Meet Nikki Sheppard of Smoke & Ginger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Sheppard.

Hi Nikki, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always been a creative type of person and during quarantine last year, my creative juices were in full force being stuck at home. I had to come up with all kinds of things to keep me and my girls busy so we didn’t go too stir crazy! I had told my husband on and off that I think I would love to make shirts and things. Being the super supportive husband that he is, he made sure I was serious and then went and got me everything I needed to get started. Every waking moment that I wasn’t having to do my mom duties, I would be on my iPad drawing all kinds of different things that I thought would be great on shirts. Sometimes I would be up until 4am still going and have to force myself to go to sleep since the baby would be waking up soon. After most people were allowed to go back to work, I went back to my bartending job along with all of the other things. As luck would have it one of Nashville’s top influencers sat at my bar one night but I actually had no clue who she was. Several people told me throughout the night and I thought she would be the one I should give a business card to! I did and she LOVED my Santa sweatshirt on my Instagram and I made her one. Now, I just thought it was super cool that she wanted one of my shirts and didn’t think much else about it. A few nights later, I was at work and my apple watch blew up! I was getting literally HUNDREDS of Instagram message requests from people wanting the same exact shirt she had on. She had posted a few slides of her wearing it on her story and tagged me…that was all it took.

When I got home from work, I told my husband we had to figure out some sort of system for all of these orders! He set up an excel spreadsheet for me and as I answered messages, he would fill in the spread sheet. In just a few days, I had over 800 orders to get made! I had never had even two orders in the same day yet! We got to it and my mom even had to come into town and watch the kids for us for over a week here while we got to all the orders. Somehow we were able to fulfill all the orders and then some. I knew this could truly be something, something I enjoyed and got to be creative with as well.

Since then, I haven’t had that many orders at once again but it has stayed pretty steady for the most part. I was able to leave my job bartending and put everything I had into my shirt business. We got me a very large shed thats in our back yard that is my workshop. We’ve remodeled it and still have a bit to go but it definitely takes time. Lately, I have been doing markets around Nashville and coming up with new and exciting designs. All the while trying to learn something about being a boss babe with her own business.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has NOT been a smooth road. When I had the giant amount of orders, I was constantly dealing with shirts being out of stock and having to wait to get more in, I would over order if I found more just in case and those are still sitting in the shed in boxes, The famous sweatshirt was one that had to be bleached which means in the 30 degree weather, I was bundled up with shirts lining our entire yard, spraying bleach, rinsing them in ice cold water, and washing shirts non stop. Now mind you, I was doing all of this while taking care of two kids, a husband, two dogs and our house plus getting up at 5am to clean air bnb’s on the side for some Extra income 3-4 mornings a week before my husband had to work. It’s a lot of balancing. I am so thankful for my husband, parents, and a few close friends for helping. I couldn’t have done any of it without them.

We’ve been impressed with Smoke & Ginger, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a mama owned small business here in Nashville. I do all of my own printing, pressing, distressing, bleaching and shipping of my shirts. I love to draw and create so many of the designs are my own hand-drawn designs on the shirts. I want them to feel beautiful or handsome, like they can still be trendy even in just a shirt. It’s for the ones who gained a little Covid weight, the moms who just had babies and need to feel semi normal and the people who just can’t see how wonderful they are!

How do you think about luck?
It truly was the good luck of work friends at the time, pointing out the major Nashville influencer so that I could give her my business card. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known who she was or even thought to give her my card. It also just so happens that she is extremely down to earth and sweet as pie!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.smokeandginger.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smokeandginger/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smokeandginger