Stephanie Summerson Hall grew up a street over from her grandmother Estelle’s house—a place where she always knew she would be greeted with a warm hug and a homemade meal, even if she showed up unannounced. This was where she and her family enjoyed special Sunday dinners and homemade desserts after church, and where they admired her grandmother’s vast collection of colorful glassware, filling two whole china cabinets. It’s these memories that Hall had in mind when she decided to start her own collection—and eventually launch her company, Estelle Colored Glass.
But that process happened after she already built an entirely different career: Hall practiced business and corporate tax law in the Washington, D.C., area for 10 years, after graduating from law school in 2000. In 2005 she started her first side hustle—a wedding rental company, Ruth’s House Event Rentals, that her parents oversaw. But five years in, she realized that she needed to choose one path over the other, so she became a full-time entrepreneur and shortly after launched her second company, Wedding Flowers for Rent, with her sister.