December 2024 Fashion & Interior Design Grant Awarded to At First Glance

Congratulations to Samantha McDole, founder of At First Glance for being the WomensNet $10,000 December Business Specific Grant recipient in the category of Fashion & Interior Design.

Recently, WomensNet Advisory Board member Jama Hernandez sat down with Nicole for an exclusive interview. You can listen to their conversation and view the transcript below.

Video Transcript

WomensNet: Welcome to our Women’s Net Winner video series. We are so excited to today to introduce to you our Amber Grant winner for the month of December. As you know, we offer three grants each month. The first one being our Amber Grant, the second one being a business category grant,  and then the third being a startup grant. We’re excited to talk to the winners for this month. We have with us Samantha, with At First Glance, and she’s the business category winner this month. It was for interior design and fashion. Can you tell us a little bit about your business and then share with us a little bit about who or what inspired your business?

Samantha: So At First Glance, I titled it, At First Glance because I usually know when I’m going to refinish a piece at first glance. It’s a furniture finishing company business where I use different techniques. I use recycled materials. It’s really all about reduce, reuse, recycle, because I created a daily walking practice where I saw so many furniture pieces on the street. And so out of necessity of just getting these things off the street, I was like, let’s reimagine it into something that people would never think it could be! So I typically cut into furniture, which is probably a no-no, but it has been my biggest and best decision that I’ve ever made! I use a dremel tool where I cut a, a geometric pattern into the, the drawer front sometimes or even the top, but it just adds a little interest and it makes people a little bit more interested. I’ve been refinishing furniture since I was a teenager. My mom really got me into it. But fast forward many years, it really came out of a necessity to reduce the amount of waste that I saw on the street. And they were great quality pieces that I thought could live a little bit long.

WomensNet: And you do have some nice things on your social media page, really cool stuff! And to have that vision ahead of time is a gift. Not everybody has that.

Samantha: And I do typically use 3D software to imagine it before. I do it because sometimes it’s hard for people to see it before it’s done. So I’m glad I have those skills under my belt and I use them all the time!

WomensNet: Pretty cool! So we know you’re creating unique pieces already, but what sets you apart from other businesses that are also repurposing furniture and making them unique? 

Samantha: So as we know, furniture refinishing has become a big, big market and I highly recommend people do it. I’ve changed my marketing slogan to, re-love your pre-loved furniture! So I highly suggest that most people just reimagine what you currently own instead of buying something new. Because buying new furniture is incredibly expensive. What sets me apart is the fact that I am able to provide a 3D rendering for clients before I even start working. And then I use my untraditional techniques with power tools and recycled materials because I don’t like buying new- the big box stores don’t appeal to me. I like to restore. I like thrift stores. I love the idea of seeing something in something you wouldn’t ordinarily imagine. So it’s all about re-imagining and re-living your pre loved furniture.

WomensNet: Amazing. And can you tell us a little bit about this 3D software?

Samantha: Yeah, it’s funny, I started my life as an athlete, and then later on in life discovered the artist in me. So I went back to school and I got an architectural design associates. And I primarily use a program called SketchUp. You can use other software, but it’s basically a tool where you can realize what you’re imagining, and I use it all the time. And I actually work with an interior designer here in town, and I work with her and her clients so they can re-love their preloved furniture. So it runs through my veins, through and through with everything that I do! 

WomensNet: That certainly is very unique. It’s the first time I hear about this type of software. That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing a little bit about what you’re doing. We can’t wait to hear what you’re going to be doing throughout the year. Thank you and congratulations!