Meet the founders and staff of The Den Family Social Lounge and Club

Hi, I'm Danielle, founder and owner of The Den in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Originally from Bowling Green, KY, I moved to Louisville to earn my degrees in Education at the University of Louisville, which is where I met my best friend, who I married in 2020. I moved to Shelbyville that same year with my husband Jarod, and worked for 3 years as a high school English teacher before leaving to become a stay-at-home mom. In 2022, following the loss of my son, Jackson, I joined together with my mom to open up a pop-up boutique selling apparel, housewares, and children's items. My husband and I had our daughter, Calliope, in early 2023 and continued to run our small pop-up operation, Callie Jack's Bow-tique until early 2024 when I started to get the crazy idea for a family lounge and play area. We started reaching out to other potential partners and investors, and have been putting our all into The Den ever since. On the rare chance you find me outside of work, I'm probably chasing my toddler around, reading the first half of a few different books, or painting yet another wall somewhere.