By Michele Hardman
I met Stephanie Slack through another mutual friend, who had contacted me, saying Stephanie needed some occasional help in her vendor booth at the PCB Market. I had become sort of a floater at the Market, filling in for several of the vendors from time to time when they needed some time off. I agreed to stop by and meet Stephanie and see how I could help her. Her warm smile, southern accent, and welcoming personality instantly drew me in, and we quickly became friends. Her booth was filled, and I mean filled, with beautiful handmade home décor items, including paintings, mosaics, jewelry, and blankets, and I learned that she loves to pick things up at thrift shops and discount stores and refurbish them, giving them a whole new life.
Stephanie had been making craft-oriented things since the 1990s and used to spend hours watching videos on all sorts of different projects. Her personal faith walk had gotten much stronger during the past 4 or 5 years, and one day she just felt led to start creating some of the things she’d been passively watching. At first, she just gave many of the things as gifts to family and friends, but she was getting lots of positive comments from it. Add to that the fact that after a while, she says her house started looking like a hoarder’s paradise, so it seemed time to do something about all of this. She opened up her booth at the PCB Market—called Crafted Serenity. Very fitting name. She also chose to use the Bird of Paradise flower as part of her logo, since it was her late mother’s favorite flower. She felt led to use her weekend vendor booth as a ministry of sorts. Stephanie never pushes religion or her personal beliefs on anyone, but instead, offers her gift of being easy to talk to as a time to listen to people and offer any resources or help that she can. The last time I was talking with her at her booth, I was getting ready to embark on some stressful new events in my life, and before I left, she took my hands and prayed for me right there at the market. How comforting! Another cool aspect of her booth and ministry is the fact that she freely gives out Bibles to anyone who wants one. After a little over a year now, she’s thrilled to say that she’s given out roughly 70 of them.
For over 20 years, Stephanie’s day jobs have included working at local law firms, plus a short stint selling high-end furniture. She feels very blessed to have had such wonderful leaders and mentors through her bosses, who have encouraged honesty and strong ethics. The staff has also become family to her over all of these years, which she’s truly thankful for, too.
Stephanie Slack was born and raised right here in Panama City. Even though crafting and creating her many one-of-a-kind pieces is very relaxing for her, when I asked her if there was anything else she enjoyed doing, without hesitation, she said her favorite thing in the whole wide world to do is go catfishing. Especially with her dad, whom she’s always been very close to. She says whether she catches any fish or not, she still has a wonderful time just being there, enjoying nature, and spending quality time with a person she loves. She prefers to use crickets over worms for bait, and recalled how she and her brothers used to put a stick into the ground and pound on it, which would simulate the vibrations of a thunderstorm and cause the worms to come to the surface to then easily be collected for fishing bait. See the interesting things I learn from people? Stop by and chat with Stephanie at the market on weekends, and maybe even swap a few fishing stories.
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