Inspiring Conversations with Joann Draper of White Lily Boutique

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joann Draper.

Hi Joann, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been in the fashion world in one form or another for pretty much all of my adult life: I was a cosmetologist; an executive manager for a manufacturer in the fashion industry; handcrafted and sold jewelry, and was a vendor at fashion/accessory trade shows for over two decades. All of these gave me specific knowledge and experience that helped me become who I am today.

While working in fashion, I approached everything I did with the goal of empowering women to feel good about themselves, exude confidence, and truly love their bodies, because God made them so wonderfully. I wanted them to be confident, and love dressing the outside to match their inherent beauty inside. This was problematic because… I needed to walk the walk, and I couldn’t find clothing that fit me and was fashionable and made for real day-to-day life.

When my daughter graduated from college, it was apparent that the time was finally right to put all my skills to work. This was when the idea for our flagship store was born – a boutique that we’d actually enjoy shopping at ourselves.

To my knowledge, we were actually the first boutique to have an inline store on several military bases in the US. Unfortunately, the pandemic made it extremely difficult to maintain those stores due to limited base access, and fewer customers.

We used that opportunity to pivot and focus all of our resources on our Mount Juliet, TN store, which is now our only brick-and-mortar storefront. Being able to focus on one location the last year has allowed us to learn about our customers and put more energy into our online and social media presence as well.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Business ownership is never a smooth road, and if someone says it is, they’re a liar, haha!

As I mentioned before, the pandemic was obviously a huge bump in the road, like it was for so many other small businesses. This taught us the importance of being able to pivot and modify our processes due to the major logistical issues that are outside of our control.

Even without massive shutdowns, it was really difficult to maintain stores in 4 different states, because of the massive geographic distance, but we also had more regulatory standards and responsibilities just from being located on those military bases.

Once we started focusing on our main Mount Juliet location, some of our challenges were resolved, but new ones would present themselves, like the usual tornadoes and floods. But that’s just the entrepreneur life – put on your big girl panties and make lemonade out of life’s lemons.

Fun fact: We actually had a lemonade stand outside for our customers when we reopened after that major flood.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about White Lily Boutique?
As you’ve probably gathered by now, we’re a lady’s fashion and accessory boutique, but we’re more than just that.

Our aim is to inspire confidence, in addition to providing fashionable apparel, head to toe. We really love our customers, and we want them to leave feeling great about themselves. At White Lily, we see the beauty in every single person that walks through the door, and we want to do what we can to help them see it too.

Too many people let “big fashion” make them feel bad about themselves because they have *normal* bodies, and we are actively trying to combat that. Here, we all have normal-sized bodies, so I am intentional about carrying clothing ranging from XS to 3X because we shop here too. I’m selective about the pieces I carry in-store because I don’t want the exact same things as every other boutique in the area.

We carry Spanx, Judy Blue Jeans, and HOBO bags, along with our own White Lily brand pieces. I can’t say too much yet, but we have some very *exclusive* high-end brands that we’re working on finalizing some deals with. I’m very excited about that!

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The staff here is not just a group of people that work together, we’re truly a family, and we really try to treat all of our customers like family too.

We love collaborating with other small businesses in Mount Juliet, especially when they come out of our authentic community relationships.

Pricing:

• We offer FREE shipping for online orders over $100.
• We also offer free in-store pickup as an option for online orders as well.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://whitelilyboutique.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whitelily.tn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitelilytn/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/white-lily-boutique-mount-juliet-4

Image Credits
Paris Spruill and Joann Draper