Pamela Bush
Sew & Sow
2003 Rising Star Award Recipient

In 1996, Pamela Bush, a divorced mother of three children, was forced to leave the security of a full-time job when her youngest child’s severe asthma attacks made her continually miss work. Pamela decided to turn her long-time hobby into a full-time clothing design and tailoring business. With very little business experience, she turned to the Center for Women Enterprise (CWE) for business assistance.

With encouragement from CWE, Pamela leased a storefront in Jamaica Plains and opened for business in March 1997. Since then, Pamela has faced and successfully overcome many personal obstacles, including her youngest child being hospitalized over 27 times and losing her home. Despite these challenges, Pamela has steadily grown her business while her friends have been forced to go out of business. Pamela currently makes $25,000 in revenues, employees a part-time assistant, and is able to support herself and her family. Pamela also continues to give back to her community; she runs sewing classes at a local elementary school, offers apprenticeships to young designers, and co-founded a non-profit organization focused on severe asthma issues.