Meet Tracy McDaniel! Tracy is a wife, mother and owner of Southern Grace, a boutique that specializes in floral design with an event space, in Flowery Branch.
“Southern Grace began officially March 10 and had been in the works before that but the main idea was to have event planning, design and decor and then be able to not lose the business of the flowers…in order to do that I needed a space that would accommodate flowers, with that you need refrigeration…I removed all the kitchen equipment and we have a boutique,” Tracy said. “The boutique evolved because this building is about 6,000 square feet of extra space and it was finding a way to involve the community and with the boutique you have the foot traffic, so we get to actually get to meet the people of Flowery Branch and the surrounding areas.”
When you walk into Southern Graces you are greeted with handmade decor, items from local vendors, local artists and the store will begin selling clothing in August.”
“The unique thing is some of my family is from here and my grandparents had a house on the lake…it’s great memories of cousins and Christmases, so Hall County has always been home, I just didn’t know it,” said Tracy, who has lived in Hall County since 2011. “A friend of mine, whose husband played for the Falcons, called me one day and told me to look at Flowery Branch and we were living in Florida at the time, she thought I would love it. I started looking at houses online and found nine in the same neighborhood that I liked. When we got to he neighborhood to look at the houses it was like sunshine and rainbows and we ended up falling in love with Flowery Branch.”
Tracy has her hands in multiple different businesses but recently she has launched Shop Local Flowery Branch, to keep locals in the know about events and activities happening locally.
“Shop Local Flowery Branch came about because we have a lot of moving parts down here and I thought there wasn’t one place for everyone to go for people to find out what’s going on but it takes a lot of effort to find out about restaurants or events down here,” she said. “We just are keeping us in the forefront and letting people know we are here and we are thriving. I love seeing people coming down from Gainesville or Alpharetta and that’s exciting. For me, Antebellum is across the street and I couldn’t have a better location across from one of the Top 100 restaurants in the country.”
We want to thank Tracy for recently spending time with us and telling us more about her life and love of Hall County.
Question: What inspired or led you to your current career?
Answer: “This is one of multiple careers for me but I feel like in my other lines of work I don’t get to have the creative side. I was doing events on the side and for friends and I was meeting great people in the industry but a lot of them just weren’t happy for one reason or another and I started asking those questions, ‘Why aren’t you happy,’ ‘What would you do differently if you could?’ I’m a fixer…and being able to have this business and I’m able to build something with my team. The successes we have is a team effort, not just one person.”
Q: Who is the most interesting person you have met in Hall County?
A: “Easily Miss Karen we call her, Karen Ching (who owns Liberty Candy Company in Flowery Branch). We met her through renovating here, you know what she things and what she feels right away. Seeing her interact with my 3 year old and her falling in love with Miss Karen, she has all grandsons, I think it really helps she owns the candy shop, too. She has that kind heart.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “I went to high school in Hawaii and I would really like to go back there and take my family. They won’t want to leave but there is something about the heart of the people there that you can’t recreate.”
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: “There’s two things that I live by, No. 1 is ‘Lift as you Climb’ as you progress and as you are doing great things it’s not real fun to be at the top of the mountain without other people there with you…so many people need that opportunity.”
Q: What three bands would you like to see dead or alive?
A: “As far as music, I really listen to anything and depends on the mood that I’m in, in the car country music because kids are in the car and rock music when I run and we just kind of listen to anything and everything.”
Q: What local business makes you most nostalgic about Hall County?
A: “For me one of the first businesses I came to was Common Grounds and I had the kids there and I think the two older ones at the time…we came to downtown Flowery Branch and I’ve always remembered that moment with them.”
Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: “Just being at the beach with my family…we lived at Egleston and the Destin beaches are always so beautiful.”
Q: What is the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
A: “It is my first and my favorite ‘Braveheart.'”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Hall County?
A: “Well of course Antebellum since it is across the street! They have been phenomenal…when my husband and I get to go on lunch dates we’ll go to Fish Tales or Crossroads.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “I do want to do a large family trip but I want to do a trip around Europe with just my husband and I.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about Hall County?
A: “Easily the people and I have just really enjoyed people here and just how proud they are. When I got the Flowery Branch items in the shop I had to reorder quickly and people are proud to be from here and listening to their stories.”
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: “I have played soccer since I was 5 and I coached competitively…I love that my kids are involved in sports in general, I think it’s important for the kids to have activities.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A: “I would hope that Southern Grace is still moving along and Shop Local Flowery Branch is even stronger, especially the Main Street is really building up and we have a lot of great people that are wanting to see great things for Flowery Branch, it’s exciting as a business owner and I think I got in at the right time.”
Q: What three words mean HOME to you?
A: “Fun, love, family.”
Interview by Abernathy Cochran Real Estate Group intern: Julia Peake
The Faces of Hall County is a project to showcase the amazing people that live or work in our community. If you would like to nominate an interesting person to be featured please email babernathy@gonorton.com.