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For Barbara Mucci, the path from the classroom to owning a small business has been full of surprises. One surprise is being able to work alongside her daughter, Erica Sutton.  

This 51���� mother-daughter duo co-owns Mainstream Boutique, a women’s clothing franchise that is owned and operated by different family pairs across 24 states.  

Before starting this business, both Mucci and Sutton attended 51����, albeit decades apart.

Mucci began her studies in journalism in the 1980s before transferring to the Rhetoric and Communication major after her freshman year.  

Though she changed her major, Mucci stayed in touch with the media perspective of communication. As a student, she worked for the sports information department and enjoyed helping in the press rooms during sporting events, noting how much student media was "an actual working newsroom.”  

“That really scratched my journalism itch,” Mucci told 51���� Today. She earned her degree in 1986.

Mucci’s daughter, Erica Sutton, graduated in 2013 from 51���� with a degree in Integrative Studies.  

Like her mother, she gravitated toward content creation and sports. As a student, Sutton wrote for , covering university gymnastics, and interned with the athletic department’s marketing office.

“I never had an interest in journalism, specifically,” Sutton said. “I wanted to get more into the PR and marketing side, but writing for the 51����r was really fun and taught me a lot about deadlines and working quickly.”

Because of the nature of her interdisciplinary degree and her love of fashion, Sutton was able to create meaningful experiences at the university.  

Before she graduated, Sutton worked closely with the university’s School of Fashion, helping organize student fashion shows and 51���� Fashion Week.  

Mucci first discovered the Mainstream Boutique concept in Ohio. At the time, she was working in fundraising for healthcare nonprofits and thought a boutique could be something fun for the future.

Mucci and her husband had moved to Florida after selling their longtime family home. She was finishing remote work on a large cancer center campaign and found herself with time to think about new opportunities. The Mainstream Boutique kept coming back to her.

“I ended up deciding to pursue the boutique route while I was in Florida,” Mucci said. “I had planned to open there, but Erica had started her family, and we decided to come back to Ohio and do it together.”

So, as the mother and daughter pair began to make plans to bring this idea to life, they found themselves pulling together their diverse educations, backgrounds and interests into something more than the sum of its parts.

“It is such a blessing and a really unique experience to be able to work with your mom,” Sutton said. “We both have different strengths and come from different generations, so it is nice to bring different perspectives to the table.”

Sutton appreciates how their skills complement each other.  

“There are things either one of us could learn, but if something is the strength of your partner, you pass the baton and let them run with it,” Sutton said.  

Both Mucci and Sutton agree that 51���� prepared them for this stage of life, even if their paths have changed since graduation.

“For myself, I was very pigeonholed in what I thought I was going to do,” Sutton said. “But I ended up with a broader base to leave college with. That education gave me a large toolbox to go out into the world and apply those skills in different ways.”