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A Big BURU Year—Welcome White Label

A Big BURU Year—Welcome White Label

We kicked off the beginning of our 3rd year in business with a BIG move. 

Brett was presented with a job opportunity in Salt Lake City, UT that seemed too good to pass up. Kentucky was always meant to be temporary, so we packed up our little family and BURU and headed west.
We bought a house, found a school for Olive, renovated said house (from top to bottom) and did our best to make SLC feel like home.
It never did—but I'll share more on this in our year 4 recap.
Being out west was incredibly challenging for the business. All our initial growth efforts focused on developing a customer base east of the Mighty Mississippi. Not to mention our wholesale reps and PR were all located on the east coast.
I felt isolated in SLC—removed from our base and our contacts. I began to travel an insane amount to keep up with all of it. I was in NYC so often, in fact, that a close acquaintance thought I had moved back to the city.
My inability to clearly see that BURU needed to stray from the original, intended path we created for it cost us—time and money. I spent months trying to force things that the world (aka God) was blatantly telling me to avoid. "Try another way," He was saying. I wasn't listening. I was stuck.
It's obvious in hind site, and I eventually "woke-up and smelled the Buru", but year three was a shaky one. So shaky, in fact, that we came close to walking away.
Somehow, little miracles presented themselves—giving us life as we struggled to find our true footing.

First little miracle—an exclusive mommy and me collaboration with the lovely and talented, Rachel Antonoff. 

 

Second little miracle—a quick trip to Hawaii. The intention was to shoot a look book, but the trip was so much more. It cleared our minds, and unbeknownst to us (at the time) it began clearing a path for BURU's next big step and our move further west.

Third little miracle—a relationship with a new brand for BURU. 
On one of my too many trips to NYC, I had the luck of meeting super mama, Ariane Goldman, founder of HATCH. 
It's impossible to not be inspired by this woman and all that she's built. She's smart, fun and innovative.
During a visit to their showroom to shop their latest collection, we began chatting about other fun ways to work together. I casually mentioned our BURU Bus, and before I knew it—we were planning a mini tour together around the south.
MAMAS ON THE ROAD!

Together, we popped-up in 4 southern cities—Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville and Charleston, with a grand finale at The Southern C Summit, speaking on a panel about collaborations.

We had a ball.
I learned a lot.
Somehow in her "Yodaesque" way, Ariane gave me the dose of courage that I had been lacking. 
I already knew that I needed to make some big changes for BURU to survive and thrive, but after the Mamas on the Road tour, I had the whits about me to go for them!

When we returned from the road trip, I put my nose to the BURU grindstone.
It was time mix things up—time to bring more of our own brand and voice to the table. 

 

Curating and marketing mom-friendly styles from established designers and brands helped us make it to year three, but to move into the future, we needed our own label, and so—
The BURU White Label was born!

We created the BURU White Label to provide mothers the fashion they want with the functions they need at a price point they can afford.
We hustled like crazy and somehow—with the help of my main gal Allyssa, manufacturers and packaging companies that rushed everything for us, and of course, my Brett, who worked through the nights to crunch numbers with me—we were able to launch BWL for fall.

With a trembling finger, I clicked SEND and our launch newsletter landed in the inboxes of all our BURU mamas. 
I was overwhelmed with nerves and nausea (to be fair I was pregnant!)—but then...

THE ORDERS CAME IN!
And they kept coming. 
Thank you, Jesus!
And thank you to ALL of you!

 

There was (and still is) so much more to learn and to do. We have countless ways to evolve—but once our label was out there in the world, I knew that BURU would never be the same!

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