“I’ve always liked to leave the world better than I found it.” 

That simple, yet lasting phrase Sheila Ridley learned from her parents sums up how she embraces the world around her. Simple and lasting could also be said for the ingredients that she uses in the pies she and her staff make every day at Buttermilk Sky Pie in Colleyville.

“Providing amazing pie and using it as a way to give back to the community combine wonderfully,” she said. 

Raised in the mid-cities area, Ridley married her high school sweetheart, Jason. She earned a BBA in Strategic Management from the University of North Texas and after working for a while, she and Jason decided to start their family and Ridley became a stay-at-home mom. 

When she went back to work, Ridley quickly realized that she wanted to make a difference by teaching school. 

“I chose to work in the district I attended, so I could give back to the area I was raised,” Ridley said. She also chose to work in schools where the students needed that little extra from their teacher. 

“My goal was to make a lasting difference in my students' lives,” said Ridley. 

After being a teacher for 10 years, Ridley decided it was time to make a career change. When she was ready to transition from education to running her own business, two resources helped her make the switch. First, her college degree, and second, Jason was already an entrepreneur who was successfully running an insurance business. She knew that she could lean on him to provide guidance where she needed it.

But while Ridley wasn’t looking for any old pie-in-the-sky business, it turned out that finding her new business was a bit of a piece of cake. 

“When I decided to leave teaching, we heard that the pie shop was for sale. We had always loved eating these delicious pies, so I knew it was my turn,” Ridley said. 

While running a pie business couldn’t be further away on the job spectrum than being a teacher, Ridley sees several similarities. As a teacher, she tried to make a difference in the lives of her students. As a business owner, she tries to do the same thing with pies. 

“Now I am using pie as my method to make a difference in my community,” Ridley said. “We regularly support our area first responders and teachers. We also have the Pie-It-Forward program that allows us to donate proceeds to a deserving organization.”

Ridley went on to say that North Texas Special Needs Assistance Program, Serving Our Seniors, Mothers Abandoned or Widowed, Stupid Strong, and Catholic Charities of Fort Worth are just a few of the worthy organizations that she and her staff support. 

She and her staff also support first responders by taking them pie on holidays when they’re working while many others of us get time off to enjoy our families. 

“My favorite thing to do is bless people working on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day,” said Ridley. “We always make extra pie so we can go to the hospitals, police, and fire stations. This year on Christmas Day, we also visited several nursing homes knowing the staff there were away from their families to care for the residents. They were so surprised and grateful.”

For Ridley, pie is really a tool that she uses to help people make stronger connections in their lives. 

“The mission of our pie shop is to connect the past and the present through the tradition of homemade pie,” she said. “We have a vision to share delicious pies in a caring way where guests are treated as friends and strong relationships are built around great products.”

When she’s not helping make her community stronger one pie at a time, Ridley and Jason love to help other local business owners by eating out at local restaurants. As empty nesters—their two grown children are Hunter and Paige—vacationing is a big part of their lives. But no matter where they go, they always keep other local business owners in mind and choose to support them. 

“Even when we travel, we dine at local spots instead of well-known chains,” she said. 

No matter where the road of life takes Ridley and her husband, she knows that she will always use her skills and abilities to improve the world around her and always try to do the right thing. To do that, she keeps her favorite quote from Mother Teresa in mind … “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

Oh, and she said that wherever the road of life takes her, she will continue to make people happy with pie.