Meet Quinn Mcilhargey.
Owner / Designer of BAQETTE.
"Find a community of fellow entrepreneurs to help you keep your vision & goals alive!"
Baqette is a small, woman-owned business creating & curating leather pieces to inspire your everyday life.
Q: What makes Cincinnati a great place to start a business?
A: Two things come to mind: cost of living and creative opportunity. Everything here feels accessible- to try, succeed or fail- there is so much room for creativity here and a creative community to support ideas and new ventures.
Q: How will the Main Street Ventures Grant impact you and your business?
A: I will be able to acquire machines that will help increase production speed & consistency and be able to hire consistent help!
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give a young entrepreneur in Greater Cincinnati?
A: Keep Going! There are so many peers that become successful right away, others take more time, but try not to compare your journey, but glean information and experiences that you can apply to your role/business.
Q: What does a typical day in your life look like?
A: Wake up, enjoy coffee on the porch, then knock out the list of priorities til dinnertime. Each day is different: I could be cutting bag templates, sewing straps, working on Instagram marketing, making a reel, re-organizing the studio, or focused in on an order and sending it out!
Q: What’s a recent book, podcast, or news story that you found interesting?
A: I'm always inspired by the podcast "Second Life by Hillary Kerr." Hillary Kerr is a founder of WhoWhatWear and interviews inspiring women who have taken career risks or gone through many different career variations before landing in their current successful roles. Hearing other people's stories is always inspiring and invigorating- especially when their path is unexpected. As a one-woman business, it is crucial for me to stay inspired and work towards my goals- community is so important!
Q: What is next for BAQETTE?
A: More! Hoping to get into more shops around Cincinnati, expand my product line, and hopefully move into a bigger studio space in the near future :)