THE COST OF A DREAM
FROM POTTERY TO PIZZA, MEET THE BUSINESS OWNERS WHO GAVE UP COMFORT TO CHASE THEIR DREAMS
Alexandra Milhous still remembers her first pottery creation: a mug that she describes as “very terrible.” The bottom of it is perfectly spherical, so it doesn’t stand, so she keeps it upside down on a shelf in her studio. The mug serves no practical purpose, but its presence, along with her other first creations, serves as a reminder of the long hours she’s put into perfecting her craft.
Milhous was in her second year at Virginia Tech when she was first introduced to pottery. Though it started as a requirement for her architecture degree, Milhous found comfort in creating with clay. Soon after taking her first pottery courses, she found herself practically living in the school’s 24-hour pottery studio.
“I don’t know when I slept, but I would go in at 2 a.m. and make till 6 a.m. and then go to class,” Milhous said. “The fact that you could take a lump of mud and turn it into this beautiful, ceramic piece that’s going to outlive yourself is just mind-blowing.”
Alexandra Milhous, owner of Firebrick Pottery. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
Alexandra Milhous, owner of Firebrick Pottery. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
After graduation, Milhous returned to Lynchburg and found herself wanting to continue making ceramics, but had a hard time finding accessible equipment and programs that fit her busy schedule. So, she focused her time and money on creating her own studio at home, often making the trek to Richmond just to buy clay. She began selling at local markets in the city, online on her Etsy shop, and even out of the trunk of her car.
As her home ceramic-selling business began to take off, Milhous came up with the idea of opening her own business: a local shop that sells pottery equipment and materials, and also includes a 24-hour studio where members can come to make their own ceramics.
Milhous knew that there was a need for a shop like hers in Lynchburg. The local pottery community was struggling with the same problems she was; they were limited to once-a-week classes and had to make the four-hour round-trip to Richmond to buy materials. Though determined to open her own pottery business, she knew she was far away from turning this dream into a reality. So, she pocketed the idea.
Enter Launch LYH.
Milhous first heard about the program in 2023, after the Downtown Lynchburg Association (DLA) announced the first-year winners. She says that after seeing the initial success of some of the businesses, she decided to apply for the second year of the program. For her, the program would determine her future. Unlike other Launch LYH participants, Milhous didn’t have a backup plan for funding her business if she did not receive the $20,000 grant.
“It didn’t really seem like a reality that was going to happen anytime soon,” Milhous said about her business idea. “I didn’t have the funds and didn’t really have a plan to come up with the funds.”
After she was accepted to the program and completed the eight-week-long business development course, Milhous had five minutes to pitch her idea to the judges. She says it was the most nerve-wracking experience of her life, but also unforgettable.
A week later, she received a call and was told she was one of the winners for 2024.
But for Milhous, this was just the start of the journey for her new business, Firebrick Pottery.
selecting a space
Immediately after winning the grant, Launch LYH winners begin the process of choosing a downtown location to open shop. The winners have described selecting a downtown storefront as one of the more difficult parts of opening a new business. To assist with this, the DLA provides winners with an available-property database, where they can sift through dozens of downtown properties and reach out to landlords.
According to the database, there are currently 35 locations in downtown available for commercial and office use. On average, Launch LYH winners said that they visited about five locations before deciding on a site.
Milhous says the process of selecting a property was time-consuming, but she wanted to make sure that she had enough room to provide both a retail and studio space for customers. She needed a space where members could access the 24-hour studio but could be restricted from accessing the front retail space during non-business hours. After Milhous visited a few locations that were not adequate for her vision, she finally settled on her spot at 1105 Main St. She says she knew right away that the area was perfect for her needs and her customers'. As soon as she signed the lease, she started redesigning the space, which she says takes a community-first approach.
“I’m very much a proponent of making where you live the place you want to be,” said Milhous, a Lynchburg native. “I’m all about investing in your community; investing where you already have roots.”
Jess Felicione, owner of Dimora. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
Jess Felicione, owner of Dimora. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
A LEAP OF FAITH
Jess Felicione is considered a transplant to the Lynchburg area. She was born and raised in Philadelphia and first came to Lynchburg in 2019 to visit her sister, Danielle. Within her first few visits, Felicione says she became enamored with the region and dreamt of moving to Lynchburg.
“I always felt like I was going to end up here one day,” said Felicione, who was working a full-time job in Pennsylvania when she had the idea to start a new business in Lynchburg.
She was pushed to pursue her business idea by her sister, who owned and operated an interior design business in the city. Having already followed the DLA’s social media accounts, she saw a post announcing the final year of the Launch LYH program.
So, she decided to drop everything and move to Lynchburg.
It was a risky decision, no doubt, but Felicione says that she was confident in her ability to open her business, Dimora, a curated home decor shop.
After going through the business education courses and pitching her business idea to the judges, she was selected as a Launch LYH winner earlier this year.
While she had no background in entrepreneurship, Felicione credits the business courses with teaching her the fundamentals and giving her a solid foundation to open her store.
“Hearing how other people approached things helped me understand their view of downtown,” Felicione said.
Now, less than nine months after moving to Lynchburg and not even a month in business, Felicione is excited to enter this new chapter in her life. She says that everything in her house has a story that she’s connected to that makes her happy; through interior design, she’s turned her space into a home and given it a soul. She hopes that her products will inspire customers to curate their homes to their liking, ultimately creating a space where they feel most comfortable and connected. The shop sells curated home decor products, including candles, linens, glassware, and more. In addition to sourcing from smaller companies around the world, Felicione also sells products from a handful of local makers.
“What’s special about selling new products is making sure they’re good materials and that they feel like they have a soul in them,” she said.
PUTTING THE BUSINESS FIRST
Receiving the $20,000 grant is just the beginning of an arduous process for Launch LYH winners. After winning the grant, businesses have a limited timeframe to open their doors, typically within 18 months of the announcement. The process includes registering the company, obtaining the specific permits or licenses required by the business type, redesigning the space, and bringing in products or supplies, among a long list of other necessities.
Of course, all of these tasks impact a business owner financially, but perhaps the most overlooked aspect of opening a business is the time commitment.
For Jacob Black, a Launch LYH winner from earlier this year, the process of opening a new business while maintaining a full-time professional career added a new level of intensity to his life.
Jacob Black, owner of Cast Iron Pizza. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
Jacob Black, owner of Cast Iron Pizza. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
“It’s been intense,” said Black, who opened his restaurant, Cast Iron Pizza, last Friday. “I’ve been in here as much as I can be, day and night, weekends.”
Between his full-time job as a hardware engineer for Innovative Wireless Technologies (IWT) and the owner of a new small business, Black was working anywhere from 60-70 hours per week before opening and expects this number to increase after seeing the success from the grand opening. But for him, the sacrifice is a no-brainer. Though he’s had a successful career as an engineer, Black says that his passion for food runs deep.
He first became interested in baking around 2019 and soon began making pizzas at home to share with friends and family. He’s been perfecting his dough recipe, a combination of a pan-style and deep-dish pizza, ever since then, and says that he still hasn’t gotten tired of eating pizza every day for the last year.
As he enters this new chapter of his life, Black says he remains committed to bringing a new pizza experience to Lynchburg, emphasizing quality, consistency, and growth.
“When I was growing up here, we almost never came downtown,” says Black, whose family moved to Lynchburg from Maryland when he was a toddler. “What makes it fun to be in a city is to see something you’re not going to see anywhere else. I think Lynchburg needs more of that, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
But grueling hours are just part of the sacrifice of making a small business work.
Jacob Laverty, who owns Squared Biscuit Co. at 522 Fifth St., also says he maintains an additional full-time job to ensure his business's needs are met. While he doesn’t pay himself as the owner of the restaurant yet, he says he uses his would-be paycheck to reinvest in the business and ensure its long-term stability.
Jacob Laverty, owner of Squared Biscuit Co. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
Jacob Laverty, owner of Squared Biscuit Co. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
“Growth is always the goal,” said Laverty, who was a 2024 Launch LYH winner and opened his business in June. “I love the community and being able to help the community in any way I can.”
LaRhonda Cashwell, owner of The Yard on 5th Street. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
LaRhonda Cashwell, owner of The Yard on 5th Street. Photo by Jacob Clavijo
Stewards of the Community
Many Launch LYH winners are either Lynchburg natives or longstanding citizens of the area. They’ve invested countless hours and thousands of dollars in the future of downtown, and many of them are committed to giving back to the community in any way they can.
When LaRhonda Cashwell and her daughter, Mekio Kelliher, decided to pursue their dream of opening a restaurant in Lynchburg, they knew that they wanted to be community-oriented. So, when they opened The Yard on 5th Street on Lynchburg’s Historic Fifth Street, they revamped the space to allow it to speak for itself.
“We wanted to make sure that we had a unifying element,” Kelliher said about the building, located at 801 Fifth St., which is part of the Fifth Street corridor that has historically supported African-American businesses. “We had to bring that back to life so that way we could make it a more inviting space.”
Since opening in September 2024, The Yard on 5th Street, a 2024 Launch LYH grant recipient, has focused its business plan on serving good food and being a good steward of its community.
Just around the corner from The Yard sits The Scrappy Elephant, located at 829 Main St., a retail store that provides communities with reclaimed materials for repurposing into various crafts and goodies.
Owner Sarah Sweet began the business in Palmyra, Virginia, back in 2020, before opening up her first brick-and-mortar location in Charlottesville in 2022. As a former art teacher with a passion for environmental causes, Sweet says that the business has allowed her to marry the two and have a positive environmental impact.
The business model revolves around creative reuse, in which discarded items are given new life and used to create new products.
“There’s so many benefits to creative reuse,” Sweet said. “It’s helpful for the environment, it’s helpful for the community, and it’s a win-win all around.”
After she opened her location in Charlottesville, Sweet says she noticed that a large portion of her customers were driving up from Lynchburg just to visit her shop. So, she decided to test out the waters for expansion to the Hill City. Eventually, she applied for Launch LYH and was announced as a winner earlier this year. Since opening their pop-up location back in April, The Scrappy Elephant has helped repurpose over 10,000 pounds of arts and craft supplies that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.
“Art is such a powerful tool for mental well-being,” Sweet said. “We all need an outlet that helps us channel all our feelings that we have.”
As many Launch LYH winners have described, making it to the ribbon-cutting ceremony doesn’t guarantee a successful business. Albeit a validation of the effort put into opening a business, grand openings are just the beginning of a new chapter. Similar to a plant, a successful business requires precise attention and careful planning. But sometimes, as many might come to find, it just isn’t the right season for growth.
UP NEXT
PART THREE
FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH
Small business owners reflect on their struggles with doing business in Downtown Lynchburg and how they have been able to stay afloat
How We Reported This Story
Jacob Clavijo met with 12 business owners across Downtown Lynchburg, including 10 Launch LYH winners, to discuss their experiences as small-business owners in the city. He also spoke with multiple people involved in coordinating Launch LYH, including members of the Virginia Small Business Development Center and the Downtown Lynchburg Association.
Built with Shorthand