Meet Priscilla Varner | Principal Owner of Beach Haus Swimwear

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

Hi Priscilla, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In 2020, while on lockdown, my husband and I discussed the possibility of opening a business. We worked through a list of ideas and we knew it had to be something that we were passionate about. We weren’t passionate about opening a fast food franchise or a swim school. We weren’t passionate about owning an auto shop or a gas station, but I was incredibly passionate about swimwear. I stopped into a swim shop in Florida and got to talking with the owner and found out she wanted to sell her business. I thought we found our thing! After interviewing the owner, I realized that purchasing that particular swim shop was not in our cards. A few weeks later, my husband said “why don’t we start a shop from scratch?” I’ve sold swimwear off and on for the last 30 years. I knew the swimwear industry pretty well. I had a tremendous amount of customer service experience, and I’ve had success selling swimwear in the past. All we had to do was figure out the business aspect! After a ton of research and numerous interviews, we finally felt we had enough information to launch a boutique. After much planning, Beach Haus Swimwear launched on April 15, 2022!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
After I graduated from college, I launched my career in radio. My goal was to become a Marketing Director of an awesome radio station. I knew the goal was obtainable, but my hurdle was the fact that I was married to a man who served in the military. Because we moved frequently, I felt I had to move up the ranks quickly. Within 3 years, I’d accomplished my goal and I was the marketing director of two radio stations. Once I obtained my goal, my husband was transferred and I had to leave my job. We kept moving to smaller and smaller markets where radio jobs simply didn’t exist. It was demoralizing. I’d worked so hard to become successful in such a short period of time and it was all taken away from me in one move.

As we moved, I had to reinvent myself and my career. I moved from radio to public television. Then I worked in sales at a fine dining restaurant, became a marketing director for a mall, and then a professional photographer. Although I was grateful for all of the professional experiences I was able to have, ultimately, I was embarrassed that my career path was not linear like everyone else in the professional world. My career path looked a lot like a scatter plot map with random points all over the place. It was difficult to find work because my resume looked like a hot mess. It was difficult to get call backs when I applied for jobs because I wasn’t able to develop a cohesive work history. And as I got older, the frustration amplified. I imagined hiring managers looking at my resume and thinking, “why can’t this woman hold a job and why can’t she rise through the ranks?” It was never that I couldn’t, I just wasn’t able to because we moved so frequently.

In the end, I feel that the struggle paved the way for me to become an entrepreneur. All the crazy points on the scatter plot map represent different experiences. Those experiences have come together to give me the knowledge I needed to become an entrepreneur. After years of frustration and anxiety, I feel my crazy background is the reason my boutique will be successful. I don’t think I could have opened my business if my resume was “normal” and I worked in one industry for 20 years. I am where I am because of my past work history, not despite it.

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?
If my best friend came to visit, we would definitely have to make a stop in RiNo. She would, of course, visit mBeach Haus Swimwear and grab a swimsuit and cover-up. We’d then work our way around the area checking out great shops like Be a Good Person and Krewe. Of course we’d have drinks and dinner at Il Postino and Denver Central Market before heading back to prepare for day two.

Day two we get into our new swimsuit and head to Aurora Reservoir. I love paddleboarding out there because the don’t allow boats and jet skis. It’s so quiet and we can lay on our boards, listen to tunes, and watch the planes come in. It’s quite relaxing!

Day three would be our art and culture day. We would definitely visit the DAM museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. We have two incredible museums in the city and they are well worth a visit! While we are on that side of town, we’d have to have dinner at Linger and stop by Little Man ice cream.

I think we’d round out the trip in Boulder. We definitely have to hike Chautauqua and then visit Pearl Street for shopping and food.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Prior to opening Beach Haus Swimwear, I was a military spouse. Our family moved every 2-3 years for 22 years. Each time we moved, I had to reinvent myself so I could find employment. I was a marketing director for radio stations in Denver. I was the assistant director of an assisted living facility, I was a director of sales for a fine dining restaurant. I taught high school and college photography. I was a professional photographer and also an event planner. My most recent job at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce was where I realized that all of these past professional experiences were setting me up to become an entrepreneur. My position at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce introduced me to numerous business leaders and gave me the confidence I needed to launch my business concept. I realized my crazy patchwork work history wasn’t something to be embarrassed about, but it was actually the framework I needed to embark on the path of entrepreneurship. I’ve used bits and pieces of knowledge I’ve gained from all of my past experiences to pave the way to opening the doors of Beach Haus Swimwear.

Website: Beachhausswim.com

Instagram: @beachhaus_swim

Other: Tiktok-@beachhaus_swim

Image Credits
@sarahnasser for sunset image. All the rest are @priscillabvarner