Rachel Hart wasn’t allowed to cook when she was growing up in the rural suburbs of Kansas. Her mother, Lois, hustled her out of the sunny yellow kitchen and encouraged her to pursue independence and education and not spend her time cooking.

She heeded her mother’s advice and obtained her bachelors and masters in communication and held a successful marketing career. But it wasn’t long before her love for cooking for family and friends returned with a desire to have clothing that suited this worthy endeavor. In 2006, Hart began online retail business Apron Elegance (www.apron-elegance.com) with her husband, featuring a line of handmade sassy, retro, couture aprons.

Hart dazzled the local and national scene in 2008 by showcasing her designs in the Star Tribune, St. Cloud Times, Minnesota Business magazine, Duluth News Tribune, to CNBC’s entrepreneur program The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch. Her notoriety spread as customers engaged her at trade shows, farmers markets and fashion shows. Soon after she began creating aprons durable for daily wear and easily washable—yet still looked fashionable. In November 2009 Hart launched her national endeavor, Apron Elegance Everyday Inspiration, offering 11 new fashionable and functional styles for women and men.

Noted for her innovation, Hart was profiled along with other successful women business owners in the book, Scrappy Startups: How 15 Ordinary Women Turned Their Unique Ideas Into Profitable Business (Praeger, November 2009), by master certified life coach Melanie Keveles.

A native of Topeka, Kansas, Hart has a Bachelor of Science Dual Major, Journalism and Mass Communications, Speech Communication and Master of Art in Rhetoric Communication all from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. She resides in Duluth, Minnesota with her husband Paul, two sisters and Portuguese Water Dog, Annabelle.

View our Complete Media Kit, click here.