In honor of Women’s History Month, The Michigan Daily’s business beat spent the month speaking with women business owners throughout Ann Arbor about their journey, their connection to the community and their legacy. Read the other stories here.

Whether you are shopping for classy gold jewelry, sparkly cocktail-themed Christmas ornaments or realistic food-shaped candles, owner Diana Marsh promises that you don’t have to look any further than Thistle & Bess, a funky store full of surprises. Located on Ann Arbor’s 4th Avenue on the outskirts of the Kerrytown District, Thistle & Bess opened a physical location in 2015 after making its mark as an online antique jewelry store.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Marsh spoke about graduating from The University of Michigan before heading down the path that led her to achieve her dreams of opening her own store — including a stop in New York City.

“So I actually went to college (at the University of Michigan) … and then I moved to New York City and taught elementary school there for 11 years,” Marsh said. “While I was there, I dreamed about opening a store and started dabbling in vintage jewelry and selling that online on Etsy and doing some different trade shows and things like that. Because I’m actually from (the Ann Arbor) area — I grew up here — (it was) kind of a dream that one day I’d come back.”

When visiting Ann Arbor for a holiday vacation, Marsh stumbled across a quaint Kerrytown storefront that was vacant at the time, but is now home to Thistle & Bess. Marsh soon quit her teaching job and moved back to Ann Arbor to open the shop, expanding the variety of products she was selling online from vintage and antique jewelry to other independently-made trinkets from multiple vendors. 

“Vintage and antique jewelry was something that I was really excited about and loved collecting,” Marsh said. “So that’s kind of what naturally led to me wanting to sell it and then open a store as well. I kind of like curating little collections of things and always have loved doing that in my home even before I owned the store. So it’s kind of an extension of that.”

Although owning a business allows Marsh to do what she loves, it has not come without its fair share of challenges, she said. 

“I think that running a small business is not for the faint of heart,” Marsh said. “Put in a pandemic and all those challenges, it’s been an interesting last few years … There’s just so many unknowns in running a small business and while you can be the most organized and on top of everything, you just never know what’s going to happen day to day, so I guess it sometimes feels like a gamble, which can be very scary.”

Despite these challenges, Marsh said the community she has found being an entrepreneur in Ann Arbor has helped to balance out the stress she faces.

“I’m lucky to have such a loyal community and a supportive community and I think the city of Ann Arbor really values small business, which is important,” Marsh said. “Overall, the rewards in being creative and getting to do my own thing and create my own little space outweighs the stress … at least so far.”

With women-owned businesses still making up a minority of businesses in the U.S., Marsh said she believes it is especially important for women in business to stick together and help each other reach their goals.

“Since I’ve been in business, I’ve banded together with a lot of other women business owners to kind of help one another and lift one another up,” Marsh said. “I like to partner with other women-owned businesses and collaborate and do things together. I think that helps make things feel fresh and exciting, but it also helps all of us promote ourselves and do some exciting things together.”

Daily Staff Reporter Mary Corey can be reached at mcorey@umich.edu.