Strong women have been the driving force behind the rise of one of Lowe’s newest offerings: SoilKit.
Created by Christina Woerner McInnis, SoilKit earned one of the top product designations in the recent “Making It With Lowe’s” event featuring Daymond John of Shark Tank and a panel of Lowe’s executives. In addition to earning coveted space online and in stores at Lowe's, Woerner McInnis also received a marketing support package, a mentoring package with John and a $5,000 Lowe's small business grant.
Woerner McInnis took the know-how of more than 100 years of family farming and combined it with the acumen and willpower instilled by her grandmother and mother to create a product that helps customers grow and maintain healthy lawns and gardens.
“There’s been a lot of strong women pushing me along,” says Woerner McInnis. “Grandma Woerner would pick me up on Saturdays, bring me to the (family’s garden center), and put me right next to her at the desk to be with the customers.
“She mentored me to be a strong businesswoman at a very early age.”
Woerner McInnis grew up working on the family farm that was established in 1908 and credits her grandmother, Lillie Woerner, for teaching her to appreciate how a soil’s makeup can determine what it can produce.
Woerner McInnis took her learnings and implemented the same type of ingenuity in SoilKit that her grandma used in opening up the family garden center.
“The sod was at the farm and the customer was in the city,” says Woerner McInnis, “so she put a garden center in the middle of the city.
“She thought, ‘How do you meet the consumer with where they are?’”
With SoilKit, Woerner McInnis is simplifying the process for customers as well.
SoilKit provides the tools to gather and submit a soil sample and receive expert lab reports that can provide a road map for gardeners and farmers to help keep their lawns and gardens healthy.
Woerner McInnis’ mother also helped develop her expertise in agriculture. “She was always on the farm,” says Woerner McInnis. “Always pushing us to be the best we could be.”
Growing up around strong farming women, who could do everything from operating a tractor to sewing clothes, laid a foundation for Woerner McInnis’ success – success that she wants to share with more women.
“As a woman, it’s very difficult to be a mother, wife, entrepreneur, and visionary all together in one package. It’s tough to juggle all of it,” said Woerner McInnis, a mother of four. “It’s my job to continue mentoring other women and help them feel comfortable in this industry.”
