The Launch of our First Collection: The Kickstarter Campaign

Thirty years! Can you believe it? When I was Christen’s age, I had been living in West Africa for a couple of years and was just beginning to understand what it meant to work and live cross culturally. It would be impossible to list all of the things I have done as a minister. Just of few of the rewarding experiences have been:

- caring for infants and small children in my well baby clinics - being present with those who are in the process of death and dying - being mom to countless students and short term workers - setting a beautiful table and welcoming people to our home - journeying with others as we explore faith

There are times that my work has been pure fun: - laughing and enjoying time with my women friends from other cultures and religious backgrounds - taking International students on trips to farms or historical sites - shopping and learning about the food, dress, habits and beauty of other cultures - visiting the countries and homes of some of our International friends

There are times that my profession has utilized specific skills: - making quilts for newly arrived babies - making curtains so a house can be made a home - teaching a refugee friend how to use her new sewing machine - cooking, decorating and organizing for a reception for 300 people As I look back and reflect on the past thirty years I am amazed that so many of these skills and experiences have launched me into something as beautiful, fun, and thrilling as Threads by Nomad! That four month old baby I took overseas is now my business partner! The pure pleasure of enjoying and celebrating culture has blossomed into spreading that joy to others through our designs. My love of fabric, design and sewing is being shared with a community that goes beyond those I meet in my daily life. Even as I sometimes find myself giggling with pure excitement over all this, I am humbled to hope and realize that Threads by Nomad will help provide a livelihood for refugees here in the United States and microenterprise for artisans overseas. I just can’t imagine it getting any better than that!

I am very grateful that Threads by Nomad happened at this time in my life. With children grown and on their own and college years over, we have had some personal funds available to get started. Fabric needed to be purchased for prototypes and samples. After finding our tailor extraordinaire, Hayder Alasade, we needed to pay him as he helped design and sew this initial collection. We are very grateful for the partnership with Alliance Multicultural Community Services which has made space and equipment available to us at a very reasonable rate. Now is the time to take our next giant step forward and we need you! We need to purchase fabric for the collection. We need to pay for our space and equipment. We need to provide a fair salary for Hayder, our tailor and Atia, our embroiderer. We have depleted our resources. So we are launching a Kickstarter campaign. How does it work? You can preorder something or you can make an angel investment. With a goal of $20,000 we will be able to launch our company and get this first collection off the ground.

Take a look at the things I listed at the beginning of this blog post. Do you know the one thing every single thing I listed has in common? Community! I was not alone in any of these experiences or endeavors. I had people with me with every single step or action. We did it together. I had people back here in the United States following me, writing me, encouraging me, and helping me. We were local community and we were global. The same is true for Threads by Nomad. You are a part of that community. Maybe you know me or Christen. Maybe you follow us on our different blogs or Facebook pages. Maybe you have a friend from another culture. Maybe you want what you purchase to make a tangible difference in someone’s life. Maybe you love diversity and beauty the way we do. We share community. We share togetherness. We are excited about this community of Threads by Nomad. Thank you for being a part of it!