WOMEN OF WISDOM IN JULY

On August 1st of 1977, I opened the first Phoenix in Charlottesville, Virginia on a dream and a shoestring.

And now here we are, beginning our 49th year in business!

I am grateful for the loyalty of you, my dear customers.

I am joyful when i see women find something they love.

I am happy when customers stop by to say hello and ask how I am.

I am comforted when I am down and women ask what can they do to help.

I am cheered on when customers say you can never close.

I am excited when new merchandise arrives.

I am challenged when business is off and I try to think of new ideas.

I am elated to be always learning from my work.

I enjoy looking for new lines and products to keep the store interesting.

I always want to stay creative and relative.

I want to embrace all sizes and ages so everyone can have beautiful well made clothing.

I love putting clothes together for women, especially the ones who say "i could never wear that" and then are happy when they find a new style that transforms them.

I am grateful for my employees and interns and love them dearly.

I am blessed to still be doing something that I love.

Looking back after these 48 years in business, it has been a fun, crazy, challenging, wild ride. Each and every day at work I am inspired and comforted by the customers who share their lives with me. That is what keeps me going.

I care about what I do and I love all of you.

I am so thankful for the many wonderful friendships I have made with women I have met from the shop.

I am beyond happy, blessed, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the last 48 years...

here's to a few more!!

 "WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN. IT'S NOT A COMPETITION; IT'S A COLLABORATION."

Judith Bice was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She attended college in North Carolina before completing her B.A. in education at the University of Richmond and receiving her Master of Music from V.C.U. in piano pedagogy. She has enjoyed a dual career as an educator and musician, with one of her proudest accomplishments being the creation of a successful after-school academic and enrichment program for underserved students. Not wanting to give up her commitment to quality education when she left the classroom, she has served two terms on the board of The Children’s Center at St. James’s, an amazing and affordable early education center in the Fan.

For the last ten years she has enjoyed getting back to her musical roots by accompanying dancers at The Richmond Ballet while pursuing her love of writing,  discovering surprising connections between the two art forms. Her first novel, Hey, White Girl, was published in 2021, and turned into an audio book in 2022.  It is inspired by her own busing experience in the 1970s, her observations as a classroom teacher, and her growing awareness of what it means to be white. She is currently working on her second novel.

“The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs.” ― Shannon L. Alder

Hello! My name is Kate McKee, also known as Kate #2. I am currently working at The Phoenix as a Social Media Intern, as well as serving at the new Allianz Amphitheater. On the side I work as a freelance social media manager for a local bourbon company, Three Keys Distillery. I graduated from VCU in 2024 with a degree in Creative Advertising. Since working at The Phoenix I have developed many new skillsets such as e-mail marketing, photography, flyer design, and online store sales via Instagram Shop and our website. 

In the past few months Kate McCarthy has taught me so much and been such an inspiration, mentor, and friend. One of the greatest lessons she has taught me is the importance of attention to detail. I am learning so many incredible career and life lessons at The Phoenix, and eternally grateful for my experience with this company. Just having so much fun, and excited for what is to come!!

WE CAN DO NO GREAT THINGS, ONLY SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE" - MOTHER THERESA

Anna Galusha Aquino, a native of Petersburg, Virginia,  earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in ecology from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science in Horticulture from Virginia Tech. In 1991 she achieved a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. After training with Ralph Higgins Landscape Architects (now HG Design Studio), she struck out on her own in the mid-nineties to form Botanica, Inc., a boutique landscape design business based in Richmond.

Inspired to help others experience the power and beauty of creating outdoor environments, she served on the adjunct faculty of George Washington University’s Richmond-based landscape design program for seven years. Anna mentored children at Chimborazo Elementary School, which led to making gardens and one outdoor classroom at eight Richmond schools, six of them public schools in underserved neighborhoods. Communities In Schools awarded Anna their Volunteer Superhero Certificate for her work at Chimborazo Elementary. Anna assisted with art instruction at Martin Luther King Middle School and counseled summer camp at Fairfield Court Elementary.

She currently serves on the board of Challenge Discovery Projects in Church Hill, an organization committed to providing services for improved emotional health of children and their families. In 2001 Richmond’s Tree Commissioner selected Anna and former Capital Trees board member Mary Glen Taylor to design the tree planting for the medians of Monument Avenue, a project she provided pro bono for the city. Richmond City Council honored them at a council meeting with its award for Excellence in Community Volunteerism.

Over her career, Anna has been dedicated to partnering with Richmond Parks and Recreation Department, volunteering her time and talents on various projects, most especially as a board member of the James River Park Invasive Plant Task Force. In 2016 she began working with Richmond’s Capital Trees, a nonprofit dedicated to building public landscapes equitably, and later joined the Board of Trustees. As former chair of the organization’s Projects Committee, she introduced and implemented organic and sustainable management of its public landscape projects, guidelines strictly held by Capital Trees today.

Anna designed, built, and helps manage the Boxwood Garden club’s donation of a predominantly native plant garden surrounding the playground at Peter Paul, a neighborhood development center which provides afterschool and seniors programming in Richmond’s East End. The project won Garden Club of Virginia’s 2019 Common Wealth Award. In 2020 Anna was awarded the deLacy Gray Medal of Conservation for her contributions to environmental matters and later the statewide Horticulture Award, and now serves on the GCV Conservation Committee and Legislative Subcommittee working to get conservation bills passed by the Virginia Legislature.

She has served for several years with the Virginia Department of Forestry’s volunteer professional board, Trees Virginia, in the horticulture chair. Anna sits on the Steering Committee as Chair of Facilities and Grounds for Petersburg Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a nonprofit building a new animal shelter in her hometown. In 2020, Anna became cochair of the Xerces Society’s Bee City Initiative, and in December 2023 Richmond City Council passed the Bee City Resolution, making Richmond an official Bee City USA. .

For Anna, the best times happen outside, and her interests enduringly lie in creating great outdoor places where people live and work. Anna and her husband, architect Charles Aquino, live in Richmond and on the Chesapeake Bay with their beloved dogs.

"LOVE YOURSELF FIRST AND EVERYTHING ELSE FALLS IN LINE" - LUCILLE BALL