At Inspire to Gather we are a team of talented women looking to bring unique and creative experiences to the community through events and workshops showcasing local artists, entertainers, crafters, and small business owners. Inspire to Gather was created in 2020 by Julie Marie as a blog to share inspiring articles about interior design and DIY projects. Over the years it evolved into a business designed to inspire people to bring more creativity into their lives. The Inspire to Gather team brings creative experiences into your home, business, and community by providing workshops and pop-up events to the local Wilmington, NC community.
Julie Marie is the founder and creative director of Inspire to Gather. She is a passionate artist and all around creative woman with a desire to bring creative minds together in one place. Julie's love of art and design began at an early age. She spent most of her time drawing, painting, and exploring interior and fashion design. Julie went to college with the intention of studying interior design, but found she couldn't just be limited to one area of the art and design world. She graduated college with an Arts Management degree which allowed her the opportunity to still be creative while supporting the arts through business. This gave her the knowledge and skills to market and sell herself along with other artists and creative minds.
Soon after college Julie met her husband and quickly began a family. With a new sense of purpose and drive she created a stay at home business designing and sewing children's costumes and party supplies. This allowed her the opportunity to stay at home and raise her children while still pursuing her dreams. Julie successfully ran her children's business for 8 years but called it quits to form Inspire to Gather.
She started Inspire to Gather as a website blog where she could share her inspiration and creativity with the world. Julie created all kinds of products to sell on her website along with writing creative and informative articles about interior design. Her products and blogging quickly caught the attention of her neighbors and they encouraged her to led monthly workshops in the neighborhood teaching them new skills and fun creative projects. After about a year of neighborhood workshops, Julie discovered she wanted to bring these workshops and other exciting creative events to her local community. With the motivation of friends and family she began looking for a business partner and in a matter of days was introduced to Kelly Fiske. The two women instantly discovered they were both searching for exactly the same thing; an artistic adventure, so they joined forces to create Inspire to Gather Pop-Up Events and Workshops.