We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelsey Metzinger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelsey, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I am fairly decent at multi-tasking and self discipline, plus I learned early on that I couldn’t turn a blind eye to the financial side of running a business, even when as a total left brain person-that’s the most unsavory part.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I always thought my career would be in the arts-it’s all I cared about as a child/teenager. Painting, illustrating, writing, etc. As I got older, that became a love for design. Clothing and interior design specifically, but it wasn’t in the cards financially for me to leave home and go to school for it. I stayed in Wichita and attended WSU for the fine art program while working various retail jobs, where I always ended up in merchandising and display. That love of making things look a certain way to entice people to feel a certain way/want to purchase it, really resonated with me and it is now part of my every day professional life. In addition, I produce several bath and body lines for this shop and for shops and spas throughout the country and that’s a huge creative outlet for me. Product development, designing the labels, deciding how to display merchandise, all goes back to my passion for art.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Shopping! Eating! Drinking! We would start with a cup of local coffee from one of our many amazing local coffee shops–we would do some local shopping at Clifton Collective, The Workroom, and The Nifty Nut House. We would go out to Paramount Antique Mall on west Kellogg-it’s huge and I never leave empty handed. We also have a gorgeous art museum that’s very worth a visit. As far as food goes, we’d grab Lebanese food, I always say it’s Wichita’s unofficial cuisine and not everyone has had it. Wichita has TONS of Lebanese restaurants and they’re all good. We’d do happy hour at Newport Grill or I would take them to the Monarch to get a craft cocktail and fried green beans. I would also insist we do a farm to table dinner at Elderslie Farm, I have eaten fine dining restaurants all over the country and I am consistently blown away. Plus they have goats!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I was raised by a single mom who had 3 kids-she worked a million hours a week to provide for us. That left a mark on me for sure. I get my work ethic and pragmatic nature completely from her. My husband deserves just as much credit for my success, We were barely married a year when I said that I was quitting my decent job with benefits and cashing in my 401K to open a boutique.

Website: www.bungalow26.com

Instagram: @bungalow26

Facebook: facebook.com/bungalow26

Image Credits
Sarah Jane Silvers

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