Finding the “s” in “Founders”

Hi. It’s Erin here. Like many founder’s stories, it all started with a challenge. It was April 2020, pandemic times, and I was working from home full time as a commercial real estate broker with my 3-month-old at my side. It was the best of times and the worst of times. The gift of more time with her was a blessing, but that gift was often taken away by the mental load of those trying times. The world was an increasingly unsafe place and those of us in commercial office real estate were using all our energy to keep the industry alive. By the end of the workday, I was exhausted. I had little energy for just her and I, being us, in a normal world. I craved for more pure moments of joy, more moments of present connection – not the moments of taking a conference call while strolling her around the neighborhood. I also kept getting incredibly triggered by statements like “you’ll miss these days someday” or “they grow up so fast”. Despite the slowdown of the world around me, the days were getting faster. Panic set in.

I decided to build a list of activities that I could have at the ready to prompt me at the end of the day to engage with her and ensure each day was a connected and rewarding one. The list took away the mental load of thinking how we were going to connect and thereby gave me the energy to just connect, to just be present. I started finding more joy, I started to feel content.

I wanted others to feel that same sense of joy I was feeling so I began thinking more of what this could be...

My inspiration started with a memory of a collection of Pantone mugs on a shelf at the first architecture firm I worked at. The colorful mugs floating in a white space would bring so much joy, each one a unique color connecting it to its drinker. The visual of those mugs set me on this path to creating a collection of tools that I would be proud to display. The original idea was for a tear-away calendar – a dose of nostalgia, but the anxiety of playing catch up on the days was not what I was seeking. I wanted something free to access when you wanted it or needed it most, which ultimately led to the idea of a beautiful card deck, that could be a dynamic visual display of ideas, ideas in the forefront of our vision, not the ideas tucked away in my virtual pinboards and bookmarks. This is where the name Backpocket was born – it embodied this mission of producing products that could be with you when you needed them most and could ultimately evoke that same joy of finding twenty dollars in your back pocket. This helped keep our products simple and digestible, just like the Pantone mugs.

At the council of an amazing mentor, the next big challenge came in elevating the content from rudimentary to expert-backed. I wanted the products to have so much depth that just by engaging with them, a parent could feel they have a trusted source of guidance and find contentment that they are the best parent they can be. That brought me to an introduction to our co-founder, Elizabeth, and that is where one founder became two…

Elizabeth has a background in speech-language pathology and has built a career as a parent coach and child development specialist. She had a similar awakening during the pandemic- yes, parents want to do what is “best for their kids” but parents also want to enjoy the parenting experience. Elizabeth became known for her simple, no-fuss ideas to find little pockets of joy and connection throughout the day. She found that her approach resonated with clients because it kept the focus on authentic connection, rather than the Instagram highlight reel. Despite having hundreds of little tips and tricks at the ready, Elizabeth found it difficult to package that knowledge into a product. One meeting with me and Backpocket was born!

Together, here we are today…we are able to double down on an increasing trend around more tangible connection and a rejection of outside noise. We saw a trend of needing to find balance in the way we interact with social media and technology, which is why our posts give you back the choice to opt into more content or not. We are also living in an anxiety and depression epidemic and knew our products could be that gentle whisper “you got this” or “we’ve got your back”.

We are the first to say we are learning parents and we are not perfect parents, but what Backpocket did give us was contentment and that is our wish to you. Join us on our mission…what do you have to lose?

XOXO,
Erin & Elizabeth