Back in 2014, Brooke James and Stacey Heggem, two sisters from Havre, were sitting around a campfire when the idea of Story Stoles, their business, was formed.
Stacey is a Lutheran pastor and Brooke is a graphic designer.
The two women used their skills and background to create stoles, a garment that members of a church, such as a pastor, would wear to distinguish themselves as a clergy person.
Their mission was to create homemade stoles that would help aid clergy members in telling the story of Jesus’ love for all people.
Since then, the business has continued to evolve.
The pair felt they wanted to provide goods for everyone. Their stoles were in a very niche market and not everyone had to need to buy a stole.
They felt the market was missing goods with a modern feel for other occasions like baptisms and first communions, and that's when Big Sky Soul was formed.
Brooke and Stacey now own two storefronts, one in Havre and another in Winifred. Their mission is to make everyone feel welcome.
"We want to just provide this space that invokes happiness and joy and inspiration and color and life. And I think by doing that, we're making faith more approachable as well,” James explained.
The pair started their business due to their faith, but strive to provide a space where anyone of any faith is welcome.
"You don't have to be religious to shop here and find something that you could really enjoy,” James said.
The sisters plan to continue to expand their company and eventually bring in a product line of their own creation.
"We had this idea to start creating our own products for a store which we named Big Sky Soul, and then we got carried away. Diving into the world of small business owner shops, women-owned shops, minority-owned shops and we started purchasing items and we have yet to design new products, but we have that on the horizon. We want to do that,” said James.
Big Sky Soul is just one small business supporting other small businesses. If you want to check out their products and mission, click here to visit the website.
