Life & Work with Courtney Dehn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Dehn.

Courtney, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
After my mom died in 2013, I was trying to find anything and everything to occupy my time. She had taught me to sew and quilt when I was a little girl so I went to my parent’s house and took her sewing machine. I set it up at my kitchen table and started making quilts. Fast forward a few years later, after many years of unexplained infertility, our daughter, Norah was born. Quilting is pretty time consuming and I just didn’t have a lot of downtime between my full time job and being a mom/wife so I’ve got a lot of quilts that were never finished.

I finally got to the point where I had to do something for myself and my husband encouraged me to find a hobby. So I got back into sewing and decided to try my hand at making Norah hair bows. Around that same time, my best friend started fostering a little girl who loved hair accessories so I was also making them for her. I started trying out different styles and really perfecting my craft. On a whim, I posted some bows I had made on Facebook asking if anyone would be interested in buying them and to my surprise they did. From there on I started marketing on social media and really trying to get my business out there. About 6 months later I set up an Etsy page and started to focus on creating my brand. It’s been a little over 2 years and I love seeing how much my small business has grown and just genuinely love making bows and hair accessories.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think time management is always going to be a struggle for me. I have so many ideas and plans of what I want to do but then I don’t have the time to implement them. Being a working mom is hard but thankfully we have a super supportive group of family and friends that are able to help out when needed. For instance, whenever I have a vendor event coming up I’m known to bribe folks with dinner to come over and help package up bows / help me get ready.

Planning things out in advance is also a challenge for me. One of these days I’ll have my social media posts and launches planned out beforehand but for now, I’ll just keep expertly winging it!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in handmade hair bows and other hair accessories such as scrunchies, big girl headbands, resin initial clips, and snap clips. I have a passion for hair flair and love finding the very best materials to create with.

I’m very proud that I’ve been able to create a successful brand. It’ll never be huge but it is exactly what I wanted it to be a creative outlet. The feedback I receive is positive and that makes my heart happy. I love seeing happy customers and that my hair accessories are a staple in their lives. I’ve put a lot of myself into this business and there was a lot of self doubt at first but thankfully it just keeps getting better! There are a couple of small boutiques that I sell wholesale too and just the fact that those business owners want to carry my product kind of validates that I’m doing a good job and my items are worthy!

From the beginning, I have always just wanted to be able to offer handmade and affordable hair accessories and I’m so lucky that I get to do that!

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Honestly, I was just a quiet, awkward kid. I had glasses, was very lanky, had long hair and crooked teeth. I loved playing “house” and taking care of others. I tried all of the sports but am pretty uncoordinated so never got far with those. I had a core group of friends but remember being pretty shy. I was never the leader and always the follower. I’ve always been a homebody and even in high school I preferred staying home and hanging out with my mom above all else.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: anorahblebows.etsy.com
• Instagram: @anorahblebows
• Facebook: @anorahblebows

Image Credits
Amanda Bullock (A. Staats Photography)