How Three Asheville Women Filled A Need In Their Community With ‘The Stir’

Katie McDonald, Sabrina Hill, and Samantha Coffin, three business owners from Asheville, North Carolina, saw a need in their community of entrepreneurs. They sought out to create a collaborative workspace that would help them fulfill inventory and business needs that the three could also afford. Together, the three created The Stir, a communal kitchen, office, and creative hub designed to improve efficiency and mitigate space rental costs.

Katie, founder of Full Moon Tea Company, found it difficult to sustain her business renting out office space that placed limits on the amount of days and hours she could spend there. She and Samantha, founder of Matcha Nude, connected while renting from the same women-owned business. They aligned on understanding entrepreneurs needed their own space to increase the efficiency of running their growing businesses.

“I was running my business out of five different locations, somebody else was co-packing my tea, all of my market stuff was somewhere else, I was doing fulfillment in my home office, and [there were] floor to ceiling packing materials and bins of tea,” Katie said.

When the kitchen Katie and Samantha used lost its lease, they had 30 days to find a new space. Instead of scrambling solo, they teamed up and started looking for a solution together.

Hurricane Helene had also swept through the Southeast, forcing small business owners across the region to pivot quickly and creatively.

Around this time they connected with Sabrina, founder of Spice Witch, who was also searching for her own kitchen space. The three founders pooled their resources, secured a space, and transformed a potential setback to the beginning of The Stir.

In 2020, Asheville News reported that women owned 43.4% of businesses in Asheville, ranking them ninth in female business ownership among midsize US Metropolitan Areas at the time. This large community created a pathway for Katie, Sabrina, and Samantha to not only foster their relationship rooted in shared values, but also let them know how The Stir can help others. 

“A lot of our businesses are female run, like Poppy Popcorn [and] Ginger’s Revenge,” Sabrina said. “I didn’t realize why I was moving here, but I quickly learned it’s because this is where all the bada** women run businesses.”

Their spring launch and ribbon cutting event opened the Asheville community up to The Stir. The community welcomed them, expressing the need for a business model like theirs.

“We had so many people come out, all different kinds of community members, Chamber of Commerce bigwigs, people that run different kinds of community organizations,” Katie sazid. “Media was there. There was a rep from Sam Club’s there.”

Collaborating on The Stir created an opportunity for Katie, Sabrina, and Samantha to learn from each other. They serve as taste testers for each other’s products, and also meet in person once a month for lunch to bounce ideas off of each other that help both The Stir and their respective businesses.

The three also understand the importance of not comparing one’s business to one another. This security only further cements the intentions of their friendship, which bleeds into the intentions in their friendship, which bleeds into the intentions of The Stir.

WIth its doors open to the public, The Stir hopes to provide physical, emotional and business support to other entrepreneurs. They have to empower other women in their community to bring their niche ideas to life. 

“Our model is something I see other people replicating, especially as new startups come in and they’re facing the same challenge, we can propose our solution,” said Samantha.