Letter from the Editor

By Marcy Nathan, Creative Director

Dolly made her Grand Ole Opry debut alongside her Uncle Bill at age 13. Johnny Cash, the Man in Black himself, introduced her, and she received three ovations — a sign of things to come.

She was just 21 when she joined Porter Wagoner’s popular syndicated countrymusic variety TV show, beating out Connie Smith, Dottie West and Tammy Wynette for the spot. That’s when she came up with the makeup, wigs and big, blonde hairpieces that would become her signature look.

Last year we founded Women in Grocery — WIG for short, and for Dolly, who has never been shy about her love of wigs; she owns at least 365 of them. When Anthony J.

Rouse, Sr., opened his first store in 1960, the grocery industry was predominantly male — all of retail was back then. Women are now an indispensable part of our industry.

WIG is our sincere commitment to connect women within our company and provide them with more opportunities to learn and succeed. Rouses Markets is full of successful, powerful and influential women. WIG provides a forum to share challenges, solutions and lessons learned. And, occasionally, to remind these women pouring time, energy and passion into our business, that no matter how much we love what we do, as Dolly says, “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

Photo By Channing Candies