In episode 3 I dive into a wonderful conversation with Elsie Goodwin of Reform Fibers. She talks about what motivated her to start her business after having her first daughter and how authenticity and connection help her get through rough patches. I admire the way Elsie so much and know you will enjoy this chat. 

Elsie drops some wonderful knowledge on us. My favorite thing that she said was that her work is a gift to herself. It’s her time away from her kids where she just gets to be and create. It's space for her to grow and learn new things. What if we all felt that way about our work or simply our creative pursuits? I think some of us know it (that's why we started it!) but we lose touch with that idea over time and just go through the motions (sometimes for me w/ a clenched jaw) I'm not doing this work because it's hard and I hate accounting, I'm doing this as a gift to myself too. The excel and emails come with it but some of the time I get to create and connect to other amazing people. That shifts things doesn’t it? 

I also love how Elsie thinks of Reform Fibers as the culmination of many of her life experiences. She says she wanted to connect the dots in her life - I love this idea, that all of these roles are why she is so great at what she does and why we need to hear from her. What she touches on is that it’s easy to discount our life experiences and talents as unimportant, especially as women where many of our roles may be mundane like taking care of kids, housework or maybe even a lowly customer service job that includes cold calling. Those experiences are meaningful though. They gave her the strength to start her own business and create a life where she works and is with her kids. I'm sure it's not all sunshine and rainbows but you can feel how much she loves it here!

Lastly, Elsie speaks about how authenticity with her audience helped her work through the failure. She is so true and real in everything she puts out into the world. I think we could all follow this example with great results. There's a Neil Gaiman quote that I love and said during the interview. It's from his commencement speech at University of the Arts and goes like this:

The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you're walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That's the moment you may be starting to get it right. 

It's so good. I have it right above my desk. Sharing authentically is a wonderful way to let people in and form connection to those with the same values. I often feel that I don’t have the time to do it when in reality I know I’d do better probably more efficient work if I let whatever is bugging me out. I definitely needed to hear this from Elsie. Here are some photos of Elsie's gorgeous macrame work and her family.

I hope you enjoyed this interview and apologize for some of the audio bugs! We will work these out as we go I promise. Thank you so much for listening. I can't wait for you to hear next week's episode. Find out more about Elsie on her site and on instagram @reformfibers.