I still remember the first day that I ever got to paint something! Coming from a long line of Philly painters, it's all I ever seen all the men in my family do. I was about 7 years old when my father handed me and my little sister a paint brush for the first time & told us we could paint the shed. I still remember the excitement that ran through me at that moment. As I looked at my sister with a grin from ear to ear we ran outside as fast as we could with a brush in one hand and a paint can in the other. It took us all day to paint this tiny little shed but we were so proud of the transformation of the ugly shed to what now looked brand new. I'll never forget that moment, the moment I fell in love with painting.

As we stepped back and appreciated our work, our grandfather came out and said “what are you doing having them girls paint the shed!” questioning my father. He believed as little girls we shouldn't do “men's work”. However, my dad always encouraged us that we could do whatever we wanted! I was always so curious when it came to working on anything. If he was building something, I was there watching. If he was working on his car, I was there watching. If he was working on his boat, I was there watching. Always ready to help out any way i could. Thankfully for him, I believed and still believe that I can do ANYTHING!

Even at a young age I knew I wanted to be a business owner. On the weekends I would sell lemonade, or go to thrift stores and buy things I could resell at yard sales. I loved being able to meet new people while earning enough money to buy all the candy and toys i wanted without mom saying no lol. Going into high school the entrepreneur in me screamed at me to apply to Franklin Learning Center since I could major in business. I was ecstatic when I got my approval letter! I learned a lot in 4 years and when I graduated I was so ready to put that all to use. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't think of a business that I felt like I loved enough to invest all of my time into so instead I went back to school and got certified to be a licensed health insurance agent. At just 21 years old in 2015 I started making $20 an hour with opportunities to get bonuses making up to $35 an hour! It felt unreal, I never thought I would make that much money without going to college.

Although the money was amazing, I hated the job. It felt like I had to trick people into buying insurance plans that they would never even use or need, and if they did need them they would have to hit a huge deductible before the insurance would ever even kick in. It all felt like a big scam to me. Then one day on the way to work I got into a really bad 3 car accident, my car flipped over causing me to break my neck. I was unable to work and therefore they fired me or in their words “had to replace my seat”. It felt terrible, I lost my car, I lost mobility of my neck, and I lost my good paying job.

I fell into a bad depression and didnt see how things could get better. A few months later my grandfather had to retire from his painting business so my dad took over. My dad hired my husband since he was also a painter. My grandfather suggested to my dad to also bring me in and let me help him. At the time my grandfather had a contract with off campus housing for University of Penn so my dad was going to need all the help he could get! I was so excited to be able to be back to work and I was doing something I loved around people I loved. It was an amazing experience that I will always cherish. I learned so much working alongside them everyday. It was so much more than just painting our own home but even though it was hard work I still loved it all the same.

Eventually my father decided that running the business wasn't for him so my husband and I decided to open our own. In June of 2018 All in the Family Painting was up and running! My husband and I knew we wanted to include our families in our business and pass the family feel to our customers. We were having a great time until 2021, covid hit us hard. Many residential jobs we had scheduled were canceled and even most of our commercial work was put on hold. My husband decided he wanted to start painting cars to make sure we could make ends meet.

 A few weeks later interior painters were put on the essential workers list so I decided to keep the business going. I couldn't give up on doing something I loved so much. I ordered tons of gloves, masks, boot covers, lysol, disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizer. I called everyone that canceled on us and explained my plan to keep everyone safe while we worked and got 90% of our work back on schedule and just like that we were back on track!

In 2023 I was awarded Best of Delco without even knowing we were in the running! In 2024 I won Neighborhood favorite! Its truly such an honor but I couldn't have done it without my great crew by my side. I have loved every part of this journey and am so thankful that I get to wake up everyday to do something I love while making other people happy. Although being a woman owned business in a male dominant field has been tough, i always love a challenge. I am truly blessed for my community believing in my small business and allowing us to transform their spaces. I will continue to treat all of my customers just like family and go above and beyond wherever I can! I'm excited to see where this journey continues to take me and hope to be able to meet many more great people in my community!