Ask Gail Pittman how making pottery at her kitchen table in Mississippi led to a thriving business that ships her ceramics all over the world, and she laughs. She built her business “one mug at a time,” she says, armed with a “bucket of ignorance” and a never-say-no attitude. To Pittman, success is measured not by the size of her company or by how many pieces it produces, but by how many lives her work can touch.

It all started simply. Pittman (BAEd 72) completed her degree in elementary education from Ole Miss in three years, then married. She enjoyed teaching, but ultimately decided to trade the classroom for a life at home, raising her two children. Soon the “always artistic” mom realized that she needed a creative outlet. Her friends took ceramics classes at church, but Pittman was not initially inspired by that medium. In fact, ironically, she “hated ceramics” until she discovered a bowl by John Simmons in a shop. The bowl “spoke to her,” and she had to know how to make it herself. She gathered materials and equipment and used them her own way, incorporating her own touches, such as a Rubbermaid spice rack, into her technique.

Working with ceramics at home, surrounded by her family, made Pittman’s heart sing. She never meant for her beloved hobby to make money, but her passion was demanding. She kept creating and sculpting, and she “couldn’t make enough” pieces to satisfy that passion.

Pittman’s first step toward small business ownership came when her friends began to offer to buy her work. Sure, she said. Why not? She had more than she knew what to do with.

The next door opened at a home show called Handworks, and she “blindly walked through.” Sure, she said. I’ll participate. Why not? (An avenue for female artisans to show their work, Handworks has grown into Mississippi’s Favorite Arts and Crafts Shopping Party, held at the Mississippi Trade Mart.) She next displayed at the Canton Flea Market, and specialty shops in Florida and Michigan became her first clients. Her fledgling business operated out of her house: The kiln sat in the garage, and she poured clay on the washing machine.

Step three was a proposition from her friend Carol Daily. Daily asked Pittman to create bridal registries for The Everyday Gourmet, Daily’s successful cooking school and gift store. When Pittman made some towel holders—which, in retrospect, she did not think were her best work (to put it mildly)—and Carol asked for an invoice, Pittman responded, “Huh? What’s an invoice?” But she learned fast. In 1986, Pittman and her family realized that the business had outgrown the kitchen table, the garage, the rest of the house and the neighborhood. With customers coming and going, and 18-wheelers thundering up and down the street, Pittman had to either get bigger—or smaller.

Pittman acquired a 1,500-square-foot studio, three employees and a commercial kiln. The change was earthshaking. She never counted hours when she worked at home. Now she had employees to direct (and pay), bills to organize (and pay) and a space to maintain. The 1,500-square-foot studio had initially felt bigger than anything she would ever need, but, in a year, Gail Pittman Pottery was again overflowing. Another 7,800-square-foot studio and a business partner, Thomas Maley, came next. By 1993, Gail Pittman Pottery was named one of Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies in the United States. Step by step, mug by mug, the business has grown to a total of 60,000 square feet with 100 employees.

Making the shift from kitchen hobby to large manufacturing endeavor was not easy. Making pottery is a difficult process, Pittman says, in danger of becoming a lost art in the United States. Her business and the business environment as a whole have changed tremendously in the years since she sat at the Canton Flea Market. An influx of imports has affected the market, and Pittman has fought for products that are made in the United States.

Pittman was inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame, she is one of the “top 50 Business Women in Mississippi,” and she was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000. Pittman is quick to emphasize the great encouragement she has received from the city of Madison and from the state of Mississippi. She credits this support for much of her prosperity.

A little luck and a little “why not,” never hurt either. Executives from MGM Grand, Inc., rang Gail Pittman Pottery right before Christmas one year. The not-yet-built Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi included a restaurant with a Tuscan theme, and the restaurant needed Gail Pittman pottery. Pittman had just returned from an inspiring trip to Tuscany, so the job was timely. As she tromped around the building site in a hard hat just after New Year’s, she learned that 10,000 pieces, for both food and beverages, had to be ready on March 16. To say “that’s a tall order” is an understatement, but Pittman doesn’t believe in saying “no” to an opportunity. Changes and challenges come when you need them, she says, and at the right time.

She thought her business partner and her employees would kill her, but she designed four patterns in record time, and trucks rolled out with all of the pieces on March 1. As the company was celebrating, the phone rang again. This time, it was Katie Couric on the line, asking Pittman to design dinnerware for her kitchen for an upcoming feature in Good Housekeeping. By March 28. The theme? Tuscan. Sure. Why not?

The dishes at Beau Rivage drew raves, but Pittman was not satisfied. The pottery was not “restaurant-grade”; that is, it was soft and prone to chipping. She hated that a chipped piece bore her name, so she asked her engineers to make the pieces stronger. The engineers were not encouraging. Firing the pottery at a high enough temperature to make it strong would alter the bright, beautiful colors that mark a Gail Pittman piece. In addition, the procedure is incredibly expensive.

Pittman was determined to make her work strong, durable and worthy of her name. Her passion and commitment to her work would allow nothing less. After a difficult and costly year of trials, errors and many days of doubt, Gail Pittman pottery was restaurant-grade. The risk was significant, but Pittman knew she couldn’t go back. To get to a certain level, she would have to make these changes and take risks.

Then Southern Living came calling, planning to start a direct sales arm with pottery as its focal point. A connection to the Southern Living name would take her business to yet another, higher level. There was but one concern: Was Pittman’s pottery strong enough? “Today it is,” she replied.

Pittman believes there is a purpose behind every chance that she takes, every “sure” that she utters and every piece that goes through her doors. She is aware that she is a positive influence on entrepreneurs, especially women, and she enjoys encouraging them to pursue their hopes and dreams. Her business is “more than a mug” and more than her name, and she approaches it with that attitude. Pittman claims that her best weapons have been her refusal to say “no” to opportunities coupled with that “big bucket of ignorance,” which may actually be a willingness to take large risks.

She predicts that her brand will emerge in exciting new ways in the future. Gail Pittman Pottery now has company stores in Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Mississippi and South Carolina. The company also works closely with Habitat for Humanity. Pittman’s days are busy as she divides her time between the Southern Living offices in Birmingham, Ala., where she is creative director of Southern Living at Home, and her offices in Jackson, Miss., where she is president of Gail Pittman Pottery. Spare time is difficult to come by, but Pittman spends hers playing golf and bridge, both “badly.” She claims that her friends put up with her poor skills because they play not to win, but for the “fellowship of the game!”

Pittman’s family has been a large part of her success. Beginning at home allowed Pittman to blend her career around her family, not vice versa. Her husband, John, has been the “wind beneath [her] wings.” Her newly married daughter, Natalie, works alongside her, heading the design arm of the business, and her son, Sonny, has a daughter, Caroline, 4, who insists on calling her grandmother “Gail.”

Pittman finds her greatest revelations and ideas in color. God, she says, uses color as emotion. She recently completed a new piece, the profits of which will benefit the Red Cross and Salvation Army in their efforts to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It uses color as a “tapestry” to pay tribute to the many lives and businesses that were touched by the hurricane.

Pittman’s energy ultimately comes from working. When she needs inspiration now, whether it is artistic or business-related, she goes “back to the kitchen table”—the place where it all started and where her pure love of making pottery blossomed. She remembers what brought her to the dance, and she has the strength to open the next door.

Finally, Pittman only hopes to share the joy she felt when she first saw that John Simmons bowl in that shop years ago—the bowl that set her on her long journey, one mug at a time. BF