Founder's Journal #1

Welcome, you darling little thing; I'm sure you've had a peak around the website, but I wanted to personally welcome you from the bottom of my beach loving heart.

You've stumbled upon my ramblings and musings. Founder life is a wild ride, but being human is the real kicker. The ups and downs can give a girl whiplash but it's so worth it. 

-----------------------------

They say do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

LIES.

I don't know who "they" are but starting a business is a shit ton of work even if you are head over heals in love with your mission, they way I am with mine.

Storytime:

       My uncle was talking to my dad one day decades ago. It was a particularly bad day. Everything in my uncle's life had gone to hell, yet he was calmly building a rabbit cage in the garage. My dad asked how he could be doing that when everything was such a stressy pile of chaos.

His response was, "I can't fix any of that stuff right now, but building this cage is something I can control and complete."

My dad would always refer to that when I was significantly overwhelmed. He'd ask "What's your rabbit cage today?" which always reminded me to focus on what I could get done. It kept me from being overrun by thoughts of doubt and uncertainty because the reality was I had no idea what I was doing founding a fashion start up.

Brick by brick (or cage by cage!), it came together. I climbed out of the hell hole that is PTSD. I figured out how to make a global, ethical supply chain.

It's been phenomenal to walk, stumble, cry, run, jump and fight my way to the launch of Thea Caye. I learned and got things wrong and ended up so wonderfully immersed in this world. I fell in love with how much positive impact business can have when it's done properly.

Even when I went into crisis earlier this year, had emergency surgery and was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, my focus remained on sharing these products with you;  getting us fully launched was vital so that we could keep supporting survivors of human trafficking, exploitation, and extreme marginalization. This has been a new all-time low, but it's also been an insane opportunity for growth. Uncomfortable and raw. I'll tell that story another time.

Not only does this company have kickass impact for our beneficiaries, but we are confident we can make YOUR life easier. After everything you've been through, you deserve some ease, some flow, some good-ness. I know it sounds a little odd, but having a proper bag that anticipates your needs is not to be underestimated.

In a very scientific study, that was indeed quite serious, we found that animals deeply love our bags, they specifically love to push their face along the fabric. SCIENCE!

These particular posts, very-clever-name-to-be-decided, will be my journal. The musings of an accidental designer and unconventional founder. Real life, business stuff, hilarious stories, ideas on how to be better, ways to live in your truth, the struggles, ALL of it.

So, grab a cup of tea and sit down with me every couple of weeks. And please, reach out for any reason. I love hearing your stories, the good, the bad, the phenomenal.

My ask: If you know someone who needs a solid bag in their life, please give us a share! Start up life is a funny thing, and the more grassroot support the better. We are aiming at sending 65 Nepali kids to school this year so let's go get it! We have currently created almost 3000 safe hours of work for survivors of exploitation and have removed over 16,000 bottles from the ocean.

....And we are just getting warmed up, baby.

Let's bloody well crush this, shall we?

Yours in fighting for a kinder world,

Carlie