Aimee Ballantyne

Aimee Ballantyne is the Chief Executive Officer of Friends In Stitches Recovery Bee, LLC, a Wilton Manors, Florida-based business focused on fabric recycling, creative reuse, tutoring, and sewing. Her passion for sustainability and hands-on education developed through her work with Trash to Treasure Creative Reuse Center, where she accepted and organized community donations of unwanted fabric and other materials, developed a crafts library, and taught sewing and fabric-related skills. She continues that mission through Friends In Stitches on a smaller scale, using ongoing community donations to give discarded materials new purpose while helping others develop practical creative skills.

Ballantyne brings a diverse background in art, education, library services, writing, community advocacy, and entrepreneurship to her work. She earned an Ivy League degree from Dartmouth College, where she pursued an interdisciplinary course of study encompassing anthropology, sociology, psychology, speech, philosophy, comparative literature, and Spanish, and later studied in France. She also completed professional training through the Broward Regional Health Planning Council and participated in the Artist as Entrepreneur Institute, where she developed practical business knowledge in areas including cash flow, taxes, and entrepreneurship. Her professional and volunteer experiences have included community service, fundraising, advocacy, animal rescue, and supporting individuals through education and recovery-focused initiatives.

Ballantyne attributes her entrepreneurial success to maintaining low overhead by operating from her home, connecting her business to the broader cause of environmental sustainability, and applying practical guidance such as valuing her work appropriately and working with a good accountant. She is passionate about creativity, sustainability, teaching, and the therapeutic benefits of making things by hand, believing that useful creations can have both practical and personal value. Her advice to others, particularly young women, is to recognize that starting a business is achievable, step away when work is no longer fulfilling, make sure what they create serves a purpose, and prioritize meaningful face-to-face interaction over relying solely on phones and technology.