2021- Our 10 Year Blogoversary!

One of the first photos on Cashmere & Camo- circa Jan 2011….

Do you believe in setting resolutions, in manifesting your dreams?

Whatever you believe in, I hope you never get stuck waiting for things to be perfect before you start. Starting Cashmere & Camo was an NYE resolution that came to me as I was sitting on my couch 10 years ago. Other than a name and a feeling I set out to create a platform that I could creatively share a glimpse into my life. I could not have anticipated the places, people, and experiences it would lead me to.

Things were far from perfect when I started as you can see from my first post here. At the time social media was barely a “thing”, I had to learn to code and build a website, I had zero clues as to what SEO or online marketing strategies were. Photos were fuzzy and lacked any edits which later evolved to learning a DSLR from the ground up and shooting the majority of all photography. I just loved creating and as we close out our tenth year of the blog and 986 posts later, I feel proud of the enthusiasm and dedication shown in the immense amount of content developed over the years. All the while working and creating full-time oil & gas services businesses as my day job.

I will admit, I did not go into creating Cashmere & Camo with a business strategy, plan, or even a goal. I considered it a fun past-time. Nope, instead, I simply hopped in the lazy river and decided that fate would push things in the direction destined for it to go. Looking back could it have been better? Could I have capitalized on things more? From the outside looking in, the answer is yes, however, I am a strong believer that everything has its due course and timing. I personally had to go through a series of interesting and painful educational and financial lessons on life, business, and relationships.  As Carrie Bradshaw would say, “Your 30s are to learn the lessons; your 40s are to pay for the drinks”.

As with every season of life, with the lessons learned I feel that everything has changed for me in the last decade, yet I feel more at home with myself than ever before. I fought my way through a male-dominated industry all the while thinking there was a specific image or way to develop my business while keeping my blogger life separate. I lived that double life for many years, trying to be something different for each aspect, compartmentalizing my life. Let me tell you, it is an exhausting and confusing road.  I have learned, I am the woman that will wear an all-pink suit into the boardroom and feel at ease. I believe that you are your biggest creative endeavor in life and should be able to express yourself accordingly. I also think women could do a better job mentoring and supporting our future generations. I have had many amazing mentors in my career but few women around to support or tell me to reach further or push harder and I always wondered why?

Looking back on the earlier days of the blog, I was excited to share general fun lifestyle aspects that evolved into the need to share fashion and market my “recommendations” for brands. As I have had the privilege to work with some amazing companies over the years, my day job allowed me not to rely on Cashmere & Camo for my primary income and therefore I reasoned I was able to be discerning to work with brands and opportunities that my core values truly aligned with. As we entered January of 2015, I watched our city and primary Oil & Gas industry enter a recession in which many businesses and families were impacted. Losing their livelihood, homes, and in some extremely tragic cases, their lives.

Within this turmoil, I was also fighting for my own business’s survival, financial stability, and trying to pivot in reaction to an ever-changing marketplace. Suddenly sharing fashion or campaigning for items I did not even possess the disposable income for seemed malapropos. However, one burning desire that came out of this period was to increase support to small businesses, local businesses to Alberta, in particular, I felt there was a lack of support or understanding of the adversity and struggle that many of the owners faced daily as they tried to support and grow their dreams.

And so, in more of a volunteer capacity, I expanded the support to small business through my social channels, I listened to many owners concerns and saw the re-occurring patterns that also were transpiring in my business life. But my personal affairs could no longer be ignored, 2015 turned out to be a tidal wave of reality. Early January I was diagnosed with a large ovarian tumor, followed by treatment and the realization of the end of my long-term personal partnership- all in four months. By September of that year, I had found myself a new home in the country and a new sidekick- AKA- the fur monster, Sir Gunnar.

But the lessons of 2015 were to continue as the business still struggling with the realities of the new economy had to be addressed and the battles continued to rage on in my daily reality. I tell you this not to complain about hardship or the whine about the challenges I have been through, but to convey that in the world of “perfect” that I have heard so many times that blogging and social media curates, never forget everyone always have their own realities to face. The blog and social media are simply a highlight reel and in my use were only ever meant like that. To share the joys, the light, the inspiration. I felt inspired to share those things because maybe I needed it most of all. People will argue I could have been more authentic at the time and shed some light on the challenges I was going through, but in all honesty, I was not ready to share it. I was still in the thick of the swamp trying to see my way through.

And there have been many times along the last ten years where I wanted to just quit, when I wasn’t feeling inspired or couldn’t find my WHY behind the blog or the content any longer. But then something would always remind me of the sense of community, the connection to so many I felt even when my own circumstances had left me feeling isolated. The community support surrounding Cashmere & Camo has been amazing since its early days and has never ceased to amaze me.

And through the turmoil and rollercoaster of 2020, reflection on the last decade has helped reinstate my passion and sense of purpose here in this space with a new mission to EXPAND and GIVE BACK. Supporting small businesses and women who want to live their lives to the fullest potential will be an on-going mission for this space. I hope by throwing out some seeds of this new chapter to the universe and this amazing community we will see where the next ten years can take us.

I just want to thank each and everyone of you for the support and encouragement over the years. For my family and friends that have put up with the #bloggerlife, photoshoots, and the many documented social media moments, thank you always for putting up with my antics.

And to everyone, as we head into this new year, I hope you never stop dreaming, or believing in your potential and listen to those little whispers and give them the chance to turn into a ROAR.