Ponchos, yo!

I made a poncho story video, but the technical challenge of getting it on here is not one I feel capable of venturing, so I’m gonna write it.

Hello to anyone who wants to hear it!

The poncho story doesn’t hold its value without the surf story, so I’ll do I real quick synopsis.

I moved to Cali New Year’s day of 2019 and vowed to learn to surf. By March I had learned the basics and found a little guardian angel friend who just happened to have a long board she no longer used, opening the freedom door for my surf love affair to begin.

Combining my loves; camping, surfing and coffee

I’d moved from Colorado, where skiing/snowboarding is the thing to do. While I was into it, the amount of work it took amounted to more stress for me than passion. I commend all the mountain winter peeps for their dedication, truly, but I need me some ocean.

Surfing is the friend I didn’t know I was missing until she was there.

Even when things are choppy (joke joke), she’s still there. I found friends to surf with, I surfed on my own, I surfed with good surfers, I surfed with beginner surfers; the beauty of surfing, with the risk of sounding like a surf bro, is it’s all good! It’s amazing all the time, and when it’s not, it just means it’s time to listen to the redirect. Surfing has taught me independence and how to ask for help, when to wait and when to push through fear, it’s taught me the absolute high that comes from facing fears and the absolute awe that comes from respecting what’s bigger than me.

I’m by no means an amazing surfer, but there is no pride I feel like when I coordinate my body to stand up on that board. Every. Single. Time.

So, ponchos.

As a kid, I would spend MANY Sunday afternoons sewing things with my Grandma. Sometimes we would have a pattern, sometimes we would try to create something in my head, and every time, she was a trooper. She was an amazing seamstress with the best of the best sewing machines; I still use her sewing machines today. I learned pretty early on there was generally a way to create what you could think of if you found the right people and gave it time.

I started sewing surf socks one day and then was encouraged to try a poncho. I had a poncho I’d bought awhile back and thought I’d give it a try. Not gonna lie, part of my motivation was to get guys longer ponchos; not calling anyone out specifically, but sometimes we might not be entirely aware of how much of ourselves we’re showing…

So ponchos.

It looked like I could do it out of two towels, so I laid my poncho down and cut up some towels and sewed them together; I was shocked when this functional poncho was born!

I’m not one to stop a good thing, (even when I should), so I really went for it. I started acquiring towels and manifesting opportunities to share them with the world. This all paired perfectly with starting a new business and ponchos quickly stole the show. They were the perfect outlet to get creative with something functional and meet awesome weirdos along the way.

I made 100 ponchos in three chaotic months of life; I learned so much about selling, creating, innovating and adapting in that journey. I increased my selling outlets just by meeting people where I’d sell; it was a really challenging and really beautiful time of life.

Life took me away from Cali January through March of this year; it is safe to say, distance truly makes the heart grow fonder. Surfing changed the course of my life in a firm, but kind way. I truly believe learning the things I learned surfing greatly attributed to acquiring the bravery (or stupidity, they look VERY similar) to jump off this cliff into the great unknown.

I am grateful for every step of this journey and can’t wait to see what’s next!