever anyone needed, somebody got.

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We had people show up that just took my trash away, took away all the stuff that I had to take out and that I needed to take to the dumpster.

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One day I showed up and it wasn't there.

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And same for my neighbors.

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One day I showed up and it wasn't there.

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And same for my neighbors they had when they took out their floors it was someone showed up and said I'll take it to the dump for you.

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It was amazing to see.

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It was one of those moments where you know you collectively have to take a minute to to get your bearings and figure out what's happening from a business standpoint.

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And our community, our business community and our and our local community really just was impressive and kind and um really just made me really proud to be from here.

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You know I've heard a lot of different stories from people over the last few weeks that really stand out to them, specific moments of working together and people coming together or people from other states coming in.

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And I mentioned in another episode that I was working on donations for the Banner Elk area and I had people donate things from as far away as England and I just thought that that was absolutely incredible to watch people from literally all over the world.

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And I know that there are many moments for you, but is there one particular moment that you can share during all of this that just kind of did stop you in your tracks?

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That just kind of did stop you in your tracks, like you mentioned about your um, you know, the other businesses in town coming together.

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Is there another moment whether it was someone coming from out of town to to help out or something you saw in one of the neighboring communities that just really just gave you hope?

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Yeah, um, two instances stand out and um, I'm going to try not to cry cause it's just, you know, one of those things, but um, the, the.

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So it happened on Friday and on, uh, we were able to go back into the store and kind of assess and figure out and, um, what was happening?

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And you know, my husband and I went in there and we looked at everything and we both said we can do this, we, we've got this.

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Um, and then that night all of us that could be there, that could be on Everett Street, all the business owners, after we went into each of our stores to assess what was happening, everybody walked out and we went to each store and just started getting water out.

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And just started getting water out, I had my 10-year-old kids were with me and my husband and we and my parents have stores on the same street and we had neighbors that showed up from stores on other streets and all of us just went from store to store with brooms and squeegees and we're getting all of the water out.

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And my neighbors to the right of me it's the honey bear and the chocolate shop they couldn't get there because they were in Waynesville, which is further east, so their father was there and we just went in there and just started working.

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And we just went in there and just started working and it was.

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It was just so beautiful to see um, you know, we're there at 11 o'clock at night and um, my kids get to see what it is to be part of a beautiful community and just go from store to store and and help you know all everybody that was going through stuff, um getting the water out and helping them clean up.

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And then that next day, um, when we were trying to figure out what you know what our next steps you know it's my first flood I didn't know what you know, what do I do with this?

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And I had a person that I use for carpet cleaning and for commercial cleaning.

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My door was locked and I looked up and he was knocking and he said I know you couldn't reach me because cell service is down.

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I wanted to come here and ask you what you needed and I just was holy cow, I just could not believe that.

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He drove from almost an hour away and said what do you need?

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And he was the one that had all the commercial clean out items.

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I mean, he's the one that had the fans and the, and I and I wasn't even, you know, I had everyone else had worse damage than I did, and so it was back to that whole survivor's guilt thing.

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You know, gosh, other people have it so much worse, but I've also got to do this.

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And he showed up for us and I was able to get that equipment in in that day and I just thought this, this is community and this is the people that make the world go round.

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This is the people that make the world go round.

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There's so much good out there I mean there, there really is.

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And I had a, a friend that was texting me the the day of everything and she couldn't get ahold of me because she was asking about the store, and she couldn't get ahold of me because the cell service was down.

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So she just came down to Everett Street to see what, to see what if something had happened, if I need anything.

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I just thought what.

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That is amazing.

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People are so good and there's nothing like this community.

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Mm.

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Hmm, it's definitely a little bit of shining light and a very dark moment in in your community and a lot of communities, and I think one thing that you've mentioned a couple times is like you've even got me emotional too.

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I think one thing that you have people's focuses change.

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Life happens.

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It's not on the news as much.

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It's not on the news as much, and there are some places that are still very much trying to pick it all back.

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I continue to use this phrase, picking up the pieces, but it's true.

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And so I'm glad that, even in the midst of the unknown and the challenge and the fear that I'm sure that you were going through, that there was a little bit of that light there and a reminder of you probably felt.

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I'm really glad that I moved back to Bryson City to be among this community.

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Yeah, to.

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Bryson City to be among this community.

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Yeah, I mean, I genuinely don't know where else this would happen and I don't know where else a community like Bryson City can come together, but then also a community like Western North Carolina community like Western North Carolina, where we can all the counties and the cities that weren't hurt as bad as the ones east of us and that are, you know, are back up and running, we can take all of our resources and send it east, and I don't I just I don't know any other community that's like that.

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I agree.

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Were there any surprising lessons or insights that you gained from this experience?

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I know that the biggest one would be how do we go?

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How would we go through our everyday lives without being able to communicate in the way that we're used to?

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I think that that is a common one that I've heard been told.

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Read Aside from that, are there any other lessons or insights that you have from this experience?

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What are there any?

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other lessons or insights that you have from this experience?

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I think we're still.

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I think we're still assessing and we're still going through things and trying to figure out what, what could we have done better, what do we need to learn from this?

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You know, not only as a business owner, but as a member of our business community and as a parent, and you know just, we're all still thinking about what could have gone better, what changes need to be made.

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There were people realizing us, realizing that and where we're located, where Bryson City is located is, you know, western North Carolina doesn't stop at Asheville and so realizing, oh, people think that you know Bryson City is Asheville or Bryson City is in that area.

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And realizing, oh, they don't realize, you know there's other, like I said, there's eight other counties west of Asheville, that's, you know, a big chunk of Western North Carolina.

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So realizing that as a business and also as a tourism community, that, oh, okay, we need to communicate that better Because God forbid anything else ever happened we can help people navigate that.

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And you know where the location is.

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I, you know, surprising I, there's always really good and really bad.

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That happens out of any type of situation and really teaching myself and telling myself over and over again and other people that were in that you know were involved in the flooding to look at the good, because you know people are people that aren't, you know getting there rolling their sleeves up and getting dirty and doing the work.

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They're not the ones that are, you know being saying mean things or being, you know being a keyboard warrior.

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They're the people that are doing the work and the ones that are doing that are helping their neighbor and the ones that are actually seeing what they can do.

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They aren't.

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They're the ones doing the good.

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They're the ones they're not the ones that are criticizing or comparing or, you know, giving opinion that doesn't need to be, doesn't need to be given.

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So reminding myself to focus on the good because there's way more good and then helping and and bring that attention to everybody else who's going through the same thing.

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Look at the good.

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It's so much better, it's and there's so much more of it Absolutely One thing that you mentioned earlier about you know you guys are still kind of about.

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You know you guys are still kind of reassessing what happened and the response and what to do, you know if there was a next time with this.

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And I think one thing is important for those watching or listening who might not be as familiar with the area nothing like this had ever one this far inland in the carolinas had seen anything like like that um.

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You know especially the mountain areas and so naturally there wouldn't have been these kind of um, there wouldn't have been a handbook in place, there wouldn't have been.

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This is what we do if this happens, because no one ever thought something like that would happen.

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And I think that that's important to mention because there's no way that you guys could have said, okay, well, if this is coming, well, we know we need to have this in place Whereas you know on the coast, they kind of know in the days to come not that it makes it any better of any damage that they go through, but having the sandbags and things like that and kind of knowing what to do to prepare it's difficult to prepare for something that you've never in your lifetime experienced in your community.

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We never thought that the waters were going to rise that high.

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We never thought cell service would be down for a couple of days.

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We never thought that you know parts of Asheville, where some of our supplies came from, you know, would be destroyed.

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I mean, that was, you know, when we were getting our bearings, we were looking left and right to see, okay, what's next, what do we do next?

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And it was just, you know, one thing after the other and things that we would never imagine, and it's, um, you know, when you're going through that and you have to compartmentalize.

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Okay, how do I focus on this objective for staying in this lane of you know my business.

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How do I focus on staying in my lane?

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What do I need to do for the tourism community?

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What do I need to do for visitors that are in our area and don't have a clue how to get back home?

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You know all the roads that they were going to.

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You know they were either closed or something was prohibited from them from going through the way they got home or to wherever they needed to go.

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So how do we, as a community, make sure that we know how to help people in need in all those lanes?

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and stay objective to that.

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Absolutely, like I said, we're assessing and trying to figure out.

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It's absolutely.

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You know, like I said, we're we're assessing and trying to figure out what's next.

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So what are some of your favorite things to do in Bryson city?

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Yeah, um, I, I love Christmas.

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Here we are.

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Bryson city is a hallmark, picturesque Christmas.

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Here we are, bryson City is a hallmark, picturesque Christmas town.

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We have Polar Express and that starts usually the first to second week in November and it runs all the way through, I believe, the first week in January and we go all out for Christmas.

00:28:30.025 --> 00:28:59.587
So we, our town is, has so many lights, we're all decorated um, all of all of downtown and it just when you walk through it just feels like you're in a movie set and there is this feeling in the air of just levity and coziness and just the kind of Christmas magic.

00:28:59.607 --> 00:29:00.550
I love our town during Christmas.

00:29:00.550 --> 00:29:02.980
I'm so proud of our town during Christmas and what we do during that.

00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:09.086
I love the outdoors, what we have to offer for outdoors.

00:29:09.086 --> 00:29:23.500
We hike and we will never get through all of the trails and all the options that we have in our area because it's just so plentiful and the season's changing.

00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:35.016
It's just like no other and, being in the Great Smoky Mountains as a town, we're surrounded by the mountains and the park.

00:29:35.016 --> 00:29:54.694
It's just a unique setting that you're fully immersed in the park and that's a different kind of experience, with all the seasons and everything that it has to offer.

00:29:54.694 --> 00:29:55.476
I love that.

00:29:56.740 --> 00:30:02.352
I personally am ready for the holiday season and decorations.

00:30:02.352 --> 00:30:08.915
I've already told my husband he has to pull everything out of the attic this weekend, even this early.

00:30:08.915 --> 00:30:19.082
I usually don't decorate this early, but I'm just, you know, after the last couple of months I'm just, I'm just ready for to just put it all up and just have it for longer this year.

00:30:19.984 --> 00:30:22.313
Yes, you are not the only one.

00:30:22.313 --> 00:30:23.877
We put our tree up two weeks ago.

00:30:23.877 --> 00:30:32.233
We haven't decorated it, but we put it up and I know probably 80% of my friends and people in the area say the same thing.

00:30:32.233 --> 00:30:33.806
We're choosing Christmas.

00:30:33.806 --> 00:30:37.348
We're getting the Holly Jolly feeling.

00:30:37.348 --> 00:30:40.946
We're just going to make it last a little bit yeah.

00:30:41.608 --> 00:30:42.912
You know it's ready for my.

00:30:42.912 --> 00:30:44.385
It's meant candles.

00:30:46.780 --> 00:30:50.946
It's the small things in life and we just, it's time to take advantage of it.

00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:53.305
Absolutely so.

00:30:53.305 --> 00:30:58.991
If our viewers or listeners would like to find your boutique, how could they find you online?

00:30:58.991 --> 00:31:01.040
Yeah, so.

00:31:01.261 --> 00:31:08.354
I am on, uh, all social media, so we're on Facebook, Instagram and Tik TOK, Um.

00:31:08.354 --> 00:31:11.143
You'll see all of our little funny videos on there.

00:31:11.143 --> 00:31:15.670
Our website is also online.

00:31:15.670 --> 00:31:22.539
It is shophumanitycom, and if you see the way that we spell, or that I spell, humanity, it's a little different.

00:31:22.539 --> 00:31:27.826
It's actually the French translation of humanity, so it is.

00:31:27.826 --> 00:31:36.569
It's H U M A N I T-N-I-T-E, and the reason I chose that is because I wanted it to be when.

00:31:36.569 --> 00:31:40.470
I wanted to catch people's attention and say why that's different.

00:31:40.470 --> 00:31:52.211
I want to know more about that, but then also to bring a thought that leads to more questions of why are you?

00:31:52.211 --> 00:31:55.214
You know what's this?

00:31:55.214 --> 00:31:59.165
It seems like a global store.

00:31:59.165 --> 00:32:01.029
You have a lot of different things.

00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:02.372
What does this mean?

00:32:02.372 --> 00:32:06.807
And that would be something that I could talk about for giving locally and globally.

00:32:07.790 --> 00:32:15.846
I absolutely love that and I'll make sure to link to your website and social media and the notes of this episode.

00:32:15.846 --> 00:32:25.576
So I have one more question for you, and do you have a favorite quote or any words of wisdom or any advice that you would like to leave behind?

00:32:48.779 --> 00:32:49.903
Yes, I do have a favorite quote and I saw this years ago.

00:32:49.903 --> 00:32:52.991
My kids were one, maybe two, and I was getting out of that first initial mom fog and was trying to figure out, okay, what's next in life and business.

00:32:52.991 --> 00:32:53.994
And everything's changed, how do we navigate this?

00:32:53.994 --> 00:33:02.650
And I saw a sign in a store and I bought it and then I I it's in my office and it says she designed a life she loved.

00:33:02.650 --> 00:33:13.613
And I one day, probably a couple of months ago, my husband said, saw the sign and said, wow, you really have done that.

00:33:13.853 --> 00:33:35.934
And I thought that's the best compliment that I've ever received because it's something where it fits in all facets of life yes, design the beauty of home, design and clothing and gifts, but also, more importantly, it's the.

00:33:35.934 --> 00:33:38.363
What kind of life do I want to lead?

00:33:38.363 --> 00:33:43.740
What kind of impact do I want to leave for my kids and for my community?

00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:51.846
Something that I designed, that was designed by who I am.

00:33:51.846 --> 00:34:01.595
What is true to me in the sense of you know the business that I want to create and leave?

00:34:01.595 --> 00:34:04.957
What type of legacy do I want to leave?

00:34:04.957 --> 00:34:09.581
Leave for my friends and family?

00:34:09.581 --> 00:34:15.994
And it's something that I want to uniquely be from me.

00:34:17.641 --> 00:34:18.543
That's amazing.

00:34:18.543 --> 00:34:24.481
I love that you are such a bright light and I'm so glad that you took time to be with me.

00:34:24.481 --> 00:34:34.615
Also, we just have to give um special kudos to your husband for recognizing and appreciating you and noticing the sign.

00:34:34.615 --> 00:34:35.942
I think that's really good.

00:34:37.344 --> 00:34:39.327
He's really good at that.

00:34:39.327 --> 00:34:42.152
He notices the little things.

00:34:42.152 --> 00:34:44.565
It was really pretty amazing.

00:34:44.826 --> 00:34:45.688
That's awesome.

00:34:45.688 --> 00:35:06.005
Thank you so much for chatting with me today and sharing a little bit about your experience over the last couple of months and also talking about your community, and I am excited to come and visit soon and spend some time with you all, and maybe I need to do it during the Christmas season.

00:35:07.065 --> 00:35:12.070
Yes, you will get that warm, holly, jolly feeling.

00:35:12.070 --> 00:35:15.134
Thank you so much.

00:35:15.134 --> 00:35:17.697
Thank you, I really appreciate it.

00:35:17.697 --> 00:35:20.182
Thank you so much for having me.