Coming from a family with an entrepreneural and retail-store history, I was determined to open my own business before I turned 21. I just wasn’t sure what. I knew it had to be something natural. A few days before my 21^st birthday, it all came together.

In 1995 I was inspired by working with a local environmental group to create an eco business. I was helping the group put on a fundraiser fashion show to buy trees to give to elementary school children. I heard about organic cotton clothing being included in the fashion show, and was immediately interested. That week I spent my entire paycheck from my job to buy all the clothing that had been ordered for the show. Immediately after the show, I sold most of it from a small booth by the stage. It was fun to see the clothing literally being taken off the model and placed in the hands of the excited new owner. There was only one of everything so it sold pretty fast! I got a lot of feedback from customers and I knew there was something I had to do.

I spent about nine months researching the market for organic clothing, and finding suppliers. In November of 1995 I opened an organic retail store, one of the first in the USA. Within a year the store expanded, doubling the floor space, and receiving an award for Business Improvement.

In response to our customer’s feedback, I began to create a custom line of organic bedding, working with local sewers to manufacture it in our own hometown. I opened a website to service customers that began to call in from other states. In 2004 I expanded the store space again was presented with another Business Improvement award.  I began working with our suppliers to develop more organic clothing items that I felt were needed in the marketplace.