Anyone who goes into Simply Irresistible will recognize the sweet, smiling face of Chandler Hamrick.
Chandler has always grown up in Quitman, and she knows what it means to truly work hard and be a part of the community. She helps maintain the business at Simply Irresistible, which started in 2006 as a gift shop. Six years ago, the store changed into a boutique and focuses on selling clothes and shoes. Chandler loves her job at the store and has different dreams on how to continuously improve on it.
“I’d love to eventually open a second location or get a bigger building,” stated Chandler. “We’ve been renting the building we have now since we opened. When the timing is right, something will come available to let that happen, though.”
Chandler does have a bachelor degree in interdisciplinary studies, but she decided that she would rather run her business full-time. She works hard to pick out the cutest outfits to sale in the store and maintain positive relationships with all of her customers. Work isn’t the only thing Chandler does, though.
“If I’m not at the store, then I’m barrel racing,” said Chandler.
She has always enjoyed barrel racing and frequently participated in high school rodeos while she was in high school.
“I have seven horses,” explained Chandler, “and I try to barrel race every weekend if I can. Lately, I’ve only been doing local jackpot runs and try to stay in a two hour radius from home.”
She has always done well in the high school rodeos and was reserve champion for three years in a row for the state of Mississippi. She did win some belt buckles with those competitions, but she primarily wins money at the different events she competes in. Chandler has seven horses that she is able to use for the competitions, but she is still trying to find her best rodeo horse after she tragically lost her favorite rodeo horse years ago.
“I was at a rodeo in Leakesville, and my best rodeo horse broke his leg during a barrel run,” recalled Chandler. “We had to put him down that night. It was one of those freak accidents. I’m still in the rebuilding process now. I have good horses, but I haven’t found my one rodeo horse since that night.”
Losing her best rodeo horse isn’t the only difficult challenge that Chandler has overcome over the years. Two years ago, she was in an accident at the rodeo that broke her arm and resulted in having to get a plate and eight screws put in her arm.
“I was in Livingston and riding a new horse that wasn’t used to rodeo surroundings. I was running to a closed gate, and instead of stopping like he should have, he decided to try and jump the ten foot gate,” explained Chandler. “All he did was catapult me over the gate while running wide open.”
Although that experience did scare Chandler, she has never allowed the fear to stop her from doing what she loves. She has just learned a valuable lesson and made changes in her approach.
“I realized real quick that I don’t bounce anymore; I stick and break. I had never been fearful on the back of a horse before, and now I am. Now, I’m a more cautious and hesitant rider because of that,” stated Chandler. “I try to take seasoned, trustworthy horses to the rodeo now. I know that all horses have to be seasoned, so I make sure when riding them during the week to practice running up to a closed gate so that they will know how to stop when they see one.”
Her love of animals is not only reserved for her horses. Chandler has a deep love for all animals and has shown that love by helping out with Creature Comforts. She was well-known for making videos with the different animals while she would work some of the shifts at the shelter and share them for the community to see. The publicity helped many fur babies find their new forever home. As much as she loves the shelter, Chandler had to take a small step back and hasn’t been able to go in to work a shift since November.
“My grandmother has cancer, so I haven’t been able to go to the shelter for a while,” explained Chandler. “Hopefully, her treatments will be done in about six weeks, and then I can go back in and help with the shelter again. I do miss helping out with the shelter babies.”
Although she is unable to go in and physically work a shift, Chandler does still try to help the shelter as much as she can from home.
“I still help out by being a contact to get supplies for the shelter sometimes, and I try to do my part by sharing any posts about the animals that I can,” said Chandler.
When she is able to return to the shelter, she looks forward to not only playing with the multiple cats and dogs, but she also looks forward to making sure they are well-cared for. She is able to help train new volunteers on what to do with each shift. After she would feed, water, and clean out the pens, she would always take the animals that are not in quarantine out to play and exercise.
As much as she already does with her different hobbies and the store, it is hard to imagine that Chandler would have time to participate in any other community groups, but she does: the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce. Chandler is an elected member of the chamber and does her best to attend the different meetings, help out with the events, and offer different suggestions for activities. In fact, Chandler was the mastermind behind one of the big events this past year.
“I came up with the idea to do a Battle of the Bands at the Forestry and Wildlife Festival this past year,” stated Chandler. “Everybody helped get it going and made sure that everything worked out with it, but I thought that it would be a good idea for entertainment.”
She may appear to do everything flawlessly and with such ease, but Chandler actually has one major struggle: she’s a perfectionist. In fact, she wants everything she does and wants to do to go so well, that she becomes her hardest critic. Her being hard on herself is exactly what makes her so successful, though. She knows what she wants for herself and her community, and she makes sure that everything will go flawlessly so that those goals can be achieved. Chandler knows how to make her community thrive and be successful, and she would love for everyone in Clarke County to be able to do what it takes to make that happen, too.
“Everyone in Clarke County should shop at and support local businesses. We all live here, so we should try to help businesses stay here so that there will continue to be things to explore and do,” advised Chandler. “We have new businesses opening all the time, so we need to support them and give them a chance; that way, we can be proud of the community we have, and others will want to come to Quitman to enjoy the different things going on.”
