We were lucky to catch up with Dylan Demery recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dylan, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I met the love of my life when I was 12 years old in 7th grade. His name was Tony and we started “going out” when we were 13, dated off and on throughout high school and college until he moved in with me when we were 22. We bought our house at 26 and got married the next year at 27. We got a couple of dogs, traveled, camped, lived, laughed. He died when we were 31 and up until that point, I had never imagined a life without him. Those first several weeks were pretty brutal, something so simple as feeding the dogs became super difficult because I commuted to work, so I usually fed them breakfast and Tony fed them dinner. So on top of my grief, I was now learning to do everything alone. I had never lived alone before. They always say the first year is the hardest and “they” are right… It really was the worst year of my life. I had grief-induced panic attacks, didn’t really laugh or smile for about 3 months, and basically hit the reset button on my life. The plans we made no longer existed so I had to figure out what I wanted for myself without him. Then the one day when I finally did laugh, I knew I would be okay and I started to work on healing my heart. It’s still a work in progress but I have really aimed to make my life a happy one because I know Tony would want that for me. I travel, camp, fish, work, dance, live, laugh, and all the things in between. My resilience comes from going through the worst thing I could imagine and then surviving. Once you’ve faced your worst fear, everything else becomes a bit easier.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I started fly fishing after my husband died as a way to process my grief. I found it so mindful and meditative and coupled with being in nature, it just helped me begin to heal. As I practiced the sport more, I wanted to buy waders and couldn’t find much of a selection for women. I talked to a couple of friends (now co-founders) about how we could probably do it better and start our own store that provided women’s fly fishing gear. We launched She’s Fly in 2020!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think three of the most important skills that have helped me on this journey are my organizational skills, my focus, and my ability to take risks. When you’re starting a business, you have to stay on top of all the things that come up but also stay focused on your vision while also being willing to experiment and take risks so you can find what works for your business. It’s a constant balance but also very rewarding.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Marketing is a beast – we’re trying to build brand awareness and it is really hard to find that magic recipe. We’ve gone from social posts to email marketing, festivals, etc. But I think we’re getting closer to unlocking what will work for us by working with a business mentor from SCORE and really driving some targeted marketing goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shesfly.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shesflyfishing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShesFlyFishing/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/she-s-fly-fishing-98406727a/
