Six years ago, I was just finding my way back to work after my son Theo was born. I was conflicted and unsure of myself, and wondered if I had lost my touch and some of my magic in my months away on maternity leave.

That’s when I met Angela. We created the Soho Waterworks brand together, and it was the best branding work I’d ever done. I realized that my time away and this new mama part of me made me even better at what I do, especially when partnering with amazing like-hearted souls like Angela.

The years since have been the best and hardest of my life, with the bittersweet result of me stepping back from branding work and leaning into my design classes in this unpredictable season. It’s been one wild ride.

Six years later, in this cracked open space, Angela and I met once again. As it turns out, she had been navigating her own transformative journey over the last few years, and the fates brought us together for a new collaboration — Market St. Mortgage. I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Angela again years later, and couldn’t be more proud to share the magic we created together.

It’s hard to believe that I started my design business in 2016 — over 8 years ago — and that I’ve been teaching online courses for 7 of those years.

I’ve always been the kind of person that enjoys tinkering, experimenting, and figuring things out for myself. When I find something that saves me time and makes life easier, I’m always excited to share in the hopes that I can help light the way for others and save them the headache and hardship of needing to start from scratch or do it alone.

This is one of the core values my business is built on — sharing the knowledge, the wealth, the light, and the love — and so this naturally evolved into me sharing my experience, process, and sacred systems through my own online classes.

Teaching over the last several years has been an amazing journey to share with my students and creative community. So when I made the choice to move all my classes from Teachable to Squarespace — true to form — I knew I had to pull back the curtain on just why I decided to make the switch.

As I write this, our beautiful and brilliant baby girl, Iris Lee, turns 18 months today. My pregnancy was filled with joyful anticipation and planning. I worked hard to dial in my courses and sales funnels to work on autopilot during my maternity leave so I could truly unplug. I assumed I’d be out for 6 months like I was with our firstborn, Theo, and I couldn’t wait for the time away filled with baby snuggles and priceless (though sleep-deprived) moments with my kiddos.

What unfolded was the most difficult season of my life.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from author Rebecca Campbell, “I believe that your tragedies, your losses, your sorrows, your hurt happened for you, not to you. And I bless the thing that broke you down and cracked you open because the world needs you open.”

Well, here I am, 18 months later, cracked wide open and finally ready to tell our story.