The other day, Tyler took over the blog to tell his story, so now I guess it's my turn!
I never had any intention of becoming an entrepreneur. In fact, I wanted to be a Broadway actor. I moved to New York at 17 years old to go to NYU for theater. After I graduated, while auditioning, I got into live events to pay the bills, and after a few years, I was offered a job as a Project Manager for an event marketing company. I decided to take it, and worked for 10 years managing corporate events for clients like Google, Slack, and the American Heart Association.
Lots happened during that time period - I met Tyler's sister, became her best friend and maid of honor, met Tyler, moved to California, got married - but let's jump ahead a few years.
In 2019, 2 weeks after I gave birth to Theo, the company I worked for declared bankruptcy and shut down. I was shocked. I was adjusting to being a new mom, had barely had a taste of maternity leave, and was now faced with applying and interviewing for a new job. I looked at Tyler and asked, "What are we going to do?" His reply was simple: "Come work with me."
Entrepreneurs know no 9-to-5, so for the entire time I had been with Tyler, I learned a lot about his company, and we spent many nights discussing business strategies and where he wanted to take it. So when he asked me to join, I knew what I was getting into. I had helped him develop the first collection of Ugly Christmas Party sweaters ever, as my work for events had given me a lot of experience in managing a design process from start to finish.
So I started working here. We thought it would just be for 6 months or so to get through the busy Christmas season, but now it's been two and a half years, with no end in sight. It's surprising, because even though I never meant to be an entrepreneur, all of the skills I've developed throughout my life - logistics and operations management, reporting analysis, writing, and now even acting - have all come together to make this the perfect job for me.
And what's more, I get to spend every day doing something I love with Ty, the person I love the most. Everyone says you should never work with your spouse, but for some reason it just works for us. I love discussing what we have on our plates over our morning cup of teas, taking lunch breaks together, and talking business strategy after Theo goes to bed. It's not what I set out to do, but I wouldn't have it any other way.