​Tracy Mendy has always had an eye for beauty — the kind that glows from people, places, and moments. For two decades, she captured that beauty in Miami as a fashion photographer, crafting images where the light was always just right. But nothing stole her heart quite like the humble sunflower. To Tracy, it wasn’t just a flower — it was sunshine on a stem, a tiny burst of joy that refuses to be ignored.

When she planted her first batch of sunflowers in Highlands, NC, she had no idea she was about to spark a local love affair. What began as a simple passion project quickly bloomed into a small, joy-fueled business supplying her sought-after blooms to restaurants, markets, and boutiques across the Plateau. People couldn’t get enough — gifting them, photographing them, showing up with smiles just to see “the sunflower lady,” as the community affectionately named her.

And Tracy embraced it. Because spreading light? That’s her thing.
She is the sunshine — and she knows it.

 

Wanting to share that bright, feel-good energy year-round, she expanded Sunny Daze into a collection of soft, inspirational T-shirts designed to make people smile the second they slip one on. They’re part comfort, part kindness, part fashion moment — and entirely Tracy. Her tees aren’t just worn; they’re felt.

 

Recognizing the magic sunflowers have on a person’s day, Tracy launched The Sharing Sunshine Project in 2021 — a philanthropic extension of Sunny Daze dedicated to brightening the Plateau in every possible way. She has delivered blooms to every resident of a local nursing home, supported many local non profits, and continues planting joy wherever

it’s needed.

Through every sunflower she grows, every tee she designs, and every act of happy-hearted generosity, Tracy is proving one thing:
love makes the world go around — but a little sunshine makes it spin even brighter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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