- Article published at:
- Article author: kimberly Ramey
- Article comments count: 0
Now that you've been reading our blogs and following us on social media, it is time to meet the ladies who helped cultivate the business and make Cage-Free fun, friendly, and female-empowered.
Kimberly Holt Ramey
Kimberly is the owner, CEO, CFO, marketing coordinator, buyer, customer relations, employee management, sales associate to name just a few of the many hats she wears here at CFB. She's a 36-year-old boss bitch who married the boy version of her BFF (Melynda who we will learn about later), and they have two precious little girls, 4 and 2, with another one on the way and a 12 y/o Chihuahua who is "ornery AF." She grew up in Rabun County on Lake Burton and has degrees in Photography, Culinary Arts, and Environmental Studies. She has predominantly worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry where she learned patience, tolerance, and how to multitask. Her hero is her mom, Janet Holt, for her inspirational selflessness, and Kimberly strives to be just as "good" as her. But as far as fashion icons, Kimberly loves the classics like Jackie O for her sunnies, Audrey Hepburn for her LBD and pearls, and Iris Apfel for her bold colors and patterns. The people who know her best are her husband, Ben Ramey, and her Bestie, Melynda Hensley... "They are basically the same person but one's a boy and the other is a girl. They keep me laughing and sometimes all you can do is laugh… " Also, she's a Libra who enjoys a rare steak, sushi, and short walks on the beach. "Give me a rocking chair, a cool breeze, and a dirty martini, and I’m a happy lady!" About 6 years ago, Kimberly and a friend saw a need for a clothing boutique in Clayton. Since opening in 2015, CFB has expanded from an 1,100 sq. ft. building to 3,600 sq. ft. building with 6 part-time sales associates as well as a social media manager and email marketing manager. Also, she volunteers with the Clayton Merchants and Business Association. Her proudest accomplishment is that she is the sole owner of CFB and has recently purchased the building as well as being a mom. She believes 2021 will be our best year yet!
Melynda Hensley
Melynda is the General Manager (Kim's Right Hand Bitch) and blogger (yes, I'm writing this in third person). She's as local to Rabun County as they come, coming from 7 generations deep in this county, and is proud of her Appalachian heritage. She is a widow and mom to one son and one daughter, Chandler, 18, and McKaylin, 16. Growing up in a beauty salon, she was influenced by Vogue, Cosmo, and Marie Claire and all things fashion. She has worked in some form of the hospitality industry for years from Coming from a background of advertising with Georgia Mountain Laurel magazine, she was eager to join the CFB team and help her Bestie (Kimberly) in any way possible to become successful. Her favorite part of working at CFB is helping ladies pick out the perfect outfit, cultivating new relationships, and, of course, getting to work with her BFF. Also, she's a Libra (Kim and Melynda are a year and 11 days apart) who loves to kayak on flat water, hiking, camping, traveling to new places, and a good book. If you see her out and about, she's never without her Starbucks Matcha and a good pair of sunglasses. Her proudest accomplishment is her children- Chandler is graduating 3rd in his class and an Eagle Scout; McKaylin has been published in the Foxfire book for her art and has an upcoming show at the Lotus Gallery May 1. She feels that if she doesn't do anything else in this life, she created these two amazing kiddos, whom she feels confident that they will change the world with their extraordinary artistic abilities (they got from their dad- I can't draw a straight line to save my life.) When it comes to who knows her best, it would have to be her two best friends- Kimberly Ramey and Nicole Kelley. Both of these ladies have been supportive to her through the good and bad and been such an inspiration to her as they both have started their own businesses while being kick-ass moms. Melynda is thrilled to be a part of the CFB team and can't wait to see what the future holds for the boutique.
Marissa Moore
If you have seen our social media posts and thought "Daaang, this looks awesome! What a great job! " Well that would be our sweet Marissa Moore, our photographer and social media extraordinaire. And if you would like to reward this sweet girl for her incredible skills, she likes vanilla lattes and flowers. (Wink, Wink) She has always loved any form of art, but after taking a film class in college, she began to focus more into photography and fell in love with the entire process from the people she meets and works with to the art she gets to create. Marissa appreciates and loves her parents for being her biggest supporters, friends, and teachers, and believes they are "simply wonderful" inspirations and could never truly explain how much they mean to her. Her favorite part of working at CFB is the ladies she works with and getting to play around with styling the clothes and products. "It's so fun to create and the women here are great!" Starting a photography business has been her most cherished accomplishment thus far as Marissa developed a sense of confidence in her ability plus it has been so rewarding as she loves what she does! In 5 years, Marissa will be married (wedding in May 2021) and continue to operate her photography business as well as becoming a biblical counselor. Also, she hopes to have traveled more, loved a lot more, and just live a really sweet, simple life. (Don't we all??)
Lori Woosley
Lori is the floor manager on Tuesdays and Thursdays at CFB and the inspiration for our "Tips from a Former Debutante." Primarily a Kentucky girl, she spent many summers in Rabun County with her father and his side of the family, and she loved it so much that she and her husband came to visit about 5 years ago and stayed, saying "It's hard to leave God's country!" (Too true!) Andrew Woosley, her husband, knows her the best with her two sweet pups coming in a close second. Her fashion icon is Coco Chanel, and her personal hero is her grandfather, James Joseph Ryan: a WWII hero; a businessman with exceptional work ethic, and undying love for his family and friends. He undoubtedly passed these traits on to this sweet woman. Lori was motivated to work at Cage-Free by Melynda and the Cage-Free Queen, Kimberly, and has past experience in retail and administration which make her irreplaceable and a wonderful, encouraging manager to our other young ladies on the floor.
Rissa McDonald
Rissa is native to Clayton, Georgia and has grown to learn the importance and appreciation of being family-oriented as well as a love for the town with it's nature and beauty. Ever since Rissa was little, she had an open, accepting, and friendly attitude, but as an only child, she learned to appreciate privacy and alone time. At Cage-Free, Rissa wears a couple of hats: sales associate, cashier, and model. (If you've seen our Instagram, she's the face of CFB). Her motivation to work at Cage-Free came when she decided to pursue a career in fashion retail or marketing management at age 16. She has always enjoyed fashion, shopping and finding confidence in herself, and wanted to share that with others. She believes that what you wear can be an expression and representation of yourself and was motivated to work at CFB because of the friendly, inviting atmosphere and staff in addition to the refined and diverse clothing section. Rissa looks up to her grandmother, Kandy McDonald, as the glue to her whole family as well as being the most dependable, loving, kind, hard-working and selfless soul- which she has obviously passed on to her granddaughter. (Thanks Kandy!) Rissa is excited to see a resurfacing of 70s ethnic clothing, more specifically, the 70’s corduroy clothing, and her fashion role models are Princess Di and Zoe Kravitz. Her proudest accomplishment to date is being accepted to University of North Georgia, where the rest of CFB staff knows she will thrive, as Rissa is curious and imaginative and eager to aspire outside of her comfort zone and small town.
Comments 1
So good! Y’all are awesome! ♥️♥️