Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs: Valerie Pressley, Founder of EVLooks!

Congratulations to Valerie Pressley, founder of EVLooks and winner of our Lifetime Moms/Spark & Hustle Contest! 

Valerie tells us a little bit about herself and starting a business with her sister.

What’s the story behind your company name, EVLooks?

The ‘E’ is for Evonne, and the ‘V’ is for Valerie. When we were kids, our 
parents would always refer to our blue eyes as ‘looks’. So when we were researching business names (and tossing most into the circular file), we simply went back to our roots, combined that with our goal of creating products that are ‘lookers’ in terms of their cuteness and feel-good glam factor, and the name of 
EVLooks for our company just seemed to make sense.

Where did the idea for eyecandy come from?

Truth be told, ever since college, we’ve each been known to use chilled cucumber slices to do a little ‘de-puffing’ around and under our eyes from time-to-time. Before going out one evening in 2009, we decided to whip out the cucumber slices from the fridge and ‘chill’ a bit beforehand. Long story short, it wasn’t a very ‘spa-like’ experience – the slices slid down our cheeks and cucumber seeds stuck to our cheeks. In unified frustration, we decided it just wasn’t worth the effort. Then the ‘aha’ moment hit. After multiple design and prototype changes, we agreed on what we thought would make a fun n’ sassy, portable, and reusable way to achieve the same cooling, de-puffing results as a cucumber…without all the mess! Essentially, we have a garden fruit (a cucumber is a fruit!) to thank for the launch of eyecandy and an exciting new business.

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What are you most proud of in your business?

After many years of brainstorming different business ideas to work on together, we finally pulled the trigger on something we were both passionate about. We researched, designed, laughed, re-tooled again, and many times nearly threw in the towel. But after all the starts and stops, we both said ‘yes, this is it!’, moved into production mode, brought it to market, and continue to learn something new every day. We are humbled by the journey and excited for the future!

What is your favorite type of candy?

Evonne: “Hot Tamales and Sweet Tarts.”
Valerie: “Red Vines and Butterfingers.”

What’s your company motto?

That’s an easy one…“Laugh out loud.”

 Check out EyeCandy Coolers from EVLooks!

Read about more women entreprenuers with that special Spark and Hustle!