Once Dubbed ‘Toughest Babe in Business,’ Philanthropist Rides Around Hometown in ‘Sports Car’ Golf Cart and Helps Artists

Sam GilletteFri, April 17, 2026 at 4:52 PM UTC

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Darla Moore.Credit: Mike Baker -

Darla Moore, a Wall Street investor and philanthropist, unexpectedly moved back to her hometown in South Carolina

In the years since, she helped launch an arts festival that has revitalized the struggling city, which is now a booming arts center

"It was probably written in the stars," says Moore

Since the 1980s, Darla Moore’s name has held weight on Wall Street, so much so that she became the first woman to grace the cover of Fortune, where she was dubbed the "toughest babe in business."

In a surprising shift, the investor ended up moved back to her hometown in rural South Carolina and helped launch an arts festival — bringing bold color and energy to the dusty warehouses and businesses that had declined along with the tobacco industry.

“I didn't see it as a long-term place of opportunity,” Moore, 71, tells PEOPLE ahead of the ArtFields Festival in Lake City, which is running through Saturday, May 2.

Now, as a result of long-term support from the Darla Moore Foundation and continuous engagement from the local community, the city of about 6,000 people has become a “year-round art town,” the philanthropist says.

“It was unintentional. It was accidental,” says Moore of creating a home base in the same place where her grandparents once grew tobacco. “But I think it was probably written in the stars.”

As a child, Moore always had a strong work ethic and drive, but she knew she didn't want to continue with the family business.

“I wanted a very different life," she says. "And so that's what propelled me to leave the south and pursue what I ultimately did.”

Darla Moore.Credit: Provided by the Darla Moore Foundation

Moore became a highly successful investor — and she admits she enjoyed whenever her cohorts in the male–dominated industry learned they shouldn’t underestimate the blonde woman with a southern lilt.

“I actually must say, those were some of the more fun times when they were wrong,” she says.

In 1991, Moore married multimillionaire investor Richard Rainwater, whom she loved for his “upbeat” personality.

“I don't think he ever had a bad day,” she says of Rainwater. Moore became president of Rainwater, Inc., and under her leadership, the company became one of the top private investment firms in the country.

A recent mural project with artist Herman Keith, Jr., who invited community participation.Credit: Mike Baker/Second Floor Media

While she never planned on returning to Lake City, Moore remained “deeply connected” to her roots.

The trajectory of her life took a turn in the early 2000s, when her father and husband became ill. (Rainwater later died in 2015.)

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“I love nature and it's just a more peaceful way and place to live now,” Moore says of deciding to establish herself in Lake City. One of her favorite morning traditions is to hop in her red golf cart in her bathrobe and take inventory of her extensive gardens.

“I don't do that in Manhattan,” says Moore, who has even given her urbanite friends a ride in the golf cart that she says looks like a “sports car.”

“They say, ‘Oh gosh, I wish I had your life,’ ” Moore says. “I mean, it's a bit of an illusion, but nonetheless, my Manhattan friends think my life is fabulous.”

"Upward and Onward" by Patz Fowle and Mike Fowle.Credit: Mike Baker/Second Floor Media

Since her arrival, Moore’s eponymous foundation has helped establish initiatives to reinvigorate Lake City, such as rehabbing a former strip mall into an education and workforce hub named The Continuum. In 2002, she also created a 65-acre botanical garden, dubbed Moore Farms Botanical Gardens, on her family’s ancestral land.

The launch of ArtFields in 2013 was another extension of Moore’s plan to reinvigorate the local economy. Beginning as a competition, it has since grown to a weeks-long festival that celebrates hundreds of artists from across the southeast. The city itself serves as a gallery, showcasing new and established artists in local shops, restaurants and renovated agricultural buildings.

For local business owners, the festival makes it feel like Christmas all over again because of the impact on sales, Moore says.

Artists say the competition has a wide-ranging impact on their lives and work as well.

In 2022, Noah Scalin won ArtFields’ grand prize, which helped buoy him financially. The sense of community he found has been just as influential, making him feel like he’s part of an “extended art family.”

Artwork by Sukenya Best, Richlin Burnett-Ryan, Junior Gomez and Andrea Stubbs.Credit: Mike Baker/Second Floor Media

“It's truly a dream come true," says Scalin, who is an artist in residence for ArtFields this year and is currently working on “the largest sticker-based artwork” of his career.

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The renewed vibrancy downtown and the boost to local industries brought people back to Lake City, Moore says, adding that she loves it when young people realize they have a reason to stay.

“Now that will bring tears to your eyes and to their mother's eyes,” she says. “Because before, there was nothing to come back to.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”