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Employees of hers kept talking about how they wished they had a reliable daycare to leave their children at while they worked. “I owned a building, and, long story short, we have a daycare with two sites and an after-school site,” she says. “That was my background in college, so it had a little bit of a learning curve, but I think we’re doing great work there.” Highgate Carriage House, Satterfield’s wedding venue, followed a similar path. The site was initially where Satterfield’s company situated its administrative offices, and she needed a way to support the costs. “So we did a wedding venue, and we do about 25 weddings a year there,” she says. “It kind of all plays together.” Although Satterfield has found sustainable balance with her many irons in the fire, there were those who doubted her along the way. “I think being a woman in business, especially during the years that I was building up, had its own challenges,” she says—for example, people who would say “Honey, can I talk to your husband?” and not even acknowledge her and her role. That never sat well with Satterfield, who grew up in a home of strong women and girls, including a mother who had been successful in
Trusting Her Instinct How businesswoman and entrepreneur Cheri Satterfield remains resilient. LESSONS W FAIRMONT
had in other areas. Everyone said, ’Oh, it’ll never work in our area,’ but I felt like it would.” Satterfield took the idea and ran with it. She sent some of the best managers from her rental store back to school so they’d be prepared to work in the beauty sector full-time, she expanded services to include everything from basic to the luxe, and she turned the lemons of a struggling video store into the lemonade of a burgeoning spa empire. Now, with Tuscan Sun Spas as her biggest venture, Satterfield is always exploring and expanding into cutting-edge treatments and even eyeing opening salons in Pennsylvania and New York. This kind of creative problem-solving has become emblematic of Satterfield’s career. Take her daycare operation. “It’s kind of a comical story,” she says with a laugh.
cheri satterfieldhas ahabitof rolling withthe punches. An outsider might look at her career and assume that her plans have gone off without a hitch since she’s now the owner of multiple small businesses ranging from spa centers to daycare facilities. But as anyone who’s built a business from scratch would know, there’s no avoiding bumps in the road. What matters is how you handle them. Satterfield got her start decades ago with a video rental store she created with her former husband. They got involved right when the industry was taking off, but ultimately, the Internet and the rise of streaming services brought on a decline in business. Rather than get discouraged, Satterfield eyed the tanning services they also offered at the rental store. “I always liked the beauty and wellness industry,” she says. “I traveled and saw things that people
30 wvliving.com • fall 2021
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