Who would have thought that in 1993, while Alison rocked her Guess wardrobe and me with that mushroom cut perm, we would one day start a business together.Growing up, Alison was the shall I say, “Boss” of the cousins. She put on dance recitals for our parents, organized plays and pretty much told us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it the right way. In our family we have 9 cousins in total. Alison’s dad and my dad are brothers. Alison is the oldest in her family of four and I am the youngest in my family of three. When our families get together you tend to see a trend when it comes to the two of us. We’re loud, always leading the conversation and are usually laughing about something.
One summer night in 2017 we sat down outside with a glass of wine in hand, typical. It was just an average night for the two of us where we talked about life, our husbands, our kids... the latest workout trend (that we should probably start). As we were discussing all of life’s challenges we got on the topic of how important a positive message can be in someone’s life. At first we focused on our kids. We thought that in today’s world, we tend to immediately focus on the negative in any given situation. At times, everyone needs that positive push, or little reminder to know that “you’ve got this”. We originally started by just saying some ideas of what the messages may say. Each day after this we would send each other random ideas. Now, let’s be honest we had some interesting ones during these conversations (which we will share in a bit). Finally we came up with the “BE line”. We had so many words that we thought were not only positive but could help people in many different situations.
Now onto our mission:
We want to encourage everyone to truly be themselves.
The words we have chosen are our little reminders to all of you. BE BRAVE; by facing your fears with courage and strength. BE KIND; by shining a positive light on those around you. BE THE CHANGE; for our future. Our wish is for all of you to understand how important it is to BE the best YOU.
Now a quick background on our other professions. Alison is a National Account Executive for a promotional marketing company and I am a grade 7/8 teacher. With Alison’s background she knows the ins and outs of merchandise, shipping, legalities, accounting….. let’s just say she is the “Business Girl” in this company. I on the other hand bring the “younger” side. Wait, did I actually say that? Let’s just give a quick example. When I set up our instagram page, Alison didn’t exactly know what an instagram story was. From here on out we knew that I (Nicki) would be running the social media and communications role.
Over the past year and a half now, we have learned so much growing this business.
1. Living in a small, supportive community is the absolute best.
2. Our passion is what pushes us to do better and be better.
3. Giving back is so much more rewarding than receiving.
4.Each message means something different to each person wearing it.
5. Together we are:
Making a change in our future (BE THE CHANGE)
Spreading kindness for all to see (BE KIND)
Showing bravery without knowing the outcome (BE BRAVE)
Fiercely taking this on as women (BE FIERCE)
Breaking down barriers with our strength (BE STRONG)
But most importantly, doing it while being just us. (BE YOU)
We are so happy that you have fallen upon our company, whether it be through a friend, a coworker, or just through doing a casual instagram or Facebook creep before bed. This company means everything to us and we hope you enjoy spreading our message as much as we do.
P.S. One of our ideas was BE FUN… we knew we were taking it too far.
“BE YOU KID, EVERYONE ELSE IS TAKEN”
Alison & Nicki
