9 minute read
Business
TIP YOUR HEADGEAR TO ‘TOPPED HATS’
Mother-daughter duo inspired to create successful startup
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By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
LSU may have come away with the win in November 2019 at the University of Mississippi. Still, Park Cities interior designer Dana Vidal and her daughter, Sophia, scored the inspiration for a new venture.
“Both of us have always been big hat wearers particularly like for school events, game day,” Dana said. “During the football game at Ole Miss, my daughter’s friends and other people kept asking us where we got our hats, and she was like, ‘Mom, we should start a hat business.’”
Dana, Topped Hats co-founder with Sophia and Linda Uphoff, said they started looking into different hat lines, created a logo for the fledgling company, and began curating inventory through the beginning of 2020.
FROM LEFT: Dana Vidal and Sophia Vidal at the Like to Know It 2021 Holiday Party at The
Rustic. (PHOTOS: COURTESY TOPPED HATS)
“After trying to buy additional lines, we were ready to launch before COVID, and then obviously when COVID happened, we didn’t do anything,” she said.
However, the pandemic also provided opportunities. “A lot of the companies that had turned us down suddenly were open to opening this account and selling,” Dana said. “So, we were able to stock up heavily during COVID, and we launched May 2020, and it’s just grown crazily ever since then.”
Topped Hats offers many styles and hat adornments, from the wide-brimmed Western variety to fashionable fedoras and felts.
A ‘hat bar’ experience, available in-studio or through virtual personal styling appointments, lets clients participate in the design process and choose among adornments and accessories, including feathers, scarves, beaded bands, and more.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Dana said. “We’re creating a line of hat jewelry and accessories along with all the scarves [and] beaded bands that my niece makes.”
The first event for the new company was in June of 2020.
They’ve since partnered with American Airlines Center to create hats for entertainers coming through town, including one for Colombian singer Moluma this fall, participated in events, including the Round Top Antiques Fair in Round Top near Austin a couple of times per year, and a party with a ‘hat bar’ for Cattle Baron’s Ball.
“We had no idea we’d be selling the volume that we’re selling, doing the amount of events that we’re going to,” said Dana, who hopes to do more corporate events in the future.
Dreaming Beyond ‘Dallas’
Filmmaker wants North Texas to create more than commercials, corporate films
By Greg Nielsen
People Newspapers
“Imagine multiple TV shows being shot here.” Johnathan Brownlee, a movie industry veteran who relocated to North Texas a decade ago for the Dallas International Film Festival, does.
“You remember Dallas and the impact it had but imagine there being more than one show like Dallas and how that could really benefit everyone,” he suggested.
Dallas has long had a footprint in the film industry but moved away from narrative features over the years to commercials and corporate training films.
That shift left money on the table, and Brownlee wants North Texans to pursue it.
“It’s more than just consuming
Johnathan Brownlee
the product but also knowing you can create it,” he said, citing an example of the growing opportunities. “Streaming services require content.” When Brownlee came to Dallas 10 years ago, he wanted to invest in something economically beneficial to himself, others, and the city. He’s worked on multiple Harry Hunsicker (COURTESY PHOTOS)
projects in genres ranging from family films to horror, all providing jobs and opportunities for area residents.
His company Torfoot Films partnered with EventHorizonFilms for the Dallas Screenwriting Competition, won recently by Harry Hunsicker, a novelist, D Magazine contributor, and Highland Park resident.
Hunsicker’s first screenplay, a crime comedy called (S)hit Squad, will debut at the 2022 Dallas International Film Festival with Brownlee as director and co-producer.
The other producers are Carrie Sternberg, Event Horizon Films’ Jodi Frizzell, and IdeaMan Studios with legal partners, Litwin Law Group, PLLC, and the Law Office of LaToya L. Blakely.
The short film, featuring significant character interactions and a Pulp Fiction feel, doesn’t only let Hunsicker branch out. It also helps other locals in the industry learn how to make narrative projects in a market where they often don’t get the chance, Brownlee said.
Making a narrative film is very different from making a commercial ad or a training film, he said.
North Texas has recently attracted projects like 1883, a Yellowstone spin-off, and 12 Mighty Orphans, a football film.
Extra investment could bring in veteran industry workers looking for a better work environment, predicted Brownlee, who sees the area as more conducive to healthy home life.
Strengthen that base, create more content, and, Brownlee said, the area could become a significant industry hub like Atlanta – something beneficial to everyone.
ON THE WEB
torfoot.com eventhorizonfilms.com
The Scuttle, a personal organization app, includes group messaging, a check-off feature, linking to your digital calendar, and other features. FROM LEFT: Elizabeth Moore
and Martha Farrell. (PHOTOS: COURTESY THE SCUTTLE)
List-Making Mavens’ App Upgrades Everyday ‘To Dos’
By Diana Oates
Special Contributor
Less juggle. More joy.
Isn’t that the goal for us all? Martha Farrell, a University Park mom of three, is on a mission to categorize the chaos. Because for many of us, simply having a place for the plans can be quite calming.
The idea for an app came to Farrell while she was a multi-tasking mama in New York City. With three kids in three different schools, things were falling through the cracks. And it turns out she wasn’t alone.
“I interviewed dozens of busy moms, and they all had one thing in common,” Farrell said. “They were tired of not being able to find what they were looking for on their phones.”
The solution came to her one night. She began piecing together an app that would serve as a keeper of all the “boxes” of information floating around in her head that desperately needed a home base — not only that but one easily accessed with just a tap or two of her fingers.
Farrell chatted about the idea with her sister Elizabeth Moore who, at 10 years her junior, was in business school at the time and found that she too needed an app just like this despite her life looking much different.
source of information. It was Moore who had the “ah-ha” moment. Scuttle, the all-knowing seagull in her favorite childhood movie, The Little Mermaid, came to mind. This seagull shares his knowledge of human gadgets with Ariel and is a constant source of valuable information (despite missing the mark regarding that doggone dinglehopper).
“After more digging, we learned that the word scuttlebutt is defined as a watering hole on a ship,” Farrell explained. “People would gather around the watering hole and chat about all that was going on.”
You may have heard the expression, “What’s the scuttlebutt?” The Scuttle app is the place that is going to tell you, your family, and whomever else you want to keep “in the know” precisely what is going on.
The sisters are touting The Scuttle and its ability to add productivity to almost anyone’s planning process. And with features like the new broadcast blast that give groups updates via email and push notifications, the efficacy of these lists is limitless.
Additional fun features that separate this app from others include delightful designs, group messaging, the check-off feature, and linking to your digital calendar.
“We hope people will use The Scuttle for themselves, but we also hope they will collaborate on Scuttleboards with babysitters, family, committee members, classmates, or even neighbors.”
GET STARTED
Download The Scuttle in the App Store and follow along on Instagram at @thescuttleapp for insider tips and tricks from sisters Martha Farrell and Elizabeth Moore on how to make your Scuttle boards shine.
Comings and Goings
The Spa at the Highland (PHOTO: JOSEPH BREWSTER)
NOW OPEN
Amorino Gelato
Preston Center Plaza
The ice cream shop serves gelato, macarons, crêpes, hot beverages, and more.
The Conservatory on Two
Highland Park Village
The new, expanded location (above the former Anthropologie store) of the retail concept by Brian Bolke also features a chic lunch spot called the Teak Tearoom.
Kathy Fielder Boutique
4503 Travis Street Suite A The women’s clothing, accessories, and lifestyle brand recently opened another Dallas location.
Johnson Oral Facial Surgery
7001 Preston Road Suite 125
The new practice offers full-scope oral and maxillofacial surgical services, such as dental implants, sleep apnea treatments, and wisdom teeth surgery.
Roots Market and Juicery
4164 North Central Expressway
The brand’s third location offers pressed juices and smoothies, ready-to-eat vegan meals, fresh produce, clean wines, and more.
Sclafani’s New York Bagels and Sandwiches
Preston Center
The bagel and sandwich eatery recently opened in Preston Center.
Roots Market and Juicery (PHOTOS: COURTESY ROOTS MARKET & JUICERY)
John Reed Fitness
8335 Westchester Drive
St. Michael’s Woman’s Exchange
Highland Park Village
The charity gift shop reopened after a short remodel.
The Spa at the Highland
5300 E. Mockingbird Lane
The new spa at the Highland Dallas hotel boasts a menu of more than 100 facial, massage, waxing services, mani/pedis, and other treatment options.
The brand boasts state-of-the-art equipment and a full range of fitness opportunities from free weights, an expansive training area, machine strength training, cardio, and stretching alongside unlimited classes including yoga, HIIT Pilates, and more - all within the 30,000-square-foot club with immersive sound and lighting.
GONE
Primo’s MX Kitchen and Lounge
COMING
Panerai
Highland Park Village
The luxury Italian watch brand will open in the space next to La Perla this spring. 8611 Hillcrest Road suite 100
The Tex-Mex eatery recently closed its Preston Hollow location. The brand, managed by Refined Hospitality Concepts, still operates in Uptown at 3309 McKinney Ave., downtown at The Statler, and Flower Mound at 4120 River Walk Drive.
