The Inside Scoop

Here in Huntsville, we are all about supporting our local businesses and fostering a supportive, encouraging community spirit. And there is no better way to showcase the accomplishments of our local community than to highlight the achievements of our enterprising, industrious, and capable local women business owners.

As of several years ago, Alabama ranked 15th among all the states in the US for the number of women-owned businesses in the area. About 153,000 women-owned companies call Alabama home, and in Huntsville alone there are over 6,500 women-owned businesses employing thousands of people in Space City.

Since this month is Women’s History Month, and March 8th was International Women’s Day, let’s take a moment in honor of this special time of the year to recognize some of our most unique local women-owned and female-led businesses here in Huntsville.

1. Teri Hartmann, Designbyhart Pottery Studio

Teri Hartmann was the winner of the 2017 Creative Entrepreneur of the Year award given by The Catalyst, an organization formerly known as the Women's Business Center of North Alabama. She created Designbyhart Pottery Studio to be a place where people can share, learn, and play together, developing new skills and emphasizing creativity. Teri Hartmann’s goal is to provide a space where people can relax, unwind, and release the inner artist that she believes resides inside each of us.

The studio offers camps, workshops, classes, special date nights, one-off events, and even corporate team-building experiences, all through the medium of pottery. The pottery studio welcomes people of all ages, skill levels, and interests, and includes wheel thrown pottery and handbuilding pottery techniques, as well as pottery painting facilities.

2. Kim Lewis, Project XYZ

Another award-winning women-owned enterprise, Project XYZ was granted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Woman-Owned Business Achievement Award for providing innovative solutions to problems. The company serves both commercial and federal customers from its headquarters in Huntsville, and their creative and effective problem-solving addresses issues across a wide range of topics. From researching and designing solutions for engineering quandaries to improving local high speed internet access to developing new forms of alternative energy, Project XYZ is a small, dynamic team founded by Kim Lewis, a Huntsville native.

3. Dr. Ashley Ramirez, Mason Dixon Bakery and Bistro

When Dr. Ashley Ramirez discovered that she had Celiac Disease, she was busy attending Elon University. Then, as a graduate student studying chemistry at Duke University in North Carolina, Dr. Ramirez had to reckon with the difficulties of a gluten free lifestyle, before “gluten free” was a widespread trend among health conscious eaters. She learned to cook and bake for a completely gluten-free diet, with few resources and a limited budget. Taking what she had learned during chemistry PhD and applying it to the kitchen, Dr. Ramirez began to create delicious, unique, completely gluten free recipes. PhD in hand, she moved to Huntsville and, after a series of ultimately fortuitous circumstances, she founded Alabama’s first gluten free bakery, Mason Dixon Bakery. That was back in 2013. Now, pastry lovers and foodies congregate at Mason Dixon Bakery and Bistro for mouth-watering home-baked foods in a warm, friendly community atmosphere.

4. Angel Hussain, Angel’s Island Coffee

The founder of Angel's Island Coffee, Angel Hussain, grew up in Fiji, where her family worked as missionaries for more than a decade. In Fiji, she learned how to brew the perfect cup of coffee.

At just 23 years old, Angel Hussain opened a coffee shop here in Huntsville that quickly garnered acclaim for its delicious coffee and sweet “home away from home” vibes. The loyal customers of Angel’s Island Coffee are not the only ones who recognize the high quality products on offer here: the shop’s hot and cold coffee drinks have won the “Best Coffee in North Alabama” and “Best Specialty Food and Drink” awards given by WHNT Television Station.

5. Michelle Novosel & Caitlin Lyon, Pizzelle’s Confections

The magic you will discover in the treats at Pizzelle's Confections are cooked up by an all-female team of self-proclaimed “chocolate witches”. Co-founders Michelle Novosel and Caitlin Lyon are sisters who take the art of confectionary seriously. And their edible art creations speak to the great care they take in developing their fine chocolate and candy products. Inspired by a childhood appreciation for Willy Wonka, Michelle Novosel had always wanted to be a candy maker.

She worked in the culinary world for years, studying in every capacity before eventually graduating from culinary school in 2009, and then earning her Professional Chocolatier certification in 2012. Her sister, Caitlin Lyon, meanwhile, never imagined she would be co-owning and managing a chocolate shop, but her years of experience as a social worker actually helped prepare her for the daily demands of running Pizzelle’s Confections. There, the sisters and their team create a special, inviting gathering space for the local community, all centered around the art and appreciation of chocolate. Three years after Michelle, Caitlin also received her Professional Chocolatier Certificate from Ecole Chocolat. Now this dynamic pair brings their chocolate expertise to the local Huntsville patrons who get to enjoy their creations at Pizzelle’s Confections.

Local Women, Local Support

The five businesses we have highlighted above are just a few of the hundreds of women-owned businesses we are proud to count among our community peers here in Huntsville.

We highly encourage all the members of our community to make a special point of supporting women-owned and women-led businesses in the area, not just this month during Women’s History Month, but all throughout the year. Your support as a customer and patron for women-owned businesses today can make a huge difference- and can encourage the next generation of burgeoning women entrepreneurs to know that the sky is the limit. Anything is possible with the support of the community behind them.

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