After college, I started on a long (for my parents sake I'll say very long) journey to finding a job. Along the way I was an intern, a receptionist, an intern at fossil, an intern at St8mnt, a freelancer, broke and jobless, an everything woman, a salon coordinator, a set designer, and my favorite (i HATED this job), a sales associate at Anthropologie where I had to not only ask to pee, but then be escorted to the loo. While about three years of craziness and real life education was taking place I started reflecting on what I was doing with my time. Since I don't believe in doing anything less than 100%, every minute spent somewhere was a strong investment. I started asking myself, what do I really want to do? What is important to me? I came up with two things, well, three.
1. I want to create. No matter what I'm making, designing, doing, I want to create.
2. Character. To be surrounded with folks that I respect, love and have good character.
3. Never cease seeking inspiration.
With all of these things combined, I started a project, The Pinpoint Method and I met Cheryl, a bag builder from Houston, Texas working out of a century old mattress factory in Sealy, Texas. She was the first of a trial set of five interviews I did. She was amazing. From the first phone conversation, I felt like I knew her. Over the course of about a year, I continued on the Pinpoint Method interviews / working at a salon and anthropologie, and she went on building bags, and creating a business that I would soon become a part of.
Last October, Cheryl and I met in a parking lot in Houston. I was heading out of town the next day and the camera I was using for TPM became unavailable last minute and I was almost screwed. Cheryl and her husband/partner, Paul, offered one of their personal cameras for the trip, so we met in parking lot while she was delivering a bag. We started talking about life, work, goals, one thing led to another and she kind of offered me a job. I went out of town for TPM, came back, met Cheryl for lunch and my life changed. I found myself at the factory immediately, everyday, all day. I couldn't get enough. I came to work charged with energy, passion, and excited to be a part of something to honest and unique. I finally put into words (for those of you who know me, words are not my game) and told Cheryl what it was to have Stash. It was like speaking a language my whole life and getting by with only gestures because no one knew the language. This whole time, I haven't been able to communicate or truly know my own potential until meeting everyone at this place. These folks spoke my language. I not only found my job (angels sing and my parents praise Jesus), I found my tribe.
This video is a true representation of what Cheryl and Paul have built at Stash. When I was asked to take on this video organization and propose a story board, a mantra that Cheryl blogged on the Stash site came to mind. I took this Mantra and and ran...
"We must savor the moment we are in.
-The laughter-
-The camaraderie-
Like sunlight on an evening cloud bank it will never
reflect precisely these patterns and colors ever again."
- Stash
I have found my tribe and I appreciate every moment we work toward something larger, together. Every milestone we hit is a victory. Every laugh, every cry, every bag (haha. I laugh, but I'm serious), is truly appreciated because we know, that exact moment, that exact achievement will never happen exactly like that ever again.
Thank you to all of our friends for being a part of Buffalo Spring. Thank you Micah Bickham for capturing the magic. Thank you Wandering Bufaleros for providing the soundtrack. Thank you Stash for creating this place and this opportunity for us to be a part of something magical.
To check out our new, beautiful Stash site, click here
XO,
K