When Jody Lane found herself stepping into an entirely new chapter three years ago, she wasn’t sure exactly where it would lead—but the answer was sitting around her home.
After 25 years of marriage and raising five children, Lane was navigating life independently following a divorce, entering a world where she would have to discover what she was capable of on her own.
Then she looked around at her collection of approximately 60 charcuterie boards. Lane had always loved them. She loved the wood, the different shapes and the character of each piece she collected during her travels. She had casually made charcuterie boards for friends’ showers, parties and celebrations over the years, but never thought of it as a business. Now, those boards gave her somewhere to put all the creativity and energy she was carrying. “It was just sort of like this thing that came to me that could channel all my energy, all the different things that I was creative in, into this one tangible thing,” Lane said.
She began researching, experimenting and learning. She took a job at a middle school while building Bountiful Boards on the side, eventually going to school to learn the business skills she needed to turn her growing passion into a career. And along the way, Lane discovered something about herself. “I knew more than I thought I knew,” she said. For someone who had never worked outside the home or managed the financial and business responsibilities of a household, building a company required Lane to learn quickly. She figured out loans, insurance, commercial kitchen requirements and the many moving pieces that come with entrepreneurship.
For three years, Bountiful Boards operated from Lane’s home, growing primarily through word of mouth. Friends brought friends. Customers returned. Orders multiplied. Eventually, Lane decided to take another leap of faith. She secured an SBA loan, moved into a commercial kitchen and, this May, opened the doors to Bountiful Boards’ first storefront in Cypress.
Today, the space offers charcuterie boards, grab-and-go lunch boxes, gifts and workshops. But for Lane, the business is about much more than arranging meat and cheese. “I love creating,” she said. Her boards are built visually, with Lane examining her creations for colors, textures and balance. For special events, she incorporates personal touches—photographs, baby toys and other details that make the display specific to the person being celebrated.
That creative process has become a way for Lane to reconnect with a part of herself she had always carried. Building Bountiful Boards has also given her the confidence that comes from realizing she can learn, adapt and create something entirely her own. “To go from nothing to managing an entire life and business and loans … it’s so edifying,” she said.
But perhaps the most meaningful part of what Lane has built is the community surrounding it. At the storefront, Lane hosts mahjong nights, family nights, craft activities, book swaps and workshops for children, women and couples. “Community is my first love,” she said. “I love bringing people together.” These events offer another way for Lane to channel her love of community, creating opportunities for people to gather, create and connect.
In establishing Bountiful Boards, Lane has found more than a business. She has found a new sense of independence, rediscovered her creativity and built a community of her own. “My life is completely unrecognizable today for the better,” Lane said.
What began with 60 boards collected from places she had traveled has become something much bigger: a business, a creative outlet and proof that sometimes the most unexpected new chapters can bring you closer to yourself.