As we celebrate women’s history month this year, we wanted to celebrate and recognize someone near and dear to us and who had a huge impact on our lives and company and still continues to today. We want to salute Alice Carol Perry, my late mother, and original investor and unwavering supporter of Hello To Natural. Alice was a faithful daughter, wife, sister, aunt, cousin, friend and woman of God. She spent her life in service of others and anyone who had the pleasure of meeting her felt loved, seen, cherished and nurtured.
Over the course of her life, she was involved in a myriad of exciting adventures. Alice was a founding board member of Amistad Productions (Black Ensemble Theater Company) which she founded with her husband, Ernest. Alice served as a steward, sang with the choir, became a member of the women’s missionary society and lead a women’s group for social issues at her African Methodist Episcopal Church where she was a member for over 40 years.
Alice was a housewife/homemaker. She was very proud and committed to raising her children and nurturing her family. She taught her girls how to cook, how to clean, often worked on arts and crafts projects and exposed her children to the theater, arts, piano and dance.
Alice was not your typical housewife. She was heavily involved in political activism which involved marching, canvassing and advocating the importance of voting and participating in the political process.
Alice also owned a catering business, Silver Spoon Catering, which she ran with her baby sister, Wilna. Alice was actively involved in her children’s education and access to opportunities and resources. Starting from her early days teaching, from helping to create a parent organization at her children’s elementary school, she spent over twenty years combined as an employee, involved parent, and consultant for the Chicago Public School system.
If anyone knew Alice, they knew she possessed an entrepreneurial spirit. In February of 2017, she a key investor/mentor for Hello to Natural LLC. She was not only a loving mother to me, but also to Darrell and she encouraged us and felt like we had discovered something special with our business. She bought our products and shared them with friends and family and was always there encouraging us both along the way.
Alice’s experiences are vast and she lived a very full and exciting life. She gave to others endlessly and she touched everyone she met. She had a multitude of interests and remained life-long learner and teacher. Most notedly, Alice was an avid reader. Alice was an unsung artist and spent her life building an art collection that she would never publicly exhibit. Between doodling, sketching, penciled portraits, her original work and her coloring book series she amazed all of us with her natural talents. To have known her, is to have experienced love, warmth and genuine compassion. Alice’s humanitarianism defined the very essence of who she was.
This month we celebrate a life well lived and thank our Mom for the love, light, encouragement and belief she had in us by the unwavering support she always demonstrated.
