Southern Style

Today, Lauren James Enterprises, a Fayetteville, Arkansas–based apparel company that sells preppy dresses and T-shirts with a southern flavor, has more than 100 employees, three retail locations, and $13 million in revenue. In the beginning, it was just Lance and Lauren Stokes, their baby, and the business—and no time to sleep.

- Burt Helm

I WAS ON BED REST for 10 weeks before our first child, Lofton, was born. That seems like fun on the first day, but it gets so boring. So I had to get a lot of new hobbies. One I kept coming back to was sketching dresses.

SUNDRESSES are my first true love. I wish I could live my life in sun - dresses. They are so feminine and southern and fun.

WHEN LOFTON WAS BORN, he was really tiny—just five and a half pounds. When he was 6 weeks old, I realized I wasn’t ready to go back to work at the hospital, where I was a nurse.

LANCE SUGGESTED I turn sketching dresses into a business. I thought he was losing his mind. I’m not an entrepreneur. My parents weren’t entrepreneurs. But he said, “You love this so much. You only live once.”