Joining the Here for Good Program: A Milestone for My Small Business in Toledo

This year I am participating in Jūpmode’s Here for Good program, a fundraiser for local Toledo businesses. Jūpmode is a Toledo screen-printing shop that produces amazing tees, sweatshirts, and more. Each year, they allow small businesses to design t-shirts and sweatshirts for the public to preorder, with a portion of the sales going back directly to the small businesses.

I designed a “Stay Botanically Inspired” t-shirt for the occasion, and it was unexpected how much seeing my brand on a t-shirt would mean to me. This is my fifth year in business, and I finally feel like I’ve found my footing. Having this opportunity to join the incredible other small businesses in the Toledo area that are household names feels like a huge milestone and a powerful motivation.

Being an online store, I work mostly from home, so I only get to engage with customers at markets and workshops. It can often feel like no one really knows who I am, and that absolutely shapes my perception of my brand. As a more introverted person, I enjoy working from home, but as a business owner, of course, I want to feel like I’m building something that matters.

My Living Wreath Workshop classes have given me a lot of confidence in what I can do and inspiration for the future. But the Here for Good program has given me a new perspective on what my business can really become. As a Toledo native who moved away and found herself back home, I feel so proud to see my brand mixed in with names that define my hometown, even if I don’t sell a single t-shirt.

So, what does “stay botanically inspired” mean, and why am I always saying it? As a child, I always felt at home in nature. I loved exploring and observing. I’d watch bugs and birds, investigate flowers and leaves. So much of my youth was shaped by my relationship with the natural world. I could be alone for hours in my own little magical world.

As an adult, when I feel stuck, anxious, or frustrated, the best solution is always a walk in nature. Even if none of my problems are solved, I just feel better. Nature has a way of recalibrating me back to peace.

After a series of stressful career choices, I decided that I just wanted to be around plants and nature. I wanted to create something I would love doing, even if I didn’t get paid for it. With Terra Cotta Plant Boutique, I get to share my love for the natural world through creative play. Nature inspires me. It fills me with ideas to make something beautiful, fun, and different. It fills me with childlike wonder.

As the years progress and life changes, we tend to forget to play. We forget to make things special just for the fun of it. I hope that Terra Cotta Plant Boutique stirs something inside people that awakens their curiosity and creativity. Through nature, I hope to inspire beauty.

Starting this business has shaped so much of who I have become over the last five years. It has helped me heal my nervous system, find community, and build confidence in myself. Being a part of the Here for Good program isn’t about t-shirt sales at all to me. It is evidence that I kept showing up for myself. I kept showing up for Terra Cotta Plant Boutique. I went from not knowing where I was going to quite possibly being here for good. I couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate my five-year anniversary.

If you are interested in preordering your own limited edition t-shirt, visit this link. T-shirt sales run from March 2, 2026, to March 22, 2026.

Stay botanically inspired,
Brooklyn