This is a sponsored guest post.
Photos: courtesy of Gwen Rosowski Photography
From the moment I thought about having children, I knew I wanted to be a stay at home Mom. It was the best decision I ever made and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Being able to be there for my babies’ first smiles, steps, words, summersaults, and bike rides without training wheels is a gift. My girls are now 9 and 11, which means they’re both in school ALL DAY! Though I love having my kids with me more than anything, it was a new world having 7 hours a day to myself. I knew when that moment arrived, I wanted to be able to start contributing to my family’s financial well-being. The trouble is…what in the world does someone who’s been out of the working world for 10 years do?? Prior to having kids, I worked in the Hydrology Department for the U.S. Geological Survey. This was a wonderful career, but it’s definitely not something I want to go back to. I wanted to find a part-time career, where I could create my own schedule, being available for my kids during off-school hours. A job like that seemed like a dream in the traditional workplace, so I figured the solution was to create my own job. The trouble was, I had absolutely no background in business. So, I decided to give myself a business crash course.
Luckily, the world we live in today makes this fairly easy, with the amount of information readily available to us. I got my hands on some great books about the basics of business, podcasts, online courses, etc. One day, I was listening to a business podcast about manufacturing goods overseas and online businesses. I decided I wanted to do something along these lines. Of course, the next step was figuring out what to manufacture. I love headbands, and I wasn’t able to find the perfect headband in the marketplace. As a mom of small children, I wore headbands almost daily, for I typically didn’t have much time to “do” my hair. I noticed the same issues with lack of time for pampering amongst many of my mommy friends. Since I had been a stay-at-home-mom since my children were born, I spent a lot of time with various mom groups. Stoller/walking groups, story time groups at the library, toddler play date groups, etc. Anything I could do to make friends and find women walking the same path I was on. And we all had two things in common: exhaustion and lack of time for ourselves. If I was seeing this trend locally, I figured there were many other moms around the country in my same shoes—in need of cute, fashionable, functional headbands!
Soon after coming to this decision, I got to work creating HeadPeace. This required a lot of research, since I had never done anything like this in my life. I did know my first step was finding someone to make them for me. I immediately began researching manufacturers overseas. I wasn’t too excited about working with the companies I discovered for a couple of reasons: broken English and unknown factory conditions. It simply didn’t sit well with me, not knowing how these factories operated and how they treated their employees. Not to say they weren’t great companies, I just wanted a more personal connection.
I am a firm believer of divine “coincidences.” A few days later, I was at a local gymnastics center, watching my little one in class. I had never seen the lady sitting next to me, so I introduced myself. I asked her if she was new to the area and she proceeded to tell me her family was back in Colorado visiting their family. Corban, Katrina and their kids live in Nepal and own a textile manufacturing company, called Purnaa. It was meant to be. I had them over, sat in our living room, and talked about product design.
Purnaa’s mission is to empower individuals and communities to become whole and complete, free from the enslaving cycle of poverty. They do this by creating job opportunities for those whose marginalized status in society prevents them from getting work elsewhere. As a social enterprise, they make this mission their top priority, re-investing our profits to further Purnaa’s social impact. Each day, in everything they do, they work towards their goal of creating ethical, dignified, and meaningful jobs for those in need.
My primary job for the last 11 years has been to be a Mom. Raising kind, smart loving children is hands down one of the most important jobs in the world, and that definitely makes a difference in the lives of my girls and those who surround them. My passion for caring for these amazing little humans gave me the drive to help others outside of my family as well. As a stay at home Mom for all of those years, it’s easy to disconnect from the professional world–I remember wondering how I would ever enter the workplace again. What I’m hoping to share with you today is that if you have a similar passion in life as mine, believe in yourself. Change and starting new things can definitely be scary, but passion can create power to fuel your soul. There is a world of opportunity out there, and with a little passion and motivation, amazing things can be created. The beauty of creating something like HeadPeace is that once you figure out how your business works, it can give you the freedom to do what matters most–taking care of yourself and your family.
I’ve always considered myself to be a good person, but this is the first time I can actually say I am making a difference in the world. I absolutely cannot imagine what these women have been through, and it warms my heart to know places like Purnaa are out there helping them out—and I am very, very honored to be a part of that.
Check out HeadPeace at http://www.headpeaceheadbands.com/
Bio:
I am an entrepreneur and stay at home mom. I created HeadPeace because I am a headband person, and I wasn’t able to find the perfect headband in the marketplace. I designed HeadPeace headbands by combining a few of my favorite, most comfortable and fashionable headbands and I love helping out people in need at the same time! HeadPeace headbands are comfortable, functional and stylish!
