Today we’d like to introduce you to Dara Buczynsky.
Hi Dara, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey as a retailer actually started as the result of failing as a volunteer fundraiser for causes I was and still am passionate about. As an adoptive parent of an amazing daughter, I saw the alternate and devastating reality of orphaned children in Ukraine and other countries who aged out of institutional systems at age 15. Unprepared for the ‘real world’ they easily succumbed to alcoholism, drug addiction, became victims of rape, and were sold into the sex trafficking industry. My heart was broken as I traveled internationally, visiting and searching for organizations doing the ‘most good for His (God’s) glory’. While I found that many nonprofits and ministries were making a difference in the lives of teenage orphans, their reach and life-changing influence was severely limited due to lack of funding.
I had always loved pretty things, and especially clothing and putting together outfits that were true to ‘me’ One day, as I was lamenting to a friend about my inability to motivate people to open their wallets to give to my causes, she challenged me with these words, “Dara, you love Jesus, you love orphans, and you love clothes……do something with THAT!’. So began the journey to combine my entrepreneurial spirit and fashion sense into something that would also support not only causes near and dear to my heart, but would meet needs in my own community and beyond.
We opened in downtown Athens, GA in August 2014 as part of a small boutique franchise, and after two years, we had the opportunity to become an independent retailer. Within two weeks, we had new branding and re-opened under the name ‘Epiphany’. Our business model is to partner with our customers through a retail platform to be generous givers to organizations that meet the ‘needs of the least of these’ (Matthew 25:40) both in our local communities and around the globe. We do this by curating beautiful clothing, shoes, jewelry, home goods, and gifts and offering a unique and aesthetically pleasing shopping environment complete with original art installations and a prayer chapel.
In November 2019, we opened a second location in thriving downtown Monroe, GA. We grew during the challenging times of the Covid shutdown by going ‘live’ on our social media platforms with outfit try-ons, inspiration, and a heavy dose of humor! Our growing online platform has become a huge addition to our two brick-and-mortar stores.
To date, we have given over $600,000.00 to organizations such as International Justice Mission, Downtown Academy, Mercy Health Center, Kupendwa, Ekisa, and CURE to name just a few of our partner nonprofit organizations meeting the needs of sex trafficking victims, special need orphans, the medically uninsured, and the least likely to finish their education. But perhaps as equally meaningful to us is the relationships we have made with both our customers and the college-age young women who have worked with us over the years.
Awakening to life in Christ is the ‘epiphany’ we want everyone to experience, discovering that neither our brokenness or our goodness is significant in comparison to how God sees us. Our tagline, “He Decides I’m Beautiful’ expresses our desire that every woman with whom we have contact come to understand the innate beauty she holds within and expresses without.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road, and the early years were particularly difficult when operating under franchise guidelines that didn’t serve us well and impeded growth while costing us financially. Paying back a sizable loan we made using our home as collateral was scary at times, but God has always held our business tenderly and provided wise advisors, an amazing team who always ‘got’ who we are and what we are about. Having no business experience at the outset was both a blessing and a curse. I probably didn’t know enough to be terrified that we would fail and believed if we treated customers as we would want to be treated, creating relationships in our community, and being clear on our mission and values we would make it.
While Covid was an uncertain time universally, it was also an uncertain time for the future of our business. Hitting ‘pause’ on the daily ‘grind’ of operating two brick-and-mortar stores allowed time for reflection and re-assessment as well as an opportunity to develop our primitive skills by recording video outfit try-on sessions. Our regular social media posts became a source of encouragement, laughter, and styling hacks for people who were experiencing isolation and sadness. Three years later, we have grown our social media following and have somewhat of a ‘cult’ following for our ‘lives’, which sometimes go sideways with hysterical results! I truly believe that God brings good from the hard, and we’ve seen that time and again in our business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We provide a highly curated selection of apparel, shoes, handbags, jewelry, home goods, and gifts for women of all ages, inviting them through their purchases to participate in our mission of being generous givers to both local and global organizations meeting the needs of “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40). We are known for the exceptional care we give our customers through helping them create outfits that reflect their Individual style, find a unique gift for a loved one, or encourage them by being present as a listening ear, a heartfelt hug or a good laugh.
I’m most proud of meeting the challenge of using my love for ‘pretty things’ to help people in desperate conditions. I am continually amazed and grateful that God would allow me to be a part of what began as a heart broken for what breaks HIs own heart. Our outward expression of our faith in God through the care of our customers and each other, our prayer wall, music played in the store, and scripture on our walls, as well as our giving, all set us apart in the consumer-saturated retail market.
Fashion will always be fun for me, but what a joy to work with amazing women of all ages for the common good!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I have had several like-minded friends who operate brick-and-mortar boutiques. It has been encouraging to have a safe place to share the highs and lows, frustrations, and victories with people walking a similar path. It seems that when one of us is ‘up’ the other is ‘down’ and we can take turns cheering each other on with sound advice, wisdom, and ideas shared.
I have also joined several entrepreneurial groups but it took some tries before I found ‘my people’. Savvy Shopkeepers (savvyshopkeeper.com) and particularly the coaching group within Savvy Shopkeepers called Master Shopkeepers has been a huge source of business learning for me. Kathy Cruz, the CEO, has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs based on her own experience and research, providing formulas specific to indie retailers that have helped me understand our numbers and make data-driven decisions for business growth. Being connected to retailers across the country through this group has been a huge source of information and encouragement.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.epiphanyathens.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epiphanyathens/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epiphanyathens/
Image Credits
Gabbie Kline
