As partners in both marriage and career, these couples work together for success and overcoming obstacles.
Courtesy of Wes and Krissy Reynolds
Wes and Krissy Reynolds at Sun and Spruce Soaps divide and conquer their work.
There’s no denying that marriage is hard. It requires patience and strong communication. Some couples view time away from each other during the workday as fulfilling the adage that distance makes the heart grow fonder. However, despite the challenges that come with marriage, some couples decide to be partners in both life and business.
David and Robyn Ellis
David and Robyn Ellis decided to establish Vested Partners A Multi-Family Office in their native Salem after establishing separate careers.
He worked in financial services, while she worked as a lawyer. Eventually, Robyn decided to branch out on her own. David later left the bank he was at to start an independent financial practice. A few years later, Robyn and David questioned whether it was practical to pay for separate office space.
“Realizing we had such a great overlap in the goals of our practices of helping families organize and plan their lives and affairs, we decided to move in together,” Robyn explains.
Their businesses have continued to operate as separate entities but have been branded together as Vested Partners since 2015. Many of their clients overlap, with Robyn specializing in estate planning and elder law and David handling financial planning and investment management.
Even though their goals align, they both approached the prospect of spending all day, every day within feet of each other with a clear head. “It has worked beautifully since then,” David notes.
Robyn agrees, adding the arrangement works well because of the strength of their relationship.
The unique combination of their services also seems to have been received positively by clients. “I think what our clients find attractive about us is that we offer a range of services and that we’re a family business. We’re literally a mom-and-pop,” he says.
They’re able to draw upon the other’s knowledge, often serving as consultants for each other. Robyn often consults David on investment and insurance matters. “I can walk into the next office and ask him to interpret something for me,” she says.
Robyn cautions that it’s important for them to pursue their own interests outside the office. “I think it’s important in maintaining a healthy relationship. I like to garden, crochet and antique. David likes to fish, golf and recently got his private pilot’s license. We maintain our separate ‘me’ time,” she says.
At the end of the day, David and Robyn view working together as an opportunity to be “even more unified.”
Wes and Krissy Reynolds
Wes and Krissy Reynolds have built both a life and a local soap empire together.
When they decided to start Sun and Spruce Soaps on Williamson Road a few years ago, the concept of working together wasn’t new to them, having worked together for years at Domino’s.
That’s how they originally met as hourly employees. Krissy, a Washington, D.C. native who has lived in Roanoke most of her life, filled in for a shift at the restaurant’s downtown location and ended up meeting Wes. “He poked fun at me a little bit. At first, he wasn’t my best friend,” she remembers. His sense of humor wore on her, so she said “yes” when he later asked her out.
After two years of dating, they wed in 2014. Entrepreneurs at heart, they attempted to franchise with Domino’s but the effort became too expensive. “We had to find something else to do,” Wes, a Salem native, explains. “I’m 45 and can’t keep making a million pizzas a day.”
A hiking trip to Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia served as a brainstorming session for potential business ideas. “We wanted to do something niche that there wasn’t at that point,” Krissy says. They both came up with five ideas.
“Soap was on the list. I’ve always been a soap nerd. I’ve always bought soap when we’ve gone places. I always thought I could do it since I come from food service and it’s not that much different,” Wes says.
At first, their efforts started small, with Wes making soap after work. They went to trade shows to build their customer base.
They left the chain two years ago to focus on soap and opened a workshop and commercial space. They now divide the workload, with Wes making the soaps and Krissy making everything else, like sugar scrubs and shower oils.
“We’re polar opposites. There are things I’m great at that he would never touch with a 10-foot pole,” she says.
Wes says working together now isn’t very different from their time at Domino’s.
She adds that even when they don’t see eye to eye, they communicate with each other and work through it. “At the end of the day, it’s about wanting to continue having the dream. It’s very different to have something that’s yours,” she says.
They’re both on the same page regarding the business—continue to expand. “The sky is kind of the limit,” Wes says.
Krissy encourages couples who are considering going into business together to make sure they’re on solid footing “It’s like having a child,” she stresses. “It’s a lot.”
Wes adds that starting a small business is one of the hardest things people can do. “It’s insanely difficult and stressful. You’ve got to go into it with the mindset that it’s going to be like that. You can’t take it out on each other,” he says.
Jon and Lindsay Bernard
Franklin County residents Jon and Lindsay Bernard own and operate Bernard’s Gastropub & Eatery on S Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke.
The two first met downtown in 2015 when out with friends. He was working at Stefano’s on the Market at the time, while she worked at The Quarter Restaurant. Having hit it off, they dated and eventually wed.
Lindsay, a New York native who has lived in the Roanoke Valley since the 1990s, came into money in 2017 due to a wrongful death suit following her mother’s 2015 death. “We wanted to invest it into something that would accomplish a future,” she remembers.
Investing in a restaurant seemed like a nature choice since Jon, a Danville native, had long dreamed of owning his own eatery. Despite the certainty of Jon’s dream, Lindsay was a bit nervous. “We had a few conversations about it and how we’d work things out,” she says.
They ultimately decided to move forward, with the establishment opening in 2018. “We think it worked out so far,” she says. In fact, it’s worked out well enough that they’re currently working to establish another restaurant, which will be more high-end, just down the street.
The two divide the workload, with Jon managing the kitchen and Lindsay handling administrative tasks like taxes and payroll. However, she has been cooking lately due to difficulty in hiring help. “We make a team effort. We make decisions together,” she explains.
Working so closely does occasionally cause friction, Jon admits. “It’s challenging to work with your spouse and have a strong marriage at the same time,” he says. They became sober two years ago, which has helped their work dynamic. “You have to figure out each other’s boundaries.”
Despite some challenges, Lindsay stresses that the benefits, like working toward the same goal, are tangible.
“It’s gotten us to know each other a lot better than if we had just been seeing each other at night after work,” she says. “It’s taught us how to work together and be a team.”
Jon adds that at this point they don’t even have to talk when they’re in the kitchen because they already know what the other is thinking.
Kelley and Kaci Ott
Kelley and Kaci Ott have a unique perspective on working together considering they’re both licensed professional counselors who offer a range of therapies, including couples therapy.
Together, the Otts own and operate Steel River Counseling on Grandin Road.
They’ve been together since graduate school in New Orleans. “I sat next to her on purpose,” Kelley, a Louisiana native, says of their first class together.
After graduation, they ended up in Pittsburg for work. It was there that they decided to branch out on their own in 2019. They relocated to the Roanoke Valley, where she’s originally from, in 2021.
Both Kelley and Kaci have their own unique strengths, which helps keep the business running smoothly. He struggles with detailed tasks like scheduling due to ADHD, so she shoulders most of the administrative tasks. She’s quite empathic, which causes her to assume many of the struggles her patients are going through, so he sees more patients than she does.
The biggest benefit they’ve discovered is the ability to arrange their schedules so that one of them is always with their children. “We wouldn’t be able to do that with other job setups,” he notes.
They’re also able to discuss their cases with each other instead of having to go elsewhere for case consultations.
“Unlike a lot of couples where you may struggle to understand the ins and outs of their profession, we 100% know what the other is going through,” Kelley says. “That’s a really fun part of getting to work with my wife.”