Traci Winston Williams - Building Business, Spreading Awareness, and Creating Community
If there’s one word that describes Traci Winston Williams, it’s unstoppable. As the founder of Unique Boutique International LLC, BMWS Housing, and the president of H.O.T. Hear Our Tears, she has created businesses that not only serve her community but also amplify her mission of raising awareness and preventing domestic violence.Traci’s journey embodies what it means to turn pain into purpose and purpose into action.
Her story begins with a legacy of women who knew how to make things happen. “My mom was an entrepreneur. My aunt was an entrepreneur,” Traci shares. “Back then, women couldn’t even buy a house unless a man was on the paperwork. But I watched these women strategize, work together, and make it happen anyway.” That early exposure to business ownership and determination shaped her view of what was possible.
Her first real venture came naturally. As a child, she and her sisters sold lipstick, earrings, hairspray, soda, and snacks to customers in her mother’s beauty salon. “We were learning customer service before we even knew what customer service was,” she laughs.
From Retail to Real Estate
Entrepreneurship stayed with her. In the 1990s, she opened her first clothing store on Western Avenue called T’s Wears. She traveled to trade shows in Chicago and Las Vegas, learning everything she could about retail, and brought it back to her community.
When her mother became ill, Traci closed the storefront to care for her but kept her business going. “I moved it into my garage. People still came to shop, and the nurses helping with my mom would come in and buy things, too,” she recalls.
That garage setup became something more. Her family started hosting outdoor pop-ups. Traci’s son ran the snow cone machine, and her sister fired up the grill. People brought lawn chairs and gathered to hang out. It may have started as a business, but it became a neighborhood event.
Throughout the years, Traci continued to pivot between healthcare, her other passion, and retail. No matter where she worked, whether it was a hospital or a nursing home, her coworkers knew her as the one with something for sale. “People would say, ‘Traci, what do you have in your trunk today?’” Her ventures grew beyond retail. She partnered on another store in Elkhart for several years, acquired multiple rental properties, and built BMWS Housing, offering clean, reliable rental units in her community since 2016.
A Boutique With a Bigger Purpose
In 2019, she opened Unique Boutique inside the Chocolate Café in downtown South Bend. Her love for fashion and retail was on full display, but so was her passion for something bigger: domestic violence awareness.
The boutique doubled as a space for community education. Posters, books, and artwork reflected the mission of H.O.T. Hear Our Tears, the nonprofit she founded in memory of her sister, who was murdered by her husband in 2012.
“People kept coming to me saying, ‘You know that guy who killed your sister is going to get out. Are you OK?’ People in the community had so many questions. I realized we needed to talk about this. We needed a space for it.”
On Mondays, the boutique became more than a retail space. It transformed into a support group hub where women gathered to learn about healthy relationships, warning signs of abuse, and how trauma impacts communities. “We would eat sandwiches or pizza and just talk,” Traci says. “It became about education, awareness, and learning skills to break the cycle.”
H.O.T. Hear Our Tears: Education as Prevention
H.O.T. exists to educate, intervene, and prevent domestic violence through community engagement. Traci believes education is key. “You can lock someone up, but if they don’t understand why they’re acting out, it doesn’t solve anything,” she explains. “We focus on the ‘why.’ Why am I reacting this way? How can I process this emotion differently?”
The program trains ambassadors to carry that message into schools, churches, and other community spaces. Participants go through a curriculum covering topics like gaslighting, trauma, and conflict resolution. Once completed, they receive certification as H.O.T. ambassadors, equipped to educate others.
It’s a mission that weaves into everything Traci does. Her boutique features products in purple, the color of domestic violence awareness. Her pop-up events often include interactive projects like rock painting in memory of loved ones lost to violence. “We’ve had people of all ages sitting together, painting rocks with the initials of family and friends. It’s sad but also healing.”
Adapting, Growing, and Moving Forward
Like many business owners, the pandemic was a turning point for Traci. She closed her downtown storefront in December 2024, but closing the physical doors didn’t mean closing the business. She pivoted back to her roots with outdoor pop-ups and launched an online store at www.uniqueboutique574.store.
She’s already working toward a new chapter: a mobile boutique and community hub. Picture a purple bus or RV pulling into parks, community centers, or private events. One side filled with fashion, the other with educational resources about domestic violence prevention. Kids will gather around to paint rocks or do crafts, and live music might drift through the air as conversations unfold about safety, relationships, and healing.
“We’re still going to get that message out,” she says. “Whether it’s the kids, the grown-ups, or the seniors—we’ll sneak it in there while we laugh and have fun.”Between retail, rental properties, and plans to return to healthcare with medical billing and coding services, Traci continues to embody what it means to pivot with purpose.
“I’ve always believed in having multiple streams of income,” she says. “But every business I build still connects to serving my community.”
Lessons From a Lifetime of Entrepreneurship
Her advice for new business owners is simple but vital. “Keep your personal and business finances separate,” she says. “When the pandemic hit, a lot of people struggled because those lines were blurred. You have to survive, yes, but keeping things organized protects your business in the long run.”
She also emphasizes the importance of community, finding the people who support you, whether through mentorship, partnership, or shared purpose.
How to Connect
Traci’s businesses and mission are always evolving, but her passion remains the same: bringing people together, sparking conversations, and creating change.
You can shop, support, and learn more at www.uniqueboutique574.store. Follow UniqueBoutique574 on Instagram and Facebook for updates, events, and pop-up locations. For more on H.O.T. Hear Our Tears, including the ambassador program, visit www.womenmoveforward.com.
At the end of the day, Traci’s mission is clear: create community, foster healing, and break cycles. “Together, we can heal. Together, we can build something better.”
This is a wonderful article that only touches the surface of who Traci is and all the impact she creates for our community!
This story is well written! It gives a description of her gifts. Wow I am inspired!