Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Beck.
Hi Beth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story begins as a little girl who wanted to grow up to be a horse. They gallop, leap, rear up on hind legs – all with a wild flowing mane. Who wouldn’t want to be a horse? Thankfully, my parents never told me that my dream was unattainable. In fact, they never told me who or what I couldn’t be. They let me find my own way while cheering me on every step of the way.
Today, I’m living my best life at MillHouse at the McKinney Cotton Mill. I run two non-profits supporting micro-businesswomen in creative fields with my sister, Aimee Woolverton, and soul sister, Dana Brock. I’m a PhD social scientist with 33 years at NASA, the majority served at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. My expertise is creativity through collaborative practice, citizen engagement, innovative program design, and creative problem-solving. At the end of my federal career, I moved to the historic City of McKinney to be with my family. I fully planned to enjoy retirement until a divine appointment that changed the trajectory of my life.
My sister, photographer Aimee Woolverton, worked out of the iconic century-old Cotton Mill at the time. One Saturday, not long after moving to McKinney, I met Terry Casey, the owner of the Cotton Mill. I began working with Terry and city leaders to create a culture of innovation in McKinney to attract start-ups and innovative companies. In this process, I recognized a gap in access to startup essentials for women entrepreneurs — specifically those in creative fields. In conversations with Terry over this insight, he handed me the keys to the space we occupy now and challenged me to make my vision for female artists and entrepreneurs a reality. MillHouse was born.
We opened in 2019 with one nonprofit organization, five founders, five artists, four studios, and a small kitchen in a 1500 sq ft space. Today, we have two nonprofits, three founders, 32 individual studios, two gallery studios, a dedicated collaboration suite, two shared photography studios, changing rooms, workshop/classroom space, expanded kitchen, and a private conference room with a facility footprint of 14,000 sq ft.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No startup venture is EVER smooth. I’m a data person, and data indicates the startups move forward in spits and starts. The ‘startup stress syndrome,’ as I call it, is characterized by countless sleepless nights, panic attacks, and what-was-I-thinking moments, as well as the yearning for a steady paycheck, paid vacation, and stress-free evenings and weekends. The good news: with persistence, shared purpose, and intentional decision-making, these issues aren’t showstoppers. Startup concepts have enormous potential to make it through the initial stages to mature into thriving businesses…in time.
For us, our MillHouse origin is a case study in how not to do business. We started backward with a brick-and-mortar facility and only an idea of how to occupy the space. Who does that? Clearly, we did. The original founders brought to the table a wealth of experience from varied backgrounds – a necessity for the novel creative collaboration concept we envisioned. We managed to weather the 2020 global pandemic and stayed afloat; however, we adopted a reduced revenue profile to address the post-covid world order with financial aftershocks from closures, mandates, and health protocols. Yet, despite our seemingly bleak circumstances, we more than doubled our facility footprint and grew our community events from two festivals to fifteen festivals and markets – thanks to the support from the Cotton Mill Partners.
We’re now in our sixth year of business. Our mission hasn’t changed. How we accomplish our mission, however, continues to change as we adapt to the needs of our clients and adjust to address economic pressures caused by supply chain price hikes, inflation, member health issues, and job loss. We see these issues affecting women disproportionately. From our perspective, women are the linch-pin of the family. We juggle everyone else’s needs and struggle to make time for our own dreams. At MillHouse, we believe that when women rise, so do our families and communities. For this reason, we endeavor to lift women up and help them not only thrive, but FLOURISH!
MillHouse is designed by women for women. Ladies, if you live in the DFW/North Texas area, come see us. We’d love to give you a tour!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We run sister nonprofits, MillHouse Foundation and MillHouse McKinney. Both organizations support micro-business owners in creative fields. We focus on women; however, anyone can participate in our events. All our programs seek to enhance earning potential by showcasing work, growing and sharing skills, and offering collaborative opportunities. Our model is based on the concept that women create best in a collaborative setting.
MillHouse Foundation, our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, manages our festivals and events. This year, we’re hosting summer and winter two-day fine art festivals, a two-day mural and music festival, and nine-second Saturday artisan markets. In April of each year, we work with the City of McKinney and several city art groups to coordinate art demos at the Arts in Bloom Festival. For the first time, we’re the featured organization for the annual International Postcard Art Exhibit (formerly the Twitter Art Exhibit). The call for 5×7 original postcard art is open through July, and the exhibition and sale will open at the McKinney Cotton Mill September 21.
MillHouse McKinney, our 501(c)(6) membership-based business league, manages our 14,000 sq ft facility for women in creative fields – artists, photographers, writers, printmakers, designers, and more. We have 32 individual studios, a collaboration suite for co-working, two shared photography studios, workshop and classroom space, and kitchen. We offer a weekly speaker series, skill-enhancement workshops, and business mentor opportunities. We encourage each MillHouse member to start where she is comfortable and grow as slowly or quickly as she determines works best for her business. Members can begin as co-workers in our collaboration suite, step up to a 24/7 open studio space, then graduate to a larger private studio – at their own pace. We love watching members help one another with tips on pricing, marketing, client management – whatever is the greatest need. The best, for me, is when members collaborate to devise ideas for joint projects that highlight complementary skills and experiences.
Creative collaboration takes the shape of the individuals who engage with one another to bring about new outcomes. We’re always curious to see what unique shapes arise as members work alongside one another at MillHouse. Come and see for yourself if you haven’t visited us at MillHouse.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Cotton Mill Partners Terry Casey and his sons, McCall and Chandler! Without Terry, MillHouse wouldn’t exist. His generosity knows no bounds. He is a visionary who rescued the Cotton Mill almost three decades ago and stewarded the maintenance and repair through the years – shoring up rotten structural beams; updating the roof and French drains; replacing boarded-up ventilation vent openings with windows; installing electricity, HVAC, and lighting; and more to infuse life into the century-old historic facility that once introduced prosperity into the McKinney community. Now Terry, McCall, and Chandler are building out unused sections of the Cotton Mill for artists, potters, musicians, lawyers, investors, and wedding coordinators. We even have a bustling coffee shop next door to MillHouse. If you haven’t visited the McKinney Cotton Mill, it’s time. You’ll be amazed at the gorgeous architecture.
MillHouse co-founders photographer Aimee Woolverton and artist/jeweler Dana Brock work tirelessly to keep both organizations running smoothly day in and day out. Art Curator for MillHouse, Dana manages our fine art festivals and festival social media, member exhibits, and Boutique Shoppe product showcase, as well as bookkeeping for both nonprofits. Creative Services Director Aimee Woolverton manages speaker and workshop programming, nine artisan markets, and social media and shares the heavy lifting for our annual mural festival with me. MuralFest is our gift to the community and keeps us hopping all year just to get it going. Photographer Jamie House, our MillHouse Photography Studio Manager, has been with us since the beginning and stepped up to take the studio equipment and booking coordination off Aimee’s plate. Celeste Seitz, Alli Koch, and Meredith Sevin, all MillHouse members, serve on the MuralFest coordination team. Without them, we couldn’t make MuralFest a reality. MillHouse Studio Artist Robin Pedrero is instrumental for bringing the International Postcard Art Exhibit to MillHouse. She served as curator a decade ago in Orlando and nominated MillHouse for the 2024 event. She serves as curator and opens mail every day to see the awesome work coming to MillHouse from around the world.
Special thanks to our Foundation Board members who’ve been with us since before we opened our doors at MillHouse: Gail Delger, Dana Brock, Andrea Holmes, and Lisa Temple. We owe a debt of gratitude to our original founding team, Christine Atkins Smith, Rachel Lawley, Carol Beck, and Aimee Woolverton, and our original Founding Members Kelly Buettner, Karen Klassen, Jessica Rattan, Christy Owen, and Tish Reynolds.
Pricing:
- MillHouse Collaboration Membership $100/mo (Bring laptop)
- MillHouse ArtBlock Membership $125/mo (Bring paintbrush)
- MillHouse LightBlock Membership $125/mo (Bring camera)
- MillHouse Open Studios (24/7 key access) start at $275/mo
- MillHouse Private Studios (24/7 key access) start at $400/mo
Contact Info:
- Website: https://millhousemckinney.com, https://millhousefoundation.org, https://bethbeck.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millhousemckinney, https://www.instagram.com/drbethbeck
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/millhousemckinney
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/millhousemck, https://twitter.com/bethbeck
Image Credits
Jamie House Photography
Dr. Beth Beck
