The Legend of Cali Rose Co.
This is a little story of how an artist birthed a small and impactful business.
‘Issa Global Pajama-Party!’
Before I became an entrepreneur, I used to work at multiple restaurants and do freelance design work on the side to make ends meet.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, I found myself with so much free time it was almost unbearable. Going from work-a-holic to couch potato was an interesting transition to experience.
The reality of the COVID-19 Pandemic + the global eruption of Black Lives Matter Protests was a lot to witness that summer. At times it was overwhelming…
Everywhere you looked, there was bad news.
The planet’s on fire, oceans are choking on plastic, people are dying at alarming rates from a new virus, life has effectively shut down outside of people’s homes (if they even have homes), people can’t work, they can’t eat or pay their bills (I was one of these people), the government was, and still is offering minimal help…
All of that was enough to make my head spin! 😵
I felt insignificant. I felt stuck. What could I, an unemployed 26-year-old career server, do about ANY of these things!? Sometimes it made me wonder what was the point of even trying.
After about 3-4 months of processing all of the global unrest that had been taking place, I kept feeling the urge to dig deep and find out what I could do to be a part of the solution…
2020 was one for the her-story books. Everything felt intense + the persistent thoughts really stressed me out, lol.
But in those moments of distress, I noticed something magical was happening. The more stress I experienced, the more I found myself taking refuge in my many hobbies.
The gardening + nature walks quickly turned into horticultural therapy. My crafting hobbies became art therapy. I found meditation and yoga, which offered my mind and body spiritual healing + grounding.
My passions became my medicine. And through all of this, my awareness of the environment around me grew stronger.
Seeking solutions...
With all of this free time, I started noticing that we humans do not have a healthy (nor respectful) relationship with the environment that surrounds us. I also began to notice that we do not often see a realistic example of what it looks like to host that respect in our own homes + bodies.
The various habits we have as individuals and a society do much more harm than good for our collective environment.
Even things that were intended to be trustworthy alternatives *cough, compostable cutlery, cough* are not as sustainable as promised.
Once I realized all of this I knew that I had to be an agent of intention in this world.
I began to see where these habits played a role in my life. I realized that I needed to refine my habits and thought processes to become even more community + environmentally oriented. (i.e. decolonizing myself)
I started by questioning how things were made, who made them, and what happens to them when I am no longer using them.
Doing this helped set my thoughts on the right track, and my actions followed suit.
There was something strangely liberating about being accountable for my actions, and the problems or solutions they may cause.
Holding myself accountable began to feel like a great way to inspire others around me to do the same.
It is no secret that there are so many overwhelmingly large issues going on currently that gravely impact human and non-human life on this planet.
One can feel useless when trying to stand up against the tidal wave of indifference armed with nothing but reusable shopping bags.
And although it may seem that our individual actions don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, that simply is not true. All major change has started with individuals coming together and deciding to make it so, and I believe we are capable of creating such change.
We’ve found something!
While in the midst of my ‘personal accountability’ crisis of 2020, I discovered a love for the art of UPcycling and an obsession for ‘Closing-The-Loop’.
‘UPcycling’ is when one takes existing waste and reuses it, or makes something completely new with the reclaimed materials.
‘Closing-The-Loop’ involves interrupting the standard ‘production-to-waste pipeline’ through various means of reusing, recycling, or composting one’s waste.
The first place I began UPcycling intentionally was in our tiny apartment garden.
I took old plastic containers from the grocery store and take-out meals and used them as mini-greenhouses to germinate seeds that I had harvested from vegetables used to cook meals.
We even started a composting bin at our apartment to explore composting the food scraps from our kitchen (instead of just giving them to our dog, Piper Rose 🐕).
Doing all of these little things made me feel like I was finally starting to become a part of the solution.
Discovering how you play your role and where you fit into the bigger picture is the hardest part about joining the ‘good fight’.
During the pandemic, I discovered that my role was to combine all of my passions - my love for creating art + designs, my obsession for beautiful + green filled spaces, my passion for fighting for the environment, and my eternal support for causes that fight for social + economic equality - in order to inspire others to find their unique way of joining the ‘good fight’.
This is when I got the bright idea that eventually became ✨ Cali Rose Co. ✨
Cali Rose Studio
Cali Rose Co. started as Cali Rose Studio on August 1, 2020.
Named after my childhood best ‘fur-friend’, Cali, and my current best ‘fur-friend’, Piper Rose, Cali Rose Studio began as a place for me to share the UPcycled crafts I began making during the global lockdown, and to earn a little income.
One summer day, while randomly looking up the recycling qualifications for our county, I was astonished to find out that glass is not accepted as recyclable material!
Having fallen in love with finding new uses for discarded things, I sprang into action! I reached out to my immediate neighborhood and asked anyone if they had any glass that needed recycling. To my surprise, I was able to collect over 150 pieces of glass from just a few neighbors!
Processing, cleaning, and removing labels from glass is no joke. But at this point, I was so committed to finding a solution for all of the new issues I uncovered.
Nobody could tell me I wasn’t saving the world by scrubbing down all of that glass. 😂
I began UPcycling the glass into unique hanging plant propagation stations using the secondhand craft supplies + macramé hobby I picked up earlier that year.
From then on I was hooked! All I could see were the endless possibilities of making amazing + beautiful things from items once regarded as garbage.
Cali Rose Studio quickly turned into a Fabrication studio that’s dedicated to creating Functional Art, Home Décor, and Accessories from UPcyclable materials.
Although my soul was (and still is) extremely fed by crafting things with intent + purpose, I felt like I needed to do more! Now that I think back to it, I wonder if that was just my overachieving tendencies talking… 🤔
I kept finding myself wondering, how can I inspire people to be a part of the solution, and how do I help guide them there?
How can I connect the people directly to the tools, knowledge, and causes that are fighting toward global Sustainability? (Absolutely the overachiever talking 😆)
Cali Rose Co.
That is when ✨ Cali Rose Co. ✨ was born. Cali Rose is intended to be an ecosystem of brands dedicated to educating, inspiring, and offering people the opportunity to vote with their dollars. ✨
I believe that our surroundings and the objects in those surroundings directly influence our perspectives.
By crafting intimate environments that reflect + contain reminders of the values we would like to cultivate, a space has the power to positively influence your daily life.
During all of that unprecedented pandemic free time in our one-bedroom apartment, I had a lot of time and little space to analyze things…
My conclusion became that we in fact live in a world where most companies put profits over people at the expense of the health of their bodies and environments.
I set out to challenge this stigma by creating a company that puts the planet, its creatures and their environments over profits.
