Caitlin Chastain became a member of the Women’s Business Center of Fayetteville at CEED in May 2021. She started her professional career in event planning and marketing after graduating from Meredith College in 2019 where she majored in Business and Entrepreneurship. Caitlin is a military brat but has spent most of her youth here in Fayetteville NC. After graduating from Northwood Temple Academy she knew right away that she wanted to go into business.
While attending Meredith College she was exposed to strong female leaders and interned for various female-owned small businesses. “When I started taking entrepreneurship classes all of my other business classes started to click and I was able to connect the dots between the various facets of business through an entrepreneurial lens.”
During this time she competed in various elevator pitch challenges taking home different awards for her business idea. She quickly became interested in starting her own business after graduation. Caitlin and her business partner started steps to open their own tie-dye company providing a unique DIY tie-dye experience to a variety of customers. They executed a business plan, registered their business, and created a social media presence.
However, Caitlin quickly realized that upon graduating she needed to focus her energy on other things, not just her passion project. Caitlin exited that business and went on to pursue her professional career shortly after. In this experience she learned firsthand that entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes – not everyone has to quit their nine to five to be considered an entrepreneur. “At the time I felt awful for overcommitting myself to a business that I was not ready to run – sometimes we have to remind ourselves that it is not a no – it’s just not right now.”
Caitlin is passionate about teaching other women entrepreneurs the same mindset. From her experience, she is able to easily relate to her clients and help them put their ideas into action. Joining WBCFay was the perfect opportunity for Caitlin to share her passion for female entrepreneurship as well as assist in the economic development of her hometown.
Caitlin teaches a variety of classes and loves seeing a vision become a reality. Due to her event planning and wedding background, she is often part of business plan reviews with clients that do not sell products but rather sell a service or experience. She is also our media contact and pushes out all of our press releases for WBCFay. When she is not at work you can catch her at any live music event or at the thrift store hunting for vintage treasures!