the Pamper Palace Luxury Kids Spa<\/a>, first in Ocala and now in Orlando.<\/p>\nAnderson\u2019s spa features a distinct space for Rogers\u2019 kidswear boutique; a colorful complement to the pink-everything spa, the boutique is equally as girly, filled with sparkles, glitter, and bows.<\/p>\n
But it was several years ago that Rogers, a stay-at-home mother and fashion influencer, first met Anderson in their hometown of Ocala.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember walking in and being like, \u2018Wow, this is heaven.\u2019 At that point, I didn\u2019t have my boutique yet,\u201d said Rogers.<\/p>\n
Little did she know that for Anderson, success was bigger than opening up her spa brick-and-mortar, and later, a mobile spa bus: Anderson was fresh off a divorce from her husband and raising two small children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually served divorce papers at seven months pregnant. And yeah, and my ex-husband basically said that, you know, he no longer wanted to be married,\u201d she explained. \u201cI remember being in a state of mind of saying that, \u2018I just want to cry and go to sleep and just not wake up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Even amid the dark time in her life, suffering from postpartum depression, Anderson said that she remained focused on the future\u2014for herself and her children.<\/p>\n
The former beauty queen got her real estate license, launching Anderson Home Group months later in January 2022, and used every penny of commissions to open her dream business, the children\u2019s spa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want my daughter to see me weak. I didn\u2019t want my son to see me crying constantly. I wanted them to be able to look at me and say that my mom overcame,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Yet, the divorce, Anderson conceded, took a toll on her self-esteem. It took years of therapy to regain her former confidence, leaning on family, friends and her faith in the process.<\/p>\n
And when Rogers later found herself in the same situation, after separating from her husband the same month in which she got the keys to her kidswear business, she knew who to call.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur business conversations would slowly evolve into personal life and really just self-esteem building, right? Her being able to say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve been there, girl. You can do this,\u2019\u201d Rogers said. \u201cKierra has created or given me like a sisterhood I couldn\u2019t even have imagined finding. And not just like a business partner, but to have a friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what is next, both women agree that collaboration is the key to their success.<\/p>\n
Instead of just curating children\u2019s clothing and accessories, Rogers, alongside her two daughters for whom the boutique is named, is designing pieces for their brand. The mother homeschools the two girls, River and Rai, so much time is spent in the store learning how to take inventory, order products and merchandise their wares.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Anderson is eyeing the potential for more locations, enhanced partnerships and perhaps even franchising.<\/p>\n
And while it\u2019s not all sequins, the entrepreneurs weave real-life lessons learned into their tale, from those of motherhood and sisterhood to the notion that life does not end with divorce.<\/p>\n
\u201cReality is that we go through challenges in life\u2026 sometimes life takes turns we don\u2019t expect,\u201d said Anderson. \u201cI\u2019m happy that God allowed me to connect with her because she\u2019s also a reminder of how far I\u2019ve come, you know, and that everything that I went through, it wasn\u2019t wasted. It had a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really thankful for our friendship, our partnership. And we are able now to just create whatever story that we want,\u201d said Rogers, adding, \u201cMakes me emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A second chapter can be daunting, especially after divorce. What You Need To Know Kierra Anderson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1011,1013,2031,274,558,15464,1190,15465,115,139,141,140,278],"class_list":["post-208457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-florida-inspires","tag-human-interest","tag-julie-gargotta","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}