Forty Under 40: Becca Brisiel

Becca Brisiel has always been interested in fashion.

“I always loved shopping with my mom and also dressing up in her clothes,” Brisiel said. “It’s something that can be looked at as materialistic, but for me it’s always been a fun art form, an opportunity for creative expression.”

Brisiel said she is always doing something creative, and her first job 13 years ago was as a mockup photographer for Saatchi & Saatchi X in Springdale. Before that she lived in Fort Smith since high school, though she was born in Santa Ana, Texas.

Starting a business was something Brisiel always wanted to do, and 10 years ago she decided the time was right.

After selling her home, she took the money she was going to spend on a new one and instead used it to start her company, Maude Boutique. “I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’ I was single, I had no kids.”

It was also at the beginning of the Great Recession. “People told me I was crazy, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I never looked back,” she said.

In fact, the business outgrew its first location — a spot down the street from its present College Avenue store in Fayetteville — within a few months.

Maude Boutique would offer more affordable clothing and fill a gap Brisiel saw in the area’s apparel stores.

“At the time, nobody was carrying that price point with the styles we were carrying,” she said. The business took off quickly and has continued to grow. Brisiel opened a Rogers location in 2015. Now, the focus is on growing Maude’s e-commerce business.

Brisiel has a business degree from University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Within the community, she works with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the NWA Children’s Shelter, the NWA Women’s Shelter and ReStore Humanity.

She and her husband have two children, ages 4 and 6.