Women in Business
By Stephanie Stewart ~ Photos by Deanna Nickerson • January 14, 2008

By now, we’re all very aware just how fast the business community in Sumner County is growing. There’s no question something really exciting is going on, and the whole community is really anticipating all the changes taking place. In the midst of all the growth, you’ll find a remarkable number of extraordinary and talented women who live right here and dedicate their time to making our lives better and brighter in their various fields of endeavor. We here at Sumner Lifestyles are thrilled to be able to present to you our first annual Women in Business issue. We hope it’s the first of many to come. Through it, we want to be able to highlight some of the remarkable women who contribute to the local business community, and the community as a whole.
Though these women come from many different age groups, they all share certain traits, including the ability to balance family and social life with the necessities of work, and also a strong commitment to bettering Sumner County through a wide variety of charities and projects. Their skills and dedication set the bar high in the business community—for men as well as women—and remind all of us how much can be accomplished through hard work. We’re proud to showcase each of these talented individuals, and hope you find reading about their endeavors as inspirational as we did. You’ll see a wide variety of professions represented, a reminder that women now both fill traditionally female-dominated jobs and succeed admirably in those you expect to discover are mostly male. We’ve chosen eight representatives for this issue, ranging from realtors to bankers to medical professionals. Each of them is a good example of why you should take pride in our local business community, a credit to her profession and a great representative for the accomplishments of women in Sumner County.

Deanna Nickerson
Portrait Photographer - Nickerson PhotographyDeanna Nickerson signed herself up for a photography class when she was nine years old. “I remember to this day the very first image I took, and the very first image I ever developed,” says Nickerson. “I was hooked.” She has a Master’s degree in education, but her heart has always been tied to a camera. Nickerson Photography is a boutique-style portrait studio, where Nickerson can focus on a wide variety of styles, including senior portraiture, children and babies—she’s just started doing portraits of parents with week-old babies, something she absolutely loves. But headshots and celebrity shots, something you almost expect in Nashville, are also in her extensive repertoire. “I absolutely love making people feel beautiful. I see beauty in every soul, and my gift is sharing what I see with my clients,” says Nickerson. It’s clear from these pages she’s right about her talents. Photography communicates with her audience how she sees people, and it’s her key to self-expression. Nickerson keeps her hand in all aspects of her business, and enjoys dealing with clients before the session, helping chose clothing, props and the like. She’s aware photography is a historically male-dominated field, but she’s excited more women are getting involved. She sites a female photographer, Vicki Taufer, as one of her mentors, along with Gary Moor of Gary Moor Photography. So why does she keep her talents here in Sumner? “Sumner County represents everything I try to capture in my images—love of family,” she says. Prior to moving here, she served as President (and co-founder) of Portraits from the Heart, a non-profit dedicated to helping children with cancer through portraits. Currently, she’s a photographer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, and supports schools and clubs through portrait session donations.