Marie Esposti-Winter is the definition of girl boss — a term coined by Sofia Amoruso, who founded the online clothing site, Nasty Gal in the 2010s. The archetype of a girl boss is a woman who is an entrepreneur, she’s in control and she’s hard working.
The wife, mother of two, and owner of HushUp Clothing Boutique and Hush Kids in downtown Windsor, is just that. She knows how to handle business and she doesn’t plan on retiring … ever. She loves what she does and her shops give her purpose.
“I’ll work until I can’t work anymore,” she said.
When the third generation Windsor resident, 48, reflects on her success, she thinks about her grandfather, Nick Esposti, who was a Sonoma County supervisor for 16 years and was the first honorary citizen of the town of Windsor.
“He was credited with helping to spur Windsor’s coming of age from its former designation as ‘Poor Man’s Flat’ to the family-friendly town that incorporated in 1992 … Some observers even dubbed Windsor ‘Espostiville’ after a growth boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That included years when the number of new homes being built hovered around 1,000 per year and overwhelmed the area’s sewer, road and school systems,“ notes a Press Democrat article on Esposti’s death in 2015.
“I mean, I don’t know where Windsor would be without him,” Esposti-Winter said of her grandfather.
Before she became a Windsor boutique owner, Esposti-Winter was a hairstylist. The Santa Rosa native attended Lytle’s Cosmetology School in Santa Rosa and opened The Loft Salon in Fountaingrove in 2008.
“I love to make people feel pretty. That’s inspiring to me is to make somebody else feel good and pretty about themselves. And hair is a big thing that transforms somebody,” she said.
Esposti-Winter and her business partner were doing well, she said, and business was growing unit 2017 brought everything to a halt. The salon was in the path of the Tubbs Fire and was one of the many structures that burned.
After losing the salon, the two decided not to rebuild and ended their business partnership.
Running 2 clothing stores in Windsor
Esposti-Winter was ready for a career change, but still wanted to be her own boss. Her sights were set on the fashion and retail industry.
She was already familiar with the fashion world, having visited trunk shows and bought pieces to sell on clothing racks at her hair salon.
“I wanted to take the fashion route,” she said of the switch. “People feel great about themselves (when they find an outfit they like.).”
In 2018 she heard a boutique was for sale in downtown Windsor. After checking out the store and talking it over with her husband, Esposti-Winter put in an offer.
“I wasn’t going to let anyone [else] buy it,” she said.
The process to buy the space took four months.
The former owner gave Esposti-Winter insights on how to run a boutique and advice on how to keep business going.
While working at the boutique and talking with customers, Esposti-Winter started noticing more families were moving into town. By this time, she had been living in Windsor for 24 years and knew how special the town was particularly for growing families.
Knowing how family friendly Windsor was, she opened Hush Kids, a children’s boutique, in 2020.
“I just love to work and I love to be out in the community. I love the town of Windsor. I walk back and forth from the kids’ store to the women’s store,” she said.
HushUp Clothing Boutique and Hush Kids are about a two-minute walk from one another.
Esposti-Winter said while she never thought she’d be a boutique owner, she now thinks she has the hang of it.
During the pandemic, HushUp Clothing Boutique was able to pivot to online orders while nonessential businesses were closed. The website sells clothes for women, babies and kids. They also sell accessories and home décor items.
When thinking about that time, one word came to Esposti-Winter’s mind: Scary.
“Everybody was already online and I was missing out on all of the sales. But my husband and I figured out how to do an online website for shopping and store pickup,” she said. “It was a risk opening the kids’ store in the pandemic, but I’m a risk taker.”
One thing she is also passionate about is giving back to the community she loves so much. Her boutiques have donated items for silent auctions, provided clothing for runway shows and she’s purchased tables for local charity events including Catwalk for a Cure and High Heels for Hope.
HushUp also offers discounts for teachers, first responders and veterans.
There’s a village behind her
Something that helps Esposti-Winter stay grounded is her large support system of family and friends. Four family members and four friends work at the stores.
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