What elephants can teach us this year.

My husband and I decided to take our girls on a last minute trip to the zoo over the holiday where we got to visit with 3 gigantic African elephants.

If you've been around long enough (like…from 2016), you would know that Her Brand & Co.'s Lucy Lab Marketing Accelerator, as well as Lucy AI™, are both inspired by our original logo – which was an Elephant I named, Lucy.

Being in their incredible presence gifted me a quiet moment to remember why Lucy has been a staple for this my life for so long.

Going to Cracker Barrel was a real treat for me growing up.

I have vivid memories of navigating my way through the store in order to get to the hostess stand to secure a coveted table. They had lights, street signs, knick-knacks galore, stuffed to the brim with trinkets and bobbles. Rock candies and kettle popcorn, small keychains and stuffed animals – a 9 year old's dream!

14 months ago, I was sitting in Italy with my co-founder after an impactful day during our first-ever Business Renaissance Retreat. The entire retreat was designed to help us get out of our day-to-day and leave the grind of entrepreneurship behind.

We designed it to expand our senses. Move slower. Taste better. Feel deeper.

As we fast-forward a year later, I've started to reclaim important parts of my story by excavating the value of what I really do.

I just spent the last 2.5 weeks in a swirly, creative, confusing, and challenging headspace.

Since the acquisition of Her Brand & Co., we've been collecting customer data and feedback in anticipation of our new launch. I was really on the struggle bus to figure out how to tie it all together.

Your past, present, and future is smushed up into one messy, unclear memory soup.

I have distinct memories of being 14 years old, relatively new to the internet (I’m an ancient Millennial), researching marketing and advertising colleges.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by how stories, images, music, video and other forms of media can drastically influence human behavior. You see, I was raised by a single mom with very little options for growth in a relatively unremarkable town. I never really felt like I belonged, always had my eye on the prize, the next step, a way out.

What a way to dip my toes back into writing after a 5-year hiatus.

And well, I have some news. After many months of investigating why I was feeling so burnt out, a family trip to the Netherlands and finding some time in Italy to get back into my body — I’ve decided, along with my co-founder, to step away from growing our company.