Meet the Founders

EMILY

Portrait of Aster House Co-Founder Emily Rives sitting on a white linen sofa in premium denim and blouse.

Emily lives with her family in Boston, MA. Much of her time is also spent on Martha’s Vineyard, where she grew up, in Newport, RI, where her husband has roots, and now, in Portsmouth, NH for Aster House. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), and is currently working toward her Interior Design Certificate at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She has 15 years of retail sales and management experience in everything from apparel, jewelry and accessories for women and men, to furniture, and home decor. 

After a short hiatus to focus on growing her family, Emily started Sinclair Rives Home, a sewing and design business that utilizes antique and vintage textiles. Through this venture, Emily has made many amazing connections with the antiques and small handmade business world of New England. Both of these areas are natural extensions of her life, as her home is filled with such things. She has a passion for building and living in beautiful environments. To that end, Emily has overseen two personal home renovations, alongside the amazing team at LDA Architects. The design of her Boston home’s kitchen was featured in New England Home Magazine. Her inherited home on Martha’s Vineyard’s gut renovation was featured as a Cape Cod Home Magazine cover story, represented in several articles on Houzz.com, and is in a book, The New Cottage, by Katie Hutchison. Despite these many opportunities to stretch creative muscles personally, Emily is excited for the chance to grow professionally as a designer, and has truly missed retail.

As Creative Director, Emily offers not only her retail background, but her design experience and keen eye for interiors. She will be developing in-house design services, products, and creating brand imagery.

 

RANDA

Portrait of Aster House Co-Founder Randa Blair standing in a stairwell wearing premium denim and floral blouse

As Co-founder & Chief Strategist of Aster House, Randa is excited to put into implementation the skills she acquired in her past professional roles. Most recently, Randa worked as a Digital Marketing Consultant and Social Media Strategist where she became certified in Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, SEO and Digital Marketing Strategy. This experience provided Randa with the opportunity to collaborate with marketing teams in a range of industries and exercise her creativity with a focus on strategy. Prior to working in marketing, Randa held a position in business-to-business sales where she enjoyed calling on decision makers and found success in creating relationships throughout the Seacoast of New Hampshire. During college and the years immediately following, Randa built a career in retail working her way up from store manager to Assistant Buyer for a New England based lifestyle brand and as Operations Manager for a high end boutique specializing in furniture, clothing and home furnishings. 

Her favorite job title by far though, has been Boutique Owner. Her shop Chica, was a boutique located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Edgartown, MA. It was here that Randa was able to use the culmination of her retail skills such as trend forecasting, merchandising and retail buying. In her first year as the owner, Chica was awarded Best Women’s Clothing for Cape Cod and the Islands by Boston Magazine. Martha’s Vineyard holds a special place in Randa’s heart as she lived on-island for thirteen years after graduating from the University of New Hampshire. It is also where she got engaged, married and started her family. In 2010 she sold Chica and returned to the Seacoast of NH where she grew up and now resides with her husband and two sons. 

Randa looks forward to continuing to create and build the Aster House brand by combining her retail buying and trend forecasting expertise with her skills in digital marketing strategy. And ultimately to position Aster House to be a top shopping destination not only in Portsmouth, NH, but on-line and at future locations as well.

TOGETHER

While Randa and Emily each bring to the table their individual areas of expertise, they work closely together across the board to create a business that reflects their shared values. Emily’s love of interiors and housewares and Randa’s passion for clothing and accessories, perfectly combine to create the thoughtfully layered lifestyle collection that Aster House offers.