Getting to Know: Emily Meyer of Tea Collection

My children love Tea Collection. I love Tea Collection.

Today I'm thrilled to give you an inside glance at motherhood, balance, and inspiration of the beautiful chief creative officer and co-founder of Tea Collection: Emily Meyer. 

Follow Tea Collection on: Twitter || Facebook || Instagram 

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What inspired you to start your own company? 

About twelve years ago I went looking for baby clothes for my newborn niece in Brussels, Belgium, but all I found was pink-bunny-themed clothing. I wanted something more sophisticated and modern (no offense to pink bunnies) and designed a sweater for my niece. That sweater inspired me to envision a collection that celebrates the beauty of world cultures through fashion and lifestyle products.  

I called it Tea, because tea the drink is something shared by all cultures - it evokes warmth, wisdom, timelessness - values that I wanted for the collection.

What were your biggest fears and how did you overcome them? 

I didn't have a job when we started Tea, so I didn't have much to lose and had everything to gain! My dear family friend asked me, "what have you ever failed at before?"... I couldn't think of any monumental failures ... he said, "See, you can do anything you put your mind to." I had never heard that so convincingly before.

How is Tea Collection set apart from other brands? What makes it extra special? 

Everything we design is inspired by a piece of beauty and creativity in this world, every product and collection has context, something greater than itself- so that we may all celebrate it, increasing love and awareness for all cultures.  

What have been some favorite experiences you've had through your work with Tea Collection? 

Creating a brand, being mindful of the precedent and responsible for the organization's longevity- there are so many analogies to raising a child. And, of course, traveling to some of the most amazing global destinations... and so much more to see! 

What are the names and ages of your children? 

Clement, 4; Georgia, 2

What are your favorite characteristics of each? 

Clement- so curious and loves to play games; Georgia- very independent and loves to sing and dance. 

How does an ideal day look for you?   

Fuss free children in the morning, following routine including lots of hugs and kisses, with a healthy breakfast all together. A creative day at the office, working on the collection or marketing campaign, with a little brainstorming on growth strategy. Come home, play puzzles and legos with the kids, read books together and then catch up on an episode of Game of Thrones with my husband.  

What is your "style uniform?" 

Slim cargo pants and a fabulous blouse, sometimes with a cardigan. I have always loved sweaters for being those relaxed, luxurious pieces you can live in. And always a scarf! For night, I add lipstick, a necklace, and a great coat. 

What is the perfect date?

My husband and I have the occasional date night at Village Pub in Woodside, CA. If, by a miracle, we get the kids down early, we eat dinner at the dining table together and pretend it's a date night. Just sitting together reminds us how much we love each other- crafting our children's (and our own) experience of family. 

What is your favorite moment of your day or week?  

Sunday mornings - we stay in our pajamas until 9 or 10am, ride our bikes to the park, have brunch at our favorite cafe in Palo Alto, and go home for a deep nap (the nap part is my favorite part of the day!).  

The million dollar question: how do you do it all? Tell us a bit about balancing your family life with your successful career! 

Be the change you want to see. If you need to leave work at five o'clock to get home to your children, do it. Start a trend. If enough parents do this, then it will soon be seen as normal instead of odd. Also, don't underestimate the use of time in unconventional ways-- some of my best strategic brainstorms and most productive conversations happen when I'm driving home. Commute time can be work time! 

Do you have any tips for women starting their own small businesses to help bring them to the next level? 

Know what you want. Be sure you are your own North Star while navigating all the choices before you.  

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Thank you so much for your beautiful words and inspiration, Emily! So grateful! XO, Kate

Inspired by: Memorial Day!

Can't quite explain how thrilling it is too look at the calendar and realize that Memorial Day weekend has snuck up and is THIS weekend!! Whoohoo! We aren't traveling this year, but a Monday devoted to BBQ's and friends and celebrating summertime's sweet arrival is always a good one. These are my favorite summertime picks for ya:

hat ||

shorts || scarf || bag

swimsuit || sandals || rings

towel || radio || eyelet tank

Happy Mother's Day!

So endlessly grateful to my dear mother, who taught me about kindness and joy, who is sunshine on a cloudy day, and whose scandinavian culture has created a baking genius in her. She is still the one I want to come make everything alright when I am sick, and she is still one of the first people with whom I want to share any good news. She is a listener, and a supporter, and one of the best friends I have.

There are no words for the privilege it is to be a mother. that moment my first bundle was handed to me, to hold, to teach, to love until the end of my life... I was a mother.​ I had another little joy handed to me again nearly three years later... I wish I was writing at those stages of life. These girls captured my heart. They're their father and they're me and they are THEM. Individuals with passion, with emotions, with differences, with perfect imperfections. To be their mother is an honor. 

​Mother's Day. So grateful. So honored. 

​Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers and mother-figures to people in your lives. You are so very loved.

Be Hiip

So you know I'm not reeeeallly into being in front of the camera... I'd way rather be taking pictures of my children... BUT I have a good friend named Nicole. And Nicole started a business. I believe in her business and I believe in its mission, and I took pictures for hiip, and I want a hiip bag, so I figure you might too, and so I'm going to tell you all about it... ​

hiip= helping individuals in passing

​I pass individuals who need help constantly. And I'm pretty sure you do too. Whether you live in a city or suburb or country, there are needs. For every hiip bag sold, a "hiip kit" is provided for an individual who is homeless and needy. Nicole created each kit based on the needs that her homeless friends in her neighborhood shared with her. Socks, shampoo, lip balm, etc. to take care of some basic needs, and more than that- spark a conversation to lead to friendship with people who are outcast, with people who are friendless, who have been through hardship after hardship. I mean, what if these people were part of your family, and landed in a state of homelessness... and you lost touch? Wouldn't you be praying that someone would come along beside them and be their friend? And give them hope? The mission of this business is a beautiful thing that I can actually STAND behind. 

SO I literally am standing behind and for it. I couldn't pick which bag I loved best, so I basically have tried them all. They're amazing for park time because you can just strap all the essentials to your hip and be hands-free, or you can do the messenger style if you're not up for a modern fanny pack ;) If you need an evening bag, you can fancy it up for a night out on the town and use it as a clutch.

Stylish for days and nights. ​Be hiip with us. Tell all your friends, pin it, blog it, love it.

xoxo. 

Kate

And while I'm at it- promoting my friends and all- photos are all taken by the talented duo we love so dearly: Pictilio... they're everything you'd want in a photographer: sweet, funny, efficient, and GOOD. and they travel! :) 

Follow Pictilio: FACEBOOK || TWITTER ​

And nope, this isn't a compensated post and I did not receive anything for free. I simply love the brand and felt strongly enough to write about it. ​

Mama Profile: Natalie Gordon of BabyList

Natalie Gordon is the founder and CEO of the most brilliant concept for moms who are registering: ONE place to register from all the stores you want! I know before I had Sophie there were things I wished I could add to the registry that were not from one store or another, and even for my second I would have loved to register for practical things like meal deliveries, monthly clothing plans, etc. Natalie felt the same so she created BabyList especially for people like us (which is everyone, I think). Thrilled to have her talk about life, balance and motherhood today. 

Babylist Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook 

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What is your favorite thing about being a mother?

In the first couple of months, it was really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that “I was a mom”. It was a huge change in self-identity. I obviously love Max with all my heart, and I’ve loved watching my husband become such a great dad. In the day-to-day, I love how excited Max (2) is about the little things. It makes me notice more. Airplanes, stickers on apples, dogs, tall trees, motorcycles, cranes are all things that we stop and notice. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes makes absolutely everything more interesting. He keeps on getting more and more fun. He’s crazy physical, loves to wrestle, play ball and he recently discovered stuffed animals.

What is your favorite part of your days and week?

I love my job. I love getting to work, turning on my computer and drinking my first cup of coffee. It’s usually after hours of morning chaos. The best part of the week is when we have our weekly weeknight dinner with friends who also have young children. We order in food and the kids sit at the kid’s table.

When do you feel most relaxed/content/peaceful?

When I'm hiking. We recently moved to San Francisco, and it’s so close to amazing day hikes. It’s the ultimate remedy to living in such an urban, work-filled environment. I also love a good date with my husband to enjoy drinks and dinner together.

 What is BabyList? 

BabyList is an online baby registry that helps expectant moms discover and ask for everything they need for their new baby. You can take a quiz and get a personalized baby registry checklist and then one-click to quick-start your registry. 

What motivated you to start BabyList?

I was pregnant. I was creating my baby registry and I was completely overwhelmed. The thought of going into BabiesRUs with a scan gun gave me a panic attack. There were these things that I really wanted to ask for. For our family they were a diaper service, someone to watch our dog for a week or two, and home-cooked meals. I tried using about 3 different registries and they were all wrong.

I’m a software developer and I knew exactly what I thought the ideal baby registry experience would be. I met up with a designer online and we collaborated and created BabyList. We launched the site two weeks before my son was born.

Where were you working before you started your own company? 

I worked at Amazon as a software developer out of college. My dream was always to quit and travel the world before having any children. So my husband and I did that in 2008. We spent a year and a half living in a couple of different cities in Latin America. During that time we started a Spanish-English language exchange start-up. Eventually, it became obvious that that business was never going to make money and we shut it down this past summer. It was a major learning experience.

When I had the inspiration for BabyList we were living in Vancouver BC. I was doing some contract work and working on our language-learning start-up. I have to say that I have very low aspirations for BabyList. I thought that it could maybe make some passive income for us. But once it launched, we had a handful of users and they were crazy about it. I was definitely nervous launching it, but that’s because putting anything out into the world is scary.

How do you balance your home/personal life and your work life?

I take it day by day and constantly prioritize and then re-prioritize. My husband and I aren’t afraid to try different arrangements and then see how things are working. Right now we have a staggered schedule, a great child-care arrangement, and we’ve gotten serious about having our parents come and stay with us and help out.

A year ago we spent two months living and working from Costa Rica, literally on the beach. Working on the internet has major pluses!

Do you have any tips for people starting their own businesses?

Two things. I talk to women all the time who are building a business and they feel like they have to do a million things to actually show it to the world. This is because launching things and putting them out for the world to see is really scary. You have to get past these emotions and realize that the sooner you put your project out there, the sooner you’ll start learning from real users. Or you won’t have any users and that will teach you something else.

The other thing is the power of doing one thing every day to move your business forward. If you do just one thing every single day, in a year you’ll have done a lot. Start today.

What has been your favorite opportunity or collaboration through BabyList?

BabyList was in the past 500 Startups batch. That was an amazing opportunity for me. It was really, really hard but it pushed me and BabyList forward. It was great being with other entrepreneurs from all over the world, who were incredibly passionate about what they were working on.

What makes you most proud of your business?

This is going to sound cliched, but I’m really proud of how happy we make our users. I love our users. They’re pregnant. They’re overwhelmed. I email or talk to them on the phone every day. BabyList is actually helping families and making people happy. I love that.

What is your style uniform?

Jeans, t-shirts, boots. My uniform needs to work on a bike, be easily washed and work in the SF climate.

What are your favorite Etsy shops and small businesses?

I literally look at amazing, original baby products all day: Sweet Pea and Tots - Kathy makes gorgeous, luxe, hand-knit baby hats. Wooly Baby - They make beautiful, soft-soled baby shoes that are upcycled from wool sweaters and leather jackets. Culture Baby is one of my favorite online store for original baby finds. Natalia sources the most wonderful baby products from all over the world.

Sticky Bellies, Wittlebee, The Push Pack, the Milk It Kit are all amazing shower gifts from small businesses. We have more favorite Etsy baby items in this list HERE.

What are your favorite brands and stores to shop?

I’m pretty thrifty, which is also necessary while working on a start-up. I love Thredup for my son’s clothes and I love Everlane for myself. 

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Natalie thank you sooo much for letting us have a peek at your life, and for creating such a fabulous tool for expectant mothers! xoxo, Kate

Dreaming of Spring Break...

To Wear

 Striped Tank || Sunglasses || Jeans || Scarf || Sandals

To Pack

 Sunscreen || Travel Notebook || Watch || WaterBottle || Backpack