Obstacles to Opportunities
When faced with life's obstacles, let's channel that negative energy into positivity and forge opportunities. Throughout the nation, business owners will share their experiences of triumphing over daunting challenges in their careers and lives, illustrating how they've harnessed these experiences for growth opportunities.
Obstacles to Opportunities
Brandi's Beacon of Hope: A Mother's Resilience and Entrepreneurial Journey
Brandi's story is not simply one of triumph over adversity; it's a testament to the resilience of a mother's love and the power of reinvention. On my show, we welcome this tenacious woman with a narrative that weaves through the open fields of Burns, Wyoming, where she learned the value of hard work and family. Her reflections on a childhood without hobbies but filled with life lessons set the stage for her incredible capacity to adapt and thrive in the face of life's complexities. Listeners will be captivated by how these early experiences laid the foundations for Brandi's unwavering dedication as a parent and an entrepreneur, shaping the ethos of her flourishing home fragrance business.
The essence of motherhood takes on a whole new dimension as Brandi shares the poignant account of raising her daughter Sophie, whose journey with atypical Rett syndrome is as heart-wrenching as it is inspiring. The conversation traverses the landscape of initial diagnoses, the quest for effective communication, and the joyous breakthroughs that come with each of Sophie's achievements. It's an intimate look at the intersections of personal hardship and the creative sanctuary Brandi found in candle-making. As you listen, you'll find yourself not just rooting for them but also gaining insights into the transformation of personal challenges into catalysts for growth and community support.
Ultimately, Brandi's tale pivots towards the future with the introduction of Sophie's Place, an envisioned haven for adults with special needs, and the exciting developments of her business. We discuss how her vision is taking shape, thanks to the unwavering support of her local community and the broader mission that drives her brand forward. Pepper Street Studio, Brandi's labor of love, emerges here not only as a producer of exquisite home fragrances but also as a beacon of hope for families navigating similar paths. Join us as we celebrate Brandi's journey from rural roots to an entrepreneurial spirit that lights up more than just candles—illuminating the possibilities that arise from life's unexpected challenges.
Welcome to the Obstacles to Opportunities podcast. I am Jess Powell, your host, and I am here by myself. I don't have my co-host today, but I have a special guest, and you know, when you run into people or you meet people and Brandy and I ran into each other at a market where she was had a booth and I she has a home fragrance company and I just immediately was captivated not only with, like, her passion for what she does, but a story behind it too. And so you know, we just started talking and I thought she needs to be on the podcast. People need to hear her story, and so, brandy, I'm so excited that you're here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Jess. It's awesome to be here. It was great to meet you at that event.
Speaker 1:It was a fun event.
Speaker 2:I'm glad we made this happen, me too, I know, and when you first said you had a podcast, I was like, oh my God, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's so fun. So, you know, let me intro Brandy just a little bit, just like a few things, because sometimes I like to pull out like the quirky, the fun of people's lives and just kind of. You know, because we're all humans with multiple sides to us, right? So you were originally born in Wyoming, yes, on a cattle, in an alfalfa farm, and I, I'm gonna say I had to google like, oh, what is alfalfa? Then I was like, oh, I know what that is okay, yes.
Speaker 1:I love that. And then, um, and then you are a mother to Sophie, yes, who's a really big part of driving some of the passions that you have, and we'll get to that. And you're a local business owner of Pepper Street Studio, and I loved just hearing about how you've gotten to where you are and I think so many people will be inspired by it. So let's kind of start from the beginning in Wyoming.
Speaker 2:Let's go there. Let's go to Wyoming, let's go to Wyoming. Okay, yes, burns, wyoming, burns, sometimes on the map, sometimes not. Oh, okay, so we're just east of Cheyenne. Cheyenne was the big town, okay, you know, I always kind of compare growing up to Burns, wyoming, like I don't know how to say this and not be offensive to the Canadians or the Australians we're, we're a little bit behind in time. So I in in my life I generally get along with older people because I'm I can relate to them and like their music tastes. You know, we're 10 years, 10 to 15 years behind in music, things like this.
Speaker 2:So you don't realize that until you leave the farm and people go oh, do you know who David Bowie is? Yeah, of course I do. How do you know?
Speaker 1:that You're so young. So you grew up in almost like a time warp. It was.
Speaker 2:It was a time warp and so the town was 250 people. Our farm was seven miles out of town. Wow, I know these distances because a I grew up on a farm. Yeah, and maybe when I was 14. Like I had said in my um uh kind of my bio, I was involved in everything in school because I.
Speaker 2:I figured out, like if I'm home, I gotta be gardening, mowing laundry. Yep, we had a nice farmhouse that my parents renovated constantly. Um, so there's always stuff to do that you had to do. There wasn't like people go, oh, you're from Wyoming. Like, oh, you must be a skier, you must be a hiker. I'm like, no, I'm a worker. I had no hobbies.
Speaker 1:I just turned 40 last week and I finally have hobbies you know, yeah, so your whole life like growing up your parents really instilled in you like you are a contributor to this family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was really nonverbal, it was just like this is what we do yeah, you know, we and honestly, when I look back, I think it is like it was an incredible. We had an incredible childhood, you know. I mean just like I remember my parents were so young when they had us and they we had our alfalfa farm and then our. My grandparents lived four miles east of us, northeast of us, where my dad grew up, so they had also cattle and my parents decided we're going to start our own cattle farm. So they bought, I don't know, 10 or 15. We call them bucket calves because you have to feed them. They buy them at the sale, yeah, um, from their moms and then you take them home and you feed them, you raise them up, um, and then you can sell them or like we would butcher one. Okay, you know I have like.
Speaker 2:This is like I know it sounds like I grew up in the 20s I mean, I'm from indiana. Okay, this is like super off for me, okay, yes, yes, yeah, so some of my earliest childhood memories were when they got the caps and you know we'd get up at 4 am and they'd be, because I don't want to miss out on a thing. I'm still the same way. So I was like I don't know, five or six years old and I could hear them stirring the milk downstairs.
Speaker 1:Yeah so.
Speaker 2:I'd get up and they'd be filling the bottles. So, you know, everyone the adults took two bottles and I got one. Walk out to the barn, it's freezing, cold. Calving season is like middle of winter, yeah, snowing. Usually there's no trees in southeastern Wyoming and then, you know, we get the cows and I mean I just, I remember that, you know, because my grandparents would come over, you know. So, yeah, growing up, I mean it was just, it was a lot of work, but when I realized that, oh my gosh, I could be involved in all these school activities, I wouldn't have to work Right, even though being involved in these activities is a different kind of work, yeah, you know. So student council was a big part of my high school and then, like I said, I was involved in every, every.
Speaker 2:You know sport every sport, every sport, even though I'm not a great athlete you just did it they needed you on the team. Oh, absolutely, just camaraderie you know right right, right, um. So yes, basketball volleyball track. My mom, uh headed up a dance squad for oh, she did time shows, which was kind of hilarious.
Speaker 2:Uh hope you have uh videos of that that you can watch. God, I hope not. I, you know I. So I was so glad we didn't have social media when I was growing up oh my gosh, um no, but it was great because she would. She was a stay-at-home mom and a very creative, talented woman. She would build furniture to make extra money and do, like christmas bazaars and stuff, and my dad is a carpenter by trade um.
Speaker 1:So you watched them as a young age really be entrepreneurs. They were building things themselves, like you know, having that or no, I?
Speaker 2:I believe that I got my entrepreneurship from my grandmother, who is my dad's mom. Okay, I watched her, you know she did. She was hairdresser for a while and then she did got into insurance and then she was working from her home that she got her own office and then pretty soon she got her own, like you know, building and so.
Speaker 2:I watched her do that and my grandpa was a farmer, okay, so he did the farm thing and but she was always that, like you know, entrepreneur. For sure. My dad worked for the postal service for like 30 years, okay, and my dad was, you know, hardworking and would do the postal service thing and then farm. He was farming season, you know, calving season, whatever, so but he was. I guess you could say that would be entrepreneurial, but in my mind dad is a hardworking but very content, human Right, very happy, content with you know what he has, and yeah, so that's's.
Speaker 1:I think that that's would be where I got it from yeah, and so you took, you took a journey around after Wyoming and you went to a few places, um, and you had some your it sounds like your path, which a lot of people listening may feel this where you think you're like this, this is what I want to do. I'm going after that and then, you know, things change right. Oh, yeah, and, and so tell us how you, how you came to Pepper Street, like that part of your story, like how Pepper Street kind of came about, because I think that's something that was just it's it's amazing to hear and I love your plans for the future, so I'd love to get there. Okay, great.
Speaker 2:Uh, yes, I, I traveled a bit for school. I did interior design. I lived in Boston for a little while, phoenix for a little while, and, uh, and then I eventually moved to England, to London, finished my interior design degree, which it was. It was like it was a goal and it's like I have been doing this for so long. There's no quitting now. Let's do it Like. I mean, I know it took me seven years. I could be a doctor by now. I'm not, you're a doctor of design, I'm, I don't know, I don't know if I'm a doctor of anything Survival, um, anyway, so I, I did, I finished my degree in and I was done with being in England. I was really happy to be back in the States. Yeah, I thought I'd end up in Boston, but my mom had moved to Naples and so she said come here. This was 17 years ago, wow, come here, you know it's a nice little beach town.
Speaker 2:Okay, great Beach would be great after three years of rain in London, absolutely. It was a quiet, sleepy little town. And getting out of college and coming to a slow little beach town, I didn't know if I would last. I didn't know if I would like it, yeah, but I ended up staying. I told you, I met my future ex-husband and that's why I stayed and I did design for a little while and then I really love the home sense and stuff and I worked at a beautiful place in London but I would go to my favorite places like anthropology and want a candle so bad, yeah. And then it was like I take it home and burn it and it was just a huge headache and I was like ah like again, like this happens again and I was really just kind of curious about the whole thing.
Speaker 2:So I just started doing some research and then finding out that, like there's all these chemicals in it and falfates and carcinogens and stuff and this is what people are sensitive to, so I thought, okay, I have to. Obviously you can make a product without that stuff, right, and that in itself was a journey. It is a science.
Speaker 1:So maybe I'm a doctor of scent. Yeah, maybe you are a doctor of scent.
Speaker 2:I like that something, something. It's a new title and god gave me a really great notice. I mean, I will say that, um, I prayed every day during covid that I wouldn't, if I got covid to don't mess with my sense of smell. You needed that because I create all the sense, right and uh, and then, thankfully, I didn't get that part of it. Good, um, so, yeah, so just create, creating the sense and then making them non-toxic, you know, was something I was you know kind of after. So I started, you know, making some little samples and having my friends try them, and then it was like, oh, this wig doesn't burn and this and yeah. So after all of that, and then so I had sophie in 2010. Okay, that's where my kid was. Yeah, sophie was born very healthy.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know, I never really knew if kids would be my future. I love kids, but I just wasn't really for sure. Yeah, sophie was a surprise, okay, yeah, and I thought, well, this is my chance to have a child, yeah, yeah, and I'm going to take it. Yeah. And so I had a normal pregnancy. I enjoyed being pregnant, you know, and, like I said, she was very healthy, she had scored 10 on the APGAR and I was like, okay, yeah, here we go. And I remember holding her for the first time and, of course, crying Right as we do I'm sure every mother does and I said we're going to have an awesome time. So excited, yeah. And that actually was captured in a photo which I thought was really cool, really.
Speaker 1:We still have it in Sophie's room.
Speaker 2:Yep, okay, okay. So fast forward a little bit, and Sophie was um a little behind in milestones, yeah, um, but you know, when it's your own, your first time out there, right, a lot of kids aren't right. Yeah, you don't know right? No, you babysit when you're young, but you're not looking for their milestones.
Speaker 2:You're just trying to keep them alive, absolutely, you know, yeah, right. So, um, when I really realized maybe there was something going on with her because she wasn't born with any physical disabilities, so it wasn't like downs or something like that yeah, I took her out to the farm when she was like three and a half and I had seen her around kids before, like her cousins here in Naples, but never really paid too much attention to the interactions. And when we were there I was around my niece and nephews and they're of similar ages and I thought, you know, not quite like she was not doing quite what they were doing, you know, because they're saying words and they're putting little sentences together and they're figuring little things out, you know, with their little hands, and you know, and Sophie was kind of in a different world and I thought, well, it's just Soph, right, it's just she's, it's her personality, you know, and as your mother, you're always in huge denial of anything, you know it's just like, and I and God forbid anybody say anything, you know what I mean oh
Speaker 2:yeah, oh yeah. Us Woolingtons, we really just like to kind of put it under the rug and just move on with life. I'm very close with my dad and I was very surprised because when Sophie and I returned back to Naples, he called me and he said you know, brandi, I think maybe you should have Sophie checked, because I think maybe she's autistic. And it crushed me. Yeah, because then that was, you know, 2013.
Speaker 2:Autism was so stigmatized, stigmatized, it's like you don't want that label on your child Slapped on them and so, right, you know, it's like, oh my God. And so, um, I did, I started an earlier intervention with her and went to psychologists and doctors and I had people they have an intervention program here and they had had the psychologist come to her house. It was like twice a week just to evaluate her. See, like what she does, and like Sophie, cute as a button, curly black hair, loves her music, loves the water, and, you know, get like a a normal and I hate the word normal, call it mainstream. Whatever child playing three-year-old, you know she'd get on the back of the couch, do this almost all off, run around, jump on a trike. You know, just like that. Yep, you know, physically she's just right, right, right. And then it was just the that she didn't really talk and her dad, my ex-husband, is Hispanic and so he always spoke Spanish to her, so she had Spanish words and English words and she, to this day, she still understands both. And it blows my mind, um, so obviously she's playing around and there's nothing you can that you can't diagnose her right, what's wrong with her? Nothing, she doesn't really talk, you know, right, so nobody knew.
Speaker 2:And, um, socially she was good. I mean I traveled with Sophie a lot, I did a lot of stuff with her and she loved being around adults and she was great. I mean, some of the funniest things that she did when she did have words was, um, she'd ride her little trike every night, we would like for an hour and a half. She would just ride her every week up and down the street, up and down the street listening to katie perry. We had this neighbor and she was lovely, but she talked a lot and sophie wanted to ride, not sit there and watch mommy talk. Right, yeah, right in there, yeah, right, yeah. But she saved me so many times because she would just we'd pull up and Nancy would come out and she'd just go bye.
Speaker 1:Great, we're going to go. Thanks, soph. Yeah, we're out. I don't know what you're doing, but we're leaving, yeah we had to go.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, fast forward a couple years. She was five, okay, she had a seizure and it's terrifying, just that never gets easy. Yeah, and the neurologist did a full blood panel workup, because in between the intervention and this time, I'm being a typical mom, googling, googling. Oh, yeah, right, it's like what do you Google? She doesn't. Yeah, right, it's like what do you Google? She doesn't talk, right. So it comes back as atypical Rett syndrome.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I'd come across Retts in my researching. Most Rett girls are diagnosed between the ages of 6 to 18 months. They never walk, never talk, typically on a G-tube. Wow, it's a tough, tough life. And you know, when we got the diagnosis, I really, you know, I was like okay, but I was relieved To have an answer, to have an answer. Yeah, you know, my ex-husband was devastated, yeah, and it's like, okay, I get it, yeah, but but Now we know, now we can work on it, we can, we can create a plan, exactly, yeah, so, um, so that's what you know, I did, I did, I'm using it in my research and stuff like that. But so sophie is, um, currently about to be 14. Oh, I know, she's a love and she is non-verbal, except for mama. Mama okay, when she needs something.
Speaker 1:Does she use an iPad to communicate at all?
Speaker 2:No, she you know, what we have tried is they have an eye gaze machine. Okay, and this thing you want to talk about archaic machines. It looks like a huge iPad that was invented in 1980. Okay, it's big, it's heavy, and this was probably about six years ago, in 1980. Okay, it's big, it's heavy, and this was probably about six years ago or so. Okay, we got this device and it calibrates your eyes and you, you can, they've got, you know, little pictures and whatever, but very antiquated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and we tried it with her and you know she said a few things and of course, I'm bawling because I was like I love you.
Speaker 1:Mommy was like oh you're like that's all I needed. Right, take that thing away oh, um.
Speaker 2:But just to see how it felt, I calibrated my eyes, yeah, to try it, and it was exhausting. It was, I mean, it's like I did it for probably 10 minutes, yeah, and after that 10 minutes I felt like I had been like you know when you travel and you drive, how mentally exhausted you are because of all the senses and whatever. It felt like I had just did an eight-hour road trip. Oh wow, I was like, oh my God, I can't do that. No, you know so. No, you know we're working on different communication, but but I know the people that take care of her and around her love her.
Speaker 2:We know what her needs are and that kind of thing and of course, it's important for me and for her to be able to communicate in some way. But we're not quite there yet. Yeah, it's a journey, yeah, it is so mixing Sophie getting diagnosed.
Speaker 1:It obviously shook my world, and I was doing interior design at the time, playing with my candles just as a little trying to figure out how not to get a headache from the candles, and I was never like I'm going to make this.
Speaker 2:You know, I was just like I want a candle that I can burn, that I'm not going to feel sick. So shortly after she got diagnosed I thought well, when she got diagnosed I thought I have to do something to secure her financial future. Yep, and if I die, who's going to take care of me? You know what I mean. And so I was working with a gal in interior design and she was lovely and she has shapen who I am for sure as a mom. And I'm going to give credit to my mother too, because I'm sure she'll listen to this.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I was working for her for about five years and she was great, and with the interior design I just because I kept thinking more and more about like Sophie and I was like, oh my God, like being a designer, and at this time I was really just kind of an assistant, yeah, and I thought I can't do this my whole life and I wasn't working with her for that reason. It wasn't a long-term thing. Yeah, we both knew that. So anyway, uh, she said to me one day, she, she, uh, came into the office and she said I can tell you're not happy. And I said I'm not. And to this point Sophie's, you know, been diagnosed for a few years now. She loves Sophie, treats her like her own. It was a great part of our lives. But anyway, she said, what do you want to do?
Speaker 2:and at this point I had started like, uh, I did a little, some events and that were pretty successful, and I thought, oh, like, maybe I, maybe I could do this, so you saw some doors opening yeah, as I was working for her last couple years, I was doing some shows, I would do some farmer's markets on the weekends, which were totally unsuccessful, um, but I was like I still really enjoyed it, you know, cause then it was like, oh my God, like, okay, this is non-toxic, I can get this and this is this smells great and people were loving certain scents, you know.
Speaker 2:And then to see people at my successful events, um, come back Right and of course for me I was like right, and of course, for me I was like I wasn't just making candles, I made my website, I had business cards, I had my resell I had, I knew everything to do because I had done it in the past, when I did interior design on my own, I knew I knew the setup, I'd have a gig.
Speaker 2:I'd done it three times, yeah, so, um, anyway, uh, when she said, what do you want to to do? And I said I want to do my company, I want to do my home set company. And she goes oh, thank God you didn't say design. And I said I know me too. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So you had clear, I think, for people that are stuck maybe in something and they're being asked what do you want to do? Stuck, maybe in something?
Speaker 1:and they're being asked you know, what do you want to do? You know, like it's like what advice do you give to someone when they're at that like fork in the road? You know, is it? You know I, I know that sometimes people are like looking for signs, or some people are praying or some people you know and say you know what, what did, what do you feel like worked for you for that? That that was that. That conversation seems like almost surrounding yourself. I'm like answering this for you, but I'm like surrounding yourself with like trusted people that like really get you and are like asking those questions. Right, yeah, she saw something in you and she was like she saw the potential of where you could go Right and I think it's important.
Speaker 2:I truly believe that you are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with. I mean, I really do. I think it's really important and I feel like if situations and people that and I hate the word serve, but if they're not serving your like journey, it's time to move on. Yeah, you know what I mean and it's and for me it's very hard for me to move on. I say it like oh, just move on Right.
Speaker 1:It's not easy to move on.
Speaker 2:But yes, it's important to have supportive people in your life, encouraging people in your life. I'm very lucky at this point in my life that I have a wonderful boyfriend who's super supportive, and everyone needs that little bit of a push. You know, uh, I also my colleague, um, her name's Marcella who does. I'll plug her on the rocks designer coasters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, look that up wwwontherockscom.
Speaker 2:All right, ontherocksonlinecom. Love it, love it. Um, anyway, she, uh, she's another person in my life who I really I lean on, I look up to and she gives me that little push. And you know, I think when you don't have those little pushes in life, you can stay stagnant. Yeah, it's like when we had our first location, our shop, our building got bought, we had to leave Mm-hmm, and I was like, oh God, like yeah, what am I going to do? You know, because it's always like panic first, right, panic, panic. Get it out of your system and then let's see how we're going to move on. Yep, and we did it. So the management guy said listen, I've got another spot for you if you want it, and it's a beautiful location, you know. So it just takes that people are to be able to visit soon. Yes, they live in people. They can visit it now and we have some exciting news coming up, so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 1:So now, how did you and this is kind of what we connected on, because I visited your setup at the ritz market and guys yellowstone, you just have to smell it, it's just amazing. Not only do I love the show, I I love the set and I have it in my house.
Speaker 1:It's wonderful. Um, so you at that point, like that conversation was a pivotal moment and you like went all in on your business, not to say you haven't had ups and downs, but you have a vision for where you want to take it. That's kind of you know. You see these pieces like Sophie's story, your story, that it all kind of coming together in something beautiful. So tell us about that, like your passion behind how you're combining these things.
Speaker 2:Okay so, one of the driving forces with Sophie's story and journey was after she was diagnosed and she had. She went from mainstream, so she was five. So she went to the you know pre and then kindergarten. So in kindergarten they moved her from mainstream to special needs. Okay, I was still in denial. It took me two years to get over myself that this is not my fault and you didn't do anything wrong. Yep, and it's. And don't be the victim. I'm not the victim. This is the situation. This is Sophie's life.
Speaker 1:Yes, the situation. This is Sophie's life. Yes, not a victim. Yes, so let's see, I had to convince myself right. Well, other people may need to hear that right now there may be someone that's going through the same thing.
Speaker 2:So it's like the diagnosis is difficult, yeah, um, so I would drop Sophie off at school so I'd see these little kids and I love that. You know, the Downs community and the special needs um kids is is so, so life changing that I don't know. I feel like parents that are just on their journey of a special needs child. It's going to change you for the better and it is just incredible. Yeah, so I would look at these little kids and go like I know that their parents are thinking what if we do like what do? Because they can, they can stay in high school until they're 22 years old. Okay, you know what about?
Speaker 2:And at this point I obviously had no idea what Sophie's capabilities were going to be. You know what the future really looked like. And I just thought about it every day and I go to my car and I just cry because it was just like, what are we going to do? Yeah, and it just came to me one day. I don't even know when or how or why, but it came to me and I thought, oh, I know what it was, I do know what it was. Oh, okay, my boyfriend's family has his brother-in-law, has a son with cerebral palsy. Okay, they created Zach's Home. Okay, that was my answer. Okay, okay, and we went and we visited Zach's Home and it was a day like a day camp for adults with special needs. Okay, it was really cool and I thought this is it. Yep, this is what we can do. We can create home. Our community needs it, every community needs it. Yes, and not only is it amazing for the adult with special needs, but respite care for the family yeah, I mean, as a single parent, like that is, and I think probably every parent struggles with finding good help for your children, but anyway, so that was the inspiration, and then, thinking more and more and more about it, I thought you know what we could employ them, they could have a meaningful life, respite care for the families.
Speaker 2:And so where the name Pepper Street comes in is my vision, which I'm pretty creative, I can totally tell and design background, yes, is to have a facility, a production facility, and then across the street, our street named Pepper Street Studio will be Sophie's place. I love it and that's the goal on this year. We're finally starting the foundation. So that, because I do, I talk about it a lot, because I think it's important to get. Get it out there. Get it out there.
Speaker 2:And you know, I've been in this community for 17 years and I know a ton of people and this is the most supportive community as far as small business and the foundation and the mission. A ton of people and this is the most supportive community as far as small business and the foundation and the mission. I mean, people are incredible. They come out of the woodwork, love that. And so I think that like it is all kind of come to this, like point yeah, of now we can do it. Yeah, people know about it, they want to hear about it. They're like where can I donate? So you know, soon we'll have that where you can donate um to, and then we'll be. We will now be able to give a percentage of our proceeds to Sophie's home and the project of it.
Speaker 1:Love it. I love that. Yeah, and and you had shared a little bit about that when I bought the candle and the um, you also have like fragrance oils that I got with the wreaths and all that, with the flower and everything.
Speaker 1:It was so cute and you know that's memorable. That is so memorable. And what I love is that it's not just a candle, it's not just this although you have an amazing story of it being non-toxic, because I could go down a rabbit trail on that. Like, I'm such a believer about that. Like, if you don't know what's in your candles, like pay attention, because it could affect your hormones, it can have carcinogens, and this is not to be like fear-based or anything. It's like the truth, it's just the facts. It's the facts.
Speaker 1:Um, so, knowing the ingredients of a candle super important, knowing the ingredients within your fragrance is very important. Um, but not only. You're doing that which is moving that industry forward and help helping people live healthier lives with fragrance. Like having your passion project and your family, kind of, you know, coming along with you in this journey and people feeling like they can be a part of it. Yeah, absolutely, it's amazing, absolutely so, oh, I love it. Okay. So now future plans, and we've talked about, you know, the. The topic of this is obstacles, opportunities, and I feel like that you did a really good job, kind of covering the journey to where you are. What would you say to someone who's facing an obstacle right now? Like what? What's like your best advice for like getting past that.
Speaker 2:Just keep going, Just keep going, Just have to keep going. Yeah, I mean, it's like live or die. That was kind of a funny thing that we said in our family growing up Live or die, yeah, so it's like you, just you gotta keep going. Yeah, and you know, I think that you know one of your questions was to me was would you change anything in the past? And you know I got to say no, I wouldn't change a thing. Yeah, Everything you go through, good or bad, it shapes you, it teaches you.
Speaker 2:You should take everything with a lesson. Yeah, you know. And yeah, maybe you would do things a little bit different, but just stay on your journey and see how it goes Right. And you know, with with the company was kind of like it's amazing now to see how it has grown into this, its own life form. Yeah, you know, like I know that I'm the face of pepper Street, but it is its own growing force. Yeah, and it's incredible because people told me in the beginning and and you know the haters are going to be there, Don't listen. Yeah, you know what it does for me. It drives me. Tell me I can't do it.
Speaker 1:Please, yes, yes, yeah, oh my gosh, I love that. I mean, I feel, like a lot of you know, entrepreneurs, that you are going to reach a point. If you're doing something new, if you're doing something that is out of the norm, if you're going against the grain, there's going to be someone that's going to say you can't do it, you shouldn't do it. It's right, you know there's still that in run and, and just take use that to fuel you.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely, because it's going to happen. And I think I've gotten to a point now where it's like, when things happen or go wrong, it's like I think I'm mature enough now to say, okay, why did that happen? Yeah, why did that happen? Why?
Speaker 1:did that happen, Because there's a reason.
Speaker 2:There's a reason for everything. Everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like what you said earlier. You said it's something about you know like stop, like feel it, get a little mad, then like move on, you know Right when those things happen.
Speaker 2:that's what I go through. I go through panic, panic. Oh my God, did this, did this really happen to me? To me?
Speaker 1:And then you're all victimized, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, get it out of your system. Yep.
Speaker 1:And let's go. I've always said I can always tell that I'm in a healthy place mentally when I'm not the main character. Like I'm not the main character, this is not all about me. Right, and you know what it's not, no, it's not. No, it's not, it's not, it's not the end of it, it isn't it isn't.
Speaker 2:I believe. It's about helping people. And how can we make this world better? Leave it better, yeah than when we got here, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree. If you've gotten this far, you know you just got served up some good wisdom. So I hope that you guys enjoyed Brandy's story and if people want to support you or check out pepper street studio, where should?
Speaker 2:they go. Okay, you can go online. Okay, you do online. We do a lot of shipping. You can do drop shipping. They make excellent gifts. Amazing. Um pepper street studiocom, all spelled out, perfect. And then our location is in naples Park. Okay, so we are just across from Mercado on 93rd, and we have a really cool little studio there where we make everything, create everything. And, yeah, we've got some really cool, exciting news.
Speaker 1:So stay tuned. It's exciting, all right. Well, thanks, brandy, this has been great, and I will definitely be following along in supporting you in your journey to the next thing. Thank you.
Speaker 2:I'd like to say one more thing you can find out more about RET, the research that they're doing. Okay, there's two different foundations, really awesome reverseretorg and retsyndromeorg both incredible resources. Yeah, just to kind of find out, they're doing a lot of gene editing.
Speaker 1:There's some videos on there that will just blow your mind, okay, thank you All right.
