Spotlight: Her Song has Many Hats

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day? The next time you are feeling that way, channel some inspiration from My Song Boutique owner, CFO, and designer, Sgt. Rebecca MacMillan, RN.

From day to day and week to week, she wears several hats and different fashions as she calls them. She wore her whites for her 11 pm to 7 am shift at St. John’s hospital, as a traveling nurse. She got up a couple of hours later and put on her store owner hat to work at My Song all day. Later that night she would be putting on her whites again for another shift at St. John’s. In about 3 weeks she will be donning her army greens and Sergeant hat for 5 months of training to become a behavioral therapist at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX.

Don’t discount the store name My Song as simple hyperbole. Think of it more as a guide to how she got this far.  She chose to go into the military after her marriage didn’t work out and all she had on her resume was high school graduate and housewife. She was in the army for a while before her hat was changed once again and she got called to Desert Shield. The year she spent away from her family was difficult.

“You don’t know how much it affects your family until you see their faces every time CNN comes on,” she said.

This was when she decided to take a break from the military to pursue a degree in nursing at Pitt Community College in Greenville, NC, funded by her service. She didn’t return to the military again until her children were grown. In addition to her behavioral therapy training she will be receiving training to become a Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge as part of the Sexual Assault Resource Center of the Army.

The story of how My Song boutique came to be, originated around a topic of conversation that many of us have with our friends—clothes. She and her cousin Jackie Bertolette, co-owner of the store, identified a gap in the market—clothing that would make them feel sexy and beautiful, but that could be worn to accomplish their daily tasks. It turns out they both had been sketching designs. MacMillan said, “I have $900. We can do this.” The line Luna was born.

They gave themselves a 3-year plan at the end of which, it was their goal to have a brick and mortar store. It’s year-2 and they have the store. They make it sound easy. But behind their success is a partnership that doesn’t suffer from power struggles, MacMillan said. Bertolette is the chief seamstress and is in charge of IT. This is part of the reason MacMillan will be able to remain a part of the business while she is away. She can access all of the accounts and inventory via the web, which is the way they planned it.

“We balance each other out with our strengths and weaknesses,” said MacMillan.

MacMillan is the more mobile of the 2 even between nursing and the military and can attend meetings and be places. Bertolette has the ability to do all of her IT and sewing from home if she has to. She has less flexibility as the mother of three and a son with special needs who as a 10-week old miraculously survived brain surgery and is currently a thriving and happy 3-year old, a case which stunned his doctors.

Community is extremely important to both Bertolette and MacMillan as this is where their family is.

“The military has taken me to Europe, France, Germany, and the Middle East. This little community of Willoughby embraces you and makes you feel at home. And I can tell you that is not common,” said MacMillan.

It is their goal to make the Divine Street District a place that people drive to not away from. In her free time, MacMillan said she tries to help out with the Art Walk, attends merchants meetings, and integrates with the other businesses to make it a community. She has even contributed sculpture to the area and enjoys the process of recycling pieces into art. Along with her sergeant hat she will be bringing her sewing machine to Texas to work on more pieces for Luna.

When MacMillan returns from her 5-month training in San Antonio, one of her goals is to attend more city council meetings to improve the community in which she lives in, and she will start a Masters Degree in Medical Law. Her eventual goal is to become a professor at Case Western Reserve University.

To find out more about Rebecca MacMillan, Jackie Bertolette, and their boutique My Song, visit their website at www.mysongboutique.com or call 440-918-1480.