Tale of a mom with home-based business

Anita Williams had been employed in the public sector most of her adult life since graduating from Fairport High School in the Rochester area in 1995, but this busy mother and wife recently celebrated her fifth anniversary operating her own successful business out of her home on Sykes Street as a fashion consultant and distributor for LuLaRoe — a women’s clothing company.

In addition to literally hundreds of pieces of LuLaRoe clothing “residing” in her home are Anita’s husband, Chris; their three children, Catriona (Cat), who is 8, Freija, age 6, and Torquil, age 3; and their German shepherd, Kaiser.

Despite the busyness that naturally accompanies Anita’s family life, she is very grateful for how well her business life meshes with that.

“My family always comes first,” Anita said. “But LuLaRoe fits seamlessly into our lives. It fills in all the cracks and really works for our family.”

The proverbial road Anita traveled before she arrived where she is today is quite an interesting one, and the things she learned along the way prepared her for the fulfilling career she now enjoys.

Anita’s first job out of high school was at Briggs Pottery in Rochester, where she worked in the small molds department.

“I worked there for three years,” Anita said. “And it was so much fun to create things like miniature asparagus and little monkeys that we would put on platters and such.”

Anita next moved to California, where she worked at her next “fun job” in a recording studio doing data entry and copying cassettes.

It was in California that Anita met and married her first husband, moved back to Rochester, and raised her now-adult sons, John and Zeke, as a stay-at-home mom, until she and her husband divorced in 2008. Anita then took a temporary position as a receptionist at Cornell University and moved to Enfield.

With the state of the economy being rather shaky in 2008, Anita was unable to secure permanent employment at Cornell but instead landed a position as an abstractor in 2009 at Real Estate Closing Services of Ithaca — also known as RECS Abstract — where she remained until 2017, researching the history of properties in preparation for sale or refinancing.

Through a mutual friend, Anita met Chris at a Boy Scout pinewood derby in 2010, and it was “love at first sight.” She said they “were inseparable from the very beginning” and were married a little more than a year later.

Anita was at the derby because she was a Cubmaster for her sons.

“I was a Girl Scout myself for 12 years,” Anita said. “And I learned skills as a scout that I never would have learned otherwise like helping community members and learning how to work with people of all backgrounds” — attributes she leans on now in her home business.

Having her business in her home with three small children could be challenging, but Anita began learning how to balance that quite well when she worked at RECS Abstract.

“I started bringing Cat to work with me when she was 8 weeks old in 2012,” Anita said. “And then I started bringing Freija when she was born in 2015.”

It was right around that time when Anita was invited by a friend to attend a Facebook “pop-up,” which she explained is “an online shopping experience” for LuLaRoe, and said she “fell in love with everything about it — the brand, culture of the company, style, fabrics, clothing fit and just everything!”

“I started out wearing the clothing myself,” Anita explained. “And I quickly experienced what LuLaRoe wanted women to realize — that I could be comfortable and feel confident in how I looked. It gives you an elevated sense of style regardless of your profession and without breaking the bank. Then, I realized that all the prints and colors I’ve loved in the world could be worn on my body, and it unlocked something in me like imagination, fun and a sense of joy.”

Anita said she started her business by calling all the local businesses in Groton and inviting employees to stop by on lunch breaks to try clothes on. That grew to holding in-person pop-ups in people’s homes.

“I would load up 500 pieces of inventory into my car, and the hostesses would invite their friends to come,” Anita said. “I got to see people feeling comfortable and loving it like I do. I love to help people and develop relationships. That is the heart of it all, and something you just can’t get at big-box stores.”

When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Anita said it caused her to “get creative” and move to more online methods of displaying her inventory, but it didn’t really affect her business adversely.

“I never really closed my doors,” Anita said. “If people wanted to come over, I allowed them to do that. I also took a lot of risk by mailing product to people to try on. I never had a problem. People would either buy things or return them with integrity.”

Anita still maintains that nothing replaces in-person shopping and welcomes the community to contact her at lularoebyanitawilliams@gmail.com or linktr.ee/lularoeanitawilliams.

“My heart is so full when shopping ends,” Anita said. “There’s just so much connection. A sense of community is the most important thing. Getting to know people and people getting to know one another fuels the fire and makes the world a better place.”

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

Outdoor cabaret

The Groton High School (GHS) Drama Club and the Tri-M Honor Society are hosting an outdoor cabaret to feature GHS students and alumni who will be performing songs from musical shows such as “Newsies,” “Wicked,” “The King and I,” “Les Misérables” and “Frozen.”

The event will take place outside the high school gymnasium at 7 p.m. July 30. Patrons are encouraged to park in the front lot and to bring a lawn chair. Admission is free; donations are encouraged.

Youth farmer’s market

Over 120 children were served fresh produce at Groton Youth Services’ free youth farmers market last week. All Groton youth aged 18 and under are welcome to stop by the Groton Memorial Park on Sykes Street from 10 a.m. to noon every Tuesday through Aug. 10 and fill a bag with fruits and veggies.

Groton Virtual Art Show

The Groton Central School art classes, in conjunction with The First National Bank of Groton and the Community Arts Partnership, invite the community to submit a photo of one original painting to the Groton Virtual Art Show, which will be held in place of its usual show during Groton Olde Home Days.

Prizes will be awarded in the categories of oil/acrylic, watercolor, drawing/pastel, senior citizens and best in show.

Submit your entry by Aug. 5 by taking a photo of your painting and emailing the image to groton.artshow@gmail.com. Include your name, complete mailing address and category.

The virtual show may be viewed after Aug. 10 at grotonartclass.wordpress.com. Winners will be posted here Aug. 26. Prizes and ribbons will be mailed to the winners.