My story

I call myself a dual-threat business owner, and that's not just a catchy title — it's literally how I run things: two businesses, one person, and a mom of seven on top of it.

Marie Gems didn't start as a DTF transfer shop. It started with bullet journals, then tumblers, and three years of trial and error later, it's become a multi-channel shop selling across Shopify, Vinted, Whatnot, Etsy, and direct sales. I built it the way most real businesses get built — by changing what wasn't working and keeping what was.

I already had my web design degree long before Marie Gems existed. This year, I finally decided to take it seriously — because apparently seven kids and one business wasn't enough chaos, so I added a second one: Lavender Pin Co, where I use everything I've learned about Pinterest, SEO, email marketing, and Shopify web design to help other small businesses get found and look the part.

None of this happens in a vacuum. I'm doing it while raising seven kids, which means the "how does she do it all" question comes up a lot. The honest answer: not perfectly, and not alone in spirit even when it's just me running the operations. Running two businesses while raising seven kids means building something different than what I was handed — in business and at home — and being upfront about what that actually looks like day to day.

If you want the businesses, here's where they live. If you want more of the real-life side, that's what Random Thoughts is for.

See what I've built Read Random Thoughts