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Woman of the Month: Kailey Dickerson

In our latest series, we’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month.”

Each month, we will highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Our February NYCS Woman of the Month is: Kailey Dickerson

Kailey Dickerson

Photo: Facebook via Kailey Dickerson

Kailey Dickerson, wife of country singer-songwriter, Russell Dickerson, took time out of her busy schedule to chat with New York Country Swag about her journey. Growing up in Wisconsin, the only girl in a family of five older brothers, Dickerson learned the importance of family very early.  She became an aunt when she was only eight years old and proudly explains that she now has twelve nieces and nephews, a constantly growing family. All through school, Dickerson played soccer and tennis and grew up dancing and performing in musicals, which led her to Nashville’s Belmont University where she eventually met her future husband, Russell.

Kailey Dickerson

Photo: Facebook via Kailey Dickerson

While at Belmont, Dickerson realized pretty quickly that she did not want to pursue a career in performing, but rather found a love for photography. She shot album covers and music videos, and began to follow this new direction. “I didn’t like being the performer, but I liked helping people feel better about themselves by taking pictures and hearing people be like ‘I didn’t know I could look like that in a picture,'” she tells us.   Teaching herself photoshop and how to edit videos, she credits the “fake it til you make it” method worked best for her.

“Careerwise I’ve never been the girl that’s like, ‘this is exactly what I’m going to do and this is how I’m going to do it.’  It’s always kind of happened piece by piece,” she explains.  One of her dreams was to shoot mission photography, so for two to three years she traveled the world taking pictures for all different organizations.

Launching her own photography business, Kaileyography, Dickerson shot for blogs like The Vogue Trip by Hayley Hubbard, wife of Florida Georgia Line’s, Tyler Hubbard. As well as Womanista by Cassie Kelley, wife of Lady Antebellum’s, Charles Kelley. Later, Dickerson traveled to Uganda with Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren, to take pictures of the adoption process of their beautiful baby girl, Willa Gray.

 

Willa Gray

Photo: Kailey Dickerson for People Magazine

The importance of family and her faith has always been something Dickerson kept at the forefront of her life, knowing that God would provide for her and Russell no matter what the circumstance. “Once we got married you couldn’t really tell where he ended and where I began and it was so seamless and how it had to be to make it work, because we were independent for so long. We don’t come from tons of money where our families can help and we just had to do it ourselves and we did.”

After shopping around for record labels for Russell, the couple eventually decided to release his first single, “Yours”, independently.  They shot a music video for the song with Kailey behind the camera, while God put on quite a show for them. As the video rolls, Russell walks in the rain while incredible lightning strikes behind him, creating a spectacular effect in the now famous “$6 Video”.

Dickerson traveled with her husband as his career began to skyrocket to the top. Playing several roles, fans could find Kailey working the merch table, taking pictures and videos at his shows and even driving the bus from city to city. “We would all take turns. I liked my early morning shift when the sun starts coming up. I would get my Starbucks and just start driving,” she laughs.

Kailey Dickerson

Photo: Instagram via Kailey Dickerson

Over the past two and a half years, she stayed by Russell’s side while he played over one hundred touring dates, keeping them together and their marriage strong.  As “Yours” hit the radio charts ultimately topping the charts last week and spending now two weeks at number one, Dickerson is just grateful for the incredible blessings they have achieved together.

When she is not traveling the country with Russell, she loves being home on her couch watching Gilmore Girls. She also credits everything The Bachelor/The Bachelorette as her guilty pleasure along with coffee and wine. Recently she has started writing as a creative outlet. “It is kind of removed and has nothing to do with Russell, so it’s my own little corner space. I’m in the process of writing a book. I flip flop between a book and a blog,” she explains. “I haven’t landed on where that will be yet, it’s more of the dating relationships thing that I love so much, kind of like ‘Coffee with Kailey’ turned into paper.”

We are proud to name Kailey as our February Woman of the Month and look forward to bringing you more inspiring stories, celebrating women who are pursing their passions and empowering others.

Follow Kailey’s adventures on Instagram here. For more about Kailey’s other half, husband – Russell Dickerson, follow him on Instagram here and listen to his debut album, Yours, here.

 

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Click Here to learn more about NYCountry Swag
+ Follow our Country Music Adventures on Instagram, @NYCOUNTRYSWAG!

– Team NYCountry Swag

 

 

Gracie Moakler

Woman of the Month: Gracie Moakler

In our latest series, we’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month.”

Each month, we will highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Our very first NYCS Woman of the Month is: Gracie Moakler

Gracie Moakler

Gracie, wife of country singer-songwriter Steve Moakler, runs a successful clothing business in Nashville, Tennessee.  Taking the time out of her busy schedule, the Memphis-born, Nashville-raised entrepreneur chatted with New York Country Swag about her background, doing what she loves, and being by Steve’s side to support him in his music career.

Gracie and Steve met through a mutual friend while she was finishing school at Middle Tennessee State University. The two married two years later and began their journey in chasing their dreams together.

“We had been married 2 months and I was working this sales job that was just the pits. It was horrible and I had this dream to start this handmade jewelry company where we could help women who were coming off the streets and out of recovery in Nashville,” she tells us.  Something that started off as a small venture, more of a hobby, turned into something real when Steve told her to quit her sales job and pursue her newly founded company, Miriam Designs, full time. “So, I quit my job a few months into marriage and we were living on one, very new, songwriters salary. But it was awesome. I was learning how to dream and take risks. I’m happy that happened right when we got married, because that is something we live by now.”

Gracie recalls Steve’s single, “Suitcase”, as a visual for their early years in marriage. The song suggests sharing simple experiences with the one you love and not getting caught up in all of life’s distractions.  For Steve and Gracie, who star in the song’s music video, the lyrics served as a form of reality when they bought a camper and took off across America, combining their passions and taking them on the road. “We did 40 shows in 50 days in a 1968 Winnebago, so that was our first year of marriage. I would pop-up my jewelry line every night and Steve would play his music. It was the first time we were able to incorporate our dreams together. It was so special,” she thoughtfully recollects.

As Miriam Designs grew, Moakler also taught the women she employed how to sew in efforts to help them acquire additional skills that could help them in the workplace. With two years in, Gracie watched Miriam Designs take on a new life after accepting an opportunity to merge with another local Nashville company, Fashionable. The merge would combine efforts to help provide jobs for women across the world including the U.S., Ethiopia, Peru, and Mexico. “They run my company under their umbrella and they’ve hired so many more women and just made it explode. I feel like a proud mom,” she explains. Moakler worked with Fashionable for a year to help with the transition before thinking about her next venture.

With a love for creating, Gracie soon co-founded her second company, Thread Co.  In the company’s early phases, Gracie and her friend/co-founder, Katie, wanted to create a company that could provide effortless and quality items, while offering a custom element in each design. “We were thinking, people pay to customize clothes for a wedding, for example, a suit or fancy clothes, so why would you not want a t-shirt that fits you perfectly?”  The line features basics that will make you feel great no matter your size or shape.  “We have a line of clothing that you can buy as is and then we have the line that can be customized, based on height or preference,” Gracie explains. For a personalized fitting, Customers can head to the Germantown location, where they just celebrated Thread Co’s one year anniversary this past September.

Thread Co. Gracie Moakler

Of course, Steve acts as a model for the line always wearing pieces on stage, a favorite part of this journey for the young businesswoman.  While Steve is on the road, Gracie is able to run the social media and marketing aspects of the company from his side, although she isn’t constantly traveling with him.  “When I am in town, I do a lot of shipping and fabric cutting to help Katie, since it’s just the two of us right now,” she explains.

Gracie’s goals for the company are to build and grow the brand, and eventually hopes to occupy a bigger showroom.  She would love to be able to expand the team and watch her company flourish even more.  “For me, it is kind of like dreaming again, ‘Wow, this is ours and we can make it whatever we want it to be.’ Steve and I are both in a place where we are growing our projects and supporting each other. It is just so good for the soul, I feel like it reinfused my soul!”

Check out the entire line at Thread-Co.com and follow Gracie on Instagram.

For more about Gracie’s other half, husband – Steve Moakler, be sure to check out our 5 Rising Country Stars You Should Be Listening To. 

We are thrilled to have Gracie as our first Woman of the Month and look forward to bringing you more inspiring stories, celebrating women who are pursing their dreams and empowering others.

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Thanks for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Click Here to learn more about NYCountry Swag
+ Follow our Country Music Adventures on Instagram, @NYCOUNTRYSWAG!

– Team NYCountry Swag