Back in 2006 when I approached Liz with this silly idea for a website called... wait for it... Cool Mom Shit, we both wanted to support mom-run businesses and the community of small makers and artisans that were making cool stuff for kids.
(Probably a good idea that we changed our site's name a few days later, huh.)
We also thought we could offer help to busy parents who don't have time to scour the web themselves, maybe even help them feel a little cooler, more stylish, more organized, more connected. And hopefully, they'd laugh a little while they were here too.
We never would have imagined what we -- two bloggers and new moms with no business plan, no real goals, no investment money, no "review blogs" to model after -- could end up doing
If you had said that one day we'd be frequenting shows like the TODAY Show, CNN and Nightline; that we'd be cited as a favorite website by the very magazines we've admired for years; that we'd get to interview celebrities from Hugh Jackman to Anna Quindlen to Drew Barrymore; that Liz would co-host a baby fashion show with Martha Stewart; that Kristen would get to walk the red carpet with Ethan Hawke (!); that we'd add a dedicated tech channel and food channel; that we'd get to host our own parenting podcast; and that we'd have more people reading our site than just our moms and a few friends...we never would have believed it.
Ten. Wow. We're a tween. (Insert eyeroll here, we guess.)
Our first post, February 22, 2006. Not sure if we should laugh or cry.
What an amazing 10 years it's been. And we're still having fun!
But the truth is, the press and the celebrity meetings and all that schmancy stuff aside, there are a few things that we love even more. The first is that we still get to wake up every morning and love what we do and who we do it with. We are so grateful to have a truly amazing staff of editors (Stacie! Christina! Kate! Nicole!), fabulous writers, and other essential people (Hi Lisa and Kari!), and we couldn't do it without any of them. If you can't tell from their writing, they are all smart, funny, thoughtful, kind, and the types of people we are honored to have in our lives in any capacity. But we've always said that most rewarding part of our jobs, above anything else, is getting emails from our readers and from the small businesses we set out to help in the first place, that simply say thank you. That makes it all worth it. To say we are honored to be here, celebrating our 10th birthday, is a huge understatement. So. Since you all allow us to do what we love, we want to thank you! (Yes, it's our birthday but we're giving the gifts to you.) We've got a seriously phenomenal 10th birthday giveaway courtesy of one of our favorite picks from over the years, FashionABLE. And ten of you are going to win! You've seen so many of their items on our site since discovering them in 2012, because we truly love everything the organization stands for -- they support women in need at home and abroad in life-transforming ways, by offering the kinds of special, stylish accessories we're proud to own ourselves. They've been amazing supporters of ours as well, and we are so grateful that they've offered up ten of the most popular products we've ever featured on our site, the stunning Mamuye Leather Totes. Yep, ten. Each lucky winner will each get to pick a favorite color tote, too. Whoo!Congrats to all the lucky winners! THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
And hey, whether it's your first time here (in which case, welcome) or you've been with us from the early days, we cannot thank you enough for your amazing support. Anyone ever tell you you're cool? Well, it's true. -Kristen + Liz
