Brooke and her bother (Tanner) at their dad’s body shop, 1997.
Go back in time with me to October 2005. It was the middle of the night. I was fifteen years old. I had just gotten caught—with two of my friends—sneaking out of the house. Of course, my parents were not happy. In fact, my dad was so upset with me, he told me I was going to have to come work at his shop. The thought of working at a body shop sounded less than desirable (I think most teenage girls would have agreed). My dad owned a body shop for over 30 years. He happily retired a few years ago, but I have plenty of childhood memories at his shop. I vividly remember the smell of paint, the constant phone ringing, watching my dad park eight cars inside a space that most people would never consider pulling more than two cars into. Why am I telling this story? Because as you can see, we are featuring an auto body shop on our cover this month—a woman-owned body shop. Sandra Scarlette has owned Pat’s Body Shop for 25 years! How cool is that? In addition to running a successful body shop, she started Scarlette’s Performance & Parts. You can read all about Sandra and her thriving businesses on page 68. Forsyth Woman loves celebrating women—and I especially love to see a woman earning respect and success in a male-dominated industry.
Our team is still on cloud 9 from our inaugural Women on the Move Conference! It was an amazing day that won’t be soon forgotten. You can check out photos from the event and see the 2023 event date HERE! Megan Black Photography did an amazing job capturing the day on her camera. If you missed it this year, we sincerely hope you can join us in 2023. Stay tuned to our social media for update (@forsythmags).
MEGAN BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY
In addition to our feature on Sandra at Pat’s Body Shop, our May issue is packed full of local content for your enjoyment! One of my personal favorite articles in this issue features FIVE local mother-daughter owned businesses… you can read all about these ladies HERE.
Last but certainly not least, there are some pretty cute babies featured in our celebration section this month. Not one, not even two, but THREE of my girlfriends had babies within the last couple of months. And one of those sweet babies shares a birthday with me!
Congratulations to Cassie and Zack (proud parents of Lane, my birthday twin)
Taylor and Zane (proud parents of Navie)
and Ashley and Ben (proud parents of Dawson).
Wishing a very Happy Mother’s Day to all three of you!
Speaking of Mother’s Day, I would be remiss to not give a shout out to my amazing momma! She’s full of passion, love and kindness and her brain never stops thinking of new business ideas (did you hear our big news?! You can click here to learn more about our newest publication). The older I get, the more similar I see that we are. What a blessing to have been raised by this woman and to be running a business alongside her.
Wishing ALL the moms out there a very Happy Mother’s Day and an awesome month of May—I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get on the water and kick off this summer!
All my best,
Brooke
