Military Small Business: The Sisterly Shop

In our latest installment of “Military Small Business,” meet Victoria and Maddie behind The Sisterly Shop! As self-described “Navy Brats,” learn more about how these sisters took inspiration from their military upbringing and translated it into a fun business!

Name: Victoria Sisco & Maddie Sisco

Hometown: Charlotte, NC and Fort Campbell, KY

Branch of Military: Navy

Current Duty Station: Fort Campbell, KY & Charlotte, NC

Q: Tell us about your business.

The Sisterly Shop is a military spouse and women-owned small business. They create one-of-a-kind products made especially for other spouses and family. The themes of their designs include lots of aesthetic and colorful stickers, cute stationary, and some wonderful home decorations. Every product is designed by either Victoria or Maddie, and very often the two together!

Q: What made you choose this type of business?

Growing up, we always had military pride items and loved to support the small businesses that created them. We realized that the Army aviation side of things seriously lacked any helicopter pride items. So, we began designing and creating items geared towards that, then we progressively realized that we could create submarine items as well! We often found military pride items were more masculine or only red, white, and blue, so we wanted to start creating some cute playful designs that we knew spouses and families would love.

Q: What motivated you to start your business?

We were born into a proud Navy family and were Navy Brats up until 2016 when our father retired after 24+ years of service, 16 of those years spent being stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 2019 Victoria married an Army aviation Warrant Officer, and began her career as an Army wife; while bringing her Navy background with her.

We have always wanted to have a small business to create personal items that other could enjoy, as we always have had creative hobbies. It was not until Victoria’s husband went on deployment, when she visited back home, that we finally sat down and officially started our small business and set out to make Navy and Army Aviation themed items; as they are both close to our hearts.

Q: How do you manage the work/life balance?

Maddie is a full-time student at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, studying to be an architect; she additionally has an internship with HDR, an architectural engineering firm that has its hand in many government projects. With her very busy schedule, Maddie still finds the time to be very proactive in the shop. She is our computer expert, and an amazing photographer and handles any problem thrown at her, and with her creativity she has helped broaden the shop’s horizons in ways that we could not have attained without her.She sees this small business as a fun and exciting creative outlet, an escape from the stress of school and her job, and also as a way to grow and create with her sister.

Victoria is a full-time student as well; she graduated from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, with a degree in History and a minor in English. She is in the process of attaining her Masters degree from American Public University, in Ancient History. When she is not occupied with school, Victoria helps design the items in the shop, and run the social media side of things. When she returns to Fort Campbell, she will continue to work on the shop that is based in Charlotte; and we are looking forward to using the shop as a way to stay connected to each other despite the distance between us.

Q: Any advice for others who want to start their own business?

The best advice we could give is to create what you would want to buy!

We have always loved cutesy and aesthetic themes and being able to create military pride items with these colors and ideas has always been on our minds. It is truly amazing being small business owners, especially as sisters. Sometimes it is tough, sometimes getting views on your shop is slow, but in time we have been able to gain a wonderful support group of fellow military spouses and repeat customers. We are very passionate about sharing our military pride and having this outlet has been incredibly rewarding, we would highly recommend to others to pursue their desires to open a small business!

Q: Favorite thing(s) to do in your current duty station?

Charlotte has been an amazing place to live, from the proximity to Lake Norman, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the beach, to the ability to be in driving distance of Fort Campbell for weekend visits.

Fort Campbell has been a fun change for Victoria, as it is very different from Hawaii and Charlotte. She definitely has loved being able to take a short drive to Nashville for some great southern food, and amazing live music!

Q: Where can we support and learn more about your business?