Our Story

My LUV Story
If the transformative year of 2020 taught me anything, it was that if I was going to stay committed to only working for companies that aligned with my ethical & spiritual beliefs and moral compass…I needed to get to work creating one.
That thought - that epiphany felt overwhelming, too big, too grandiose.
So…I froze.

But fear kills too many dreams. Stops too many small businesses with untapped potential from ever beginning…from ever growing into something magnificent. So, I unfroze and started thinking of that first step…started buying good vintage items on my travels and through the connections I’ve made over my thirty-year career in the fashion industry.
Step by step, I started building inventory on my meager savings. All the while not really knowing where it was going just simply trusting the process, in my determination to create a business that would help shape a universe that supports a gentler path for us all.

Then February 2021 happened… My dear dad was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, the same disease that took his father. And with mom having mobility issues at the time, I knew I would have to move from Austin, back into my childhood home and help my parents. It was the first time in my independent fifty years of living that I truly put my own plans aside. And that time of living in the service of others would be my life's greatest gift. For the next sixteen months, I leaned into creating the most positive space for my parents and myself to go to battle. It was my sole purpose, and it was a divine one.

I never felt closer to God and my own center... as when driving Dad to his chemo every other week for a year and a half... witnessing his courage, strength and determination to win. Car rides filled with amazing conversations about life, music, food and more, that may never have happened were it not for our syncopated mission. Witnessing him become his best self during that year and a half, and supporting him through it was the most brutally beautiful time of my life. Watching him try holistic things he never would have before… ordering plants to fill the house with better oxygen… ordering essential oils to aid in health and healing… and eventually taking daily naps with mom, precious time for the two of them to rest their body and minds.

It was during those nap times that Loved Up Vintage was finally put in motion, though I was initially unaware of exactly what was happening. As they napped, I began to mend and patch the vintage items I had purchased while listening to my favorite tunes. My own precious time of regeneration. Mending brands from my childhood... from a time when life felt lighter, which in turn mended and lightened my own heart. Spending time making these broken items whole again, was a pure mission of joy and healing in action. And I’m sure that the journey with my parents, through that time, absolutely pushed me past my own fears of failure. Being strong for them, brought a sense of vigor to myself and everyone in my orbit. That sense of strength and joyfulness is in every LUV piece that I find/mend/create even now, more than a year later. My dad’s positivity and belief that all things are possible drive me to keep going, to keep dreaming, and to keep creating.

I believe in the universal push for sustainability and the ability for us all to build a life that brings more joy than fear. One where financial vulnerability is not the main through-line for most citizens and working to survive is the exception, not the rule. Supporting companies with mission statements and purpose that will create a better world for future generations. One that gives us all a seat at the table of power, of choices, and of security. We are all moving in the same direction of much-needed change, to get power back to the people. So that the people who want to create a more balanced playing field, in the game of financial independence, can rise. Can create more small companies run ethically, supporting employees compassionately, and helping to build a more connected sense of community for us all. Our money, and how/where we spend it is the key to this change.