The Weight of Building, Letting Go & Moving Forward Authentically
Dear Creator Diary,
I have spent my life building things. Businesses, relationships, dreams.
I’ve started from nothing, held the weight of responsibility, and turned ideas into places where people gather, shop, learn, and grow. I’ve built brands from the ground up, poured myself into them, and then, when the time was right—or when I had no choice—I let them go.
Letting go is its own kind of building. You don’t think about that when you’re starting something new. The excitement, the energy, the vision—it all points forward.
You don’t consider the day you might have to step back, hand over the keys, or watch something you loved evolve without you.
You don’t think about how it will feel to watch someone else take the wheel of what you created.
But what I built wasn’t just businesses—it was people. A team.
And when I had to step away, they didn’t crumble. They rose. Every conversation, every piece of training, every system I put in place—it was all worth it. They carried the work forward when I couldn’t. They made decisions, found solutions, and kept pushing ahead, not because they had to, but because they believed in what we were building.
In the moments when I felt the most helpless, watching them hold the weight with confidence reminded me that I had done more than create a business. I had created leaders. And I got to let them lead.
In the midst of uncertainty, exhaustion, and fear, I launched PRESSIE—a brand over a year in the making, built straight from my heart. It didn’t make sense on paper. But it made sense in my soul.
PRESSIE wasn’t about timing or strategy. It wasn’t about market conditions or convenience. It was about me—about everything I’ve learned, everything I believe in, and the way I see the world. It was built on the idea that small things matter, that gifts hold meaning, that connection is everything.
Even in a season of uncertainty, I knew this was right. PRESSIE wasn’t just another business—it was a reflection of me.
But being “strong” all the time is exhausting. Along the way, I lost friendships I cherished. Not intentionally, not because I wanted to—but because business became my life.
The long hours, the constant responsibility, the weight of making it all work left little room for anything else.
But the hardest loss wasn’t a friendship—it was my father. Losing him changed everything. It was the kind of loss that reorders your world, that makes everything else feel small and unimportant.
I wish I had done a lot of things differently, but grief doesn’t give you space to go back. It just keeps moving, and you have to find a way to move with it.
I have carried so much for so long, always finding a way to make things work, to pivot, to push through. But there came a moment when I just couldn’t anymore.
My body had been trying to tell me for a long time, but I wasn’t listening.
Then, I had no choice.
i was so tired, so sick.
Surgery forced me to stop.
And for the first time in a long time, I let someone else hold me up. Patrick stepped in—my husband, my business partner, my safe place. He didn’t need me to be strong. He just needed me to be.
He tagged in when I had nothing left, and I will never forget what that meant.
People tell me they admire my strength, my adaptability, my perseverance.
They see the picture-perfect version—the business wins, the tens of millions in sales, the brands I’ve built from nothing.
From the outside, it looks like I have it all together. But what they don’t always see is the weight of it all. The exhaustion. The sacrifices. The moments when I wondered if I could keep carrying it. I don’t want to be defined only by what I’ve built, what I’ve sacrificed, or what I’ve achieved. I want people to see me.
Not as a business.
Not as a brand.
As a person.
A person who loves deeply. Who finds joy in the smallest things.
Who gets excited over a new idea and overthinks every decision. Who is strong, yes—but also soft, also human, also tired sometimes.
That’s why IMPAKT—my passion project—means so much to me. It’s not just a business initiative—it’s a place to belong. A space where business owners don’t have to carry it alone.
A community where we can show up—not just as entrepreneurs, but as people. It’s a space for real conversations—honest struggles, shared wins, and the reassurance that no matter how heavy things get, someone else understands.
IMPAKT isn’t about working harder. It’s about working together. It’s about making sure no one has to choose between success and sanity, between ambition and well-being.
It’s a place where people don’t have to be admired for their strength all the time—they can just be.
I have always found my way.
And I will again.
But this time, I’ll do it differently—at my own pace, in a way that feels right, without forcing or proving anything.
And this time, I’m letting that be enough.
Peacefully Unfiltered
Dear Peacefully Unfiltered,
Letting go is essential.
We must surrender.
We must give up control.
Not because we have a lack of vision or we don’t deserve to be at the helm.
But because we were never designed to move through life alone. We were built for community. To care, nurture and love people when they can’t do it themselves.
I remember that same feeling of uncertainty, exhaustion, and fear after the accident. I wondered if life would ever be the same, if I’d ever get back to that version of me I was so proud of.
I may have survived the crash, but the person I was before died that day. I grieved for years, wondering if I’d ever get to be her again. I yearned for her confidence, her certainty, her strength.
The person we were only carries us so far. Eventually, we must shed who we were before to become who we were always meant to be.
I knew you before. The you of yesterday, brave and fierce and determined, was extraordinary.
But the you who exists today is softer, deeper, more generous, more human.
She carries every strength you've always had, along with a newfound tenderness that only comes from truly living.
Letting go isn’t forgetting.
It isn’t abandoning the past.
It’s gently opening our hands, inviting others in, and embracing the unknown with trust. It’s realizing we were never meant to hold everything alone, and finding comfort in knowing we don't have to.
Letting go means understanding that the beauty of what we built remains, even as we release our grip.
Breathe deeply. See the beauty around you. Allow yourself to rest in the quiet reassurance that you are enough, exactly as you are. In this release, may you find your strength.
