DAISY SUE DESIGNS || www.facebook.com/daisysuedesign/
“I have always been entrepreneurial,” said Daisy Skidmore, the artist and entrepreneurial spirit behind Daisy Sue Designs. At 19, she is an old hand at being the CEO of a business. She started her first business as an event planner when she was in middle school.
She began her career by hosting “Crafter Noons.” For a fee she lead two hours of crafting with young girls. That got her into doing art as a business.
The Crafter Noons lead her to planning more events, this time with the purpose of raising funds for an orphanage in Mexico, where her father sat on the board. She began with a Sadie Hawkins Day Dance that raised enough money to renovate the porch, followed annually with other events that allowed the orphanage to do other renovations, including each of the girls’ dorm rooms.
“Between 120 and 160 teens came to the dance,” said Skidmore. “We were, over time, able to renovate the entire orphanage.”
After the success of these events, she proved to herself that she could make money by being creative. This led her to, in seventh grade, enter Pottery Barn’s Teen Design Contest. She had decorated a room for some people she knew and entered her work into the contest in a video. She won.
“I won $1,000 and a trip to their corporate headquarters in San Francisco,” noted Skidmore. “I took the $1,000 that I won and redid my bedroom, which I entered the next year, and I won again!”
San Francisco was eye opening. She worked with company’s creatives, and as a teen stylist. It gave her a boost, verifying what her mother had been telling her all along. She never looked back, beginning Daisy Sue Designs this summer by expanding on a project she did as a teacher gift.
“I drew Central Magnet School to give to my teachers,” said Skidmore, “and then someone said that they wanted to buy one. Then I did a map of Murfreesboro, and the courthouse. It grew from there.”
Her work can be found at Quinn’s Mercantile in Murfreesboro, and now in Sarah and Allie in Cannon County. She loves to do small town maps, and her art is catching on in small towns as far away as Mississippi.
“I love small towns,” said Skidmore. “They are my inspiration. I hope to do maps for more small towns across the country.” She wants to get into other merchandise, and has recently added tea towels and tee shirts into her stock.
Skidmore is completely self-taught, except for the art classes that she had at Central Magnet School under the tutelage of Mr. Greenwell and Ms. Hutchinson. And her parents, especially her mother, have constantly encouraged her to explore art and pursue her vision.
“My dream is to be able to do something where art can connect with at-risk youth,” said Skidmore. “I want to own my own warehouse where I can give them sponsored classes, have events, lead workshops, and wholesale art. I want to be like my role model, Anna Bond.”
Bond is the CEO and Creative Director of Rifle Paper Company. According to their website, together with her husband Nathan, Anna launched Rifle Paper Co. based out of their apartment in November 2009 and the brand has quickly grown to become one of the most notable brands in the industry. Currently, Skidmore is a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University. She plans to continue her business drawing the small towns she loves, as well as doing photography, decorating rooms, and painting for people.
“I just want to be able to continue to grow my business and make a good living from my art,” said Skidmore.