When Candice Collison's first daughter was born, she ran into a problem. She wanted to wear fashionable and functional clothing as a new mom that was made ethically. She looked everywhere...and found nothing. Seeing a major pain point for new moms and moms-to-be, Candice left her high-level job at Facebook to found Mod & Ethico - later, Of an Origin. Both offer mix-and-match options with motherhood in mind. Candice talks about the difficulties she faced as a mother when it came to clothing, along with the challenges of leaving her job in tech for a completely different kind of career. She also covers why she's so passionate about the work that she does, and how working from home has given her the greatest gift: the freedom to spend time with her kids.
When Candice Collison's first daughter was born, she ran into a problem. She wanted to wear fashionable and functional clothing as a new mom that was ethically sourced. She looked everywhere...and found nothing. Seeing a major pain point for new moms and moms-to-be, Candice left her high-level job at Facebook to found Mod + Ethico - later, Of an Origin. Both offer mix-and-match options with motherhood in mind.
Candice shares about the difficulties she faced as a mother when it came to clothing, along with the challenges of leaving her job in tech for a completely different kind of career. She also covers why she's so passionate about the work that she does, and how working from home has given her the greatest gift: the freedom to spend time with her kids.
Candice talks about:
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Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.
Music by © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).
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Used under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:00:00]:
When her first daughter was born, Candice ran into a problem. She wanted sustainably made maternity clothing that she would actually like wearing and to easily mix and match garments to create different looks. but after searching far and wide, she came up empty.
Candice Collison [00:00:18]:
I realized it was really hard to continue to dress myself in this, you know, the value system that I created and was sourcing, it was so hard to continue to dress and shop that as my body was changing and then as my needs were changing.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:00:35]:
Those needs included things like breastfeeding and accommodating her prenatal and postpartum shapes as a new mother. It was a major pain point for others as well, so Candice founded of an origin and ethically sourced fashion brand for pregnant women and new mothers, which evolved from her previous company, mod and ethical. I'm Katherin Vasilopoulos, and this is And So, She Left, the podcast about incredible women founders and the wisdom they uncovered beyond the corporate world. As soon as we met, I knew that Candice was passionate about her work. She lit up as she told me about her kids and what it's meant for her to work from home.
Candice Collison [00:01:36]:
I'm sorry. You probably hear my little one. I'm sorry.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:01:38]:
Yeah. It's okay. It's okay. I'm sorry.
Candice Collison [00:01:40]:
Mommy's on the phone. Okay?
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:01:42]:
I wanted to learn more about her early experiences as a mother. What else didn't she like about her clothing options at the time? What did you, notice in the clothing design and styles that you were finding out in the in the stores that just didn't work for you?
Candice Collison [00:01:57]:
Yeah. I mean, there was...there's so many things, but I'll just focus on a couple of attributes. I mean, the first, it was those fabrics. Even if I was shopping from a more designer maternity label, I'll get one example. I was going to a wedding, and I needed a piece that would fit me. I was probably 6 months pregnant at the time. I needed something that would accommodate that shape I found a brand I really liked. I found a dress that that was really flattering. It arrived, and it was a 100% polyester. And if if I was gonna be paying that price, which was around $200, I wanted it to be something like an investment piece that I would wear while I was expecting, but I would want to continue to wear that piece. But what I think I was most disappointed about, were just the the fabric. you know, if I was gonna be investing in my wardrobe, I wanted it to be, high quality natural fabrics that could wash really easily and things like spills or milk would not show up very, you know, wouldn't show up very well. And, I just wasn't finding that 90 plus percent of mothers do start breastfeeding, but very few last to 6 months. And it's not only because of our clothing, but that's, of course, a contributing factor. Like, having to think every time you go into your closet, can I breastfeed in this? Can I pump in this? Can I wear it to work? Can I travel in this? Just having pieces that were very adaptable and versatile were so hard to find.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:03:32]:
Yeah. That's important. You know, you want a piece that you can keep wearing. It's a you don't just wanna wear it once or twice. And, I think you also have, this desire to have a timeless piece, as you said, like, for from a min minimalism perspective. Yeah.
Candice Collison [00:03:48]:
Right. Right. And there are some great brands out there that I was sourcing for, Mod & Ethico. My, you know, my first, ethical fashion boutique and some other brands, Veda Capsule is one. We didn't source them, but they're just this great brand that I admired that had this capsule concept for the pieces were very timeless, but still so, chic and could be worn so many different ways. So you would have a jumpsuit, but you could wear. You could wear at the top by itself. You could wear the bottoms by those themselves, and I wanted to bring that concept to the motherhood space.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:04:22]:
And I'm sure that trying to not just be a mother, but then you have to incorporate all the different things of motherhood into your daily life. And if you have to go back to early. All those are anxieties, right, for new moms, and you wanna have something that you can rely on every day, which is your wardrobe.
Candice Collison [00:04:40]:
I did a lot of event marketing when I was still at Facebook. And, I mean, I would I would pump, when I was traveling, sometimes I'd to just, like, go into a bathroom and pump. And if you're if I was wearing a dress for an event, you know, you're you're pulling your dress up and having to pump in the bathroom trying to be discreet, and it just felt so I just felt so exposed. You just wouldn't even believe how much you have to think about when you're you're toting your pump bag and your pump and your milk. And can I what if I have to pump on the plane, or I'm gonna pump right before, but what if I'm running late for my flight? There's so many things you have to think about. and I wanted to make at least one thing a little bit easier.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:05:23]:
Yeah. It sounds like it's very help full and it's allowing other women to learn and to get some kind of peace of mind and to know that they have solutions to some of the little issues that are are popping up, but you weren't always, an entrepreneur. What did you do before?
Candice Collison [00:05:39]:
Yeah. So my background, was primarily in tech and advertising within the tech industry and also e commerce. So I have 17 years of digital marketing and ecommerce experience, and then also some event marketing or just larger, like, B2B marketing experience. but I've always loved fashion. And then, you know, even my days at the north face, pretty early out of college, I was introduced to the outdoor industry, and The North Face is so interesting because their whole thesis is to enable ex exploration and never stop exploring user tagline. but it's also a fashion forward brand. And just had such an appreciation, I think, for for nature and the outdoors and sustainability and climate change were such big themes that really affected The North Face's business, but also values. I think that's where I started developing some of my own values around sustainability and preserving the earth and ways that where consumption intersects with nature and the climate and our impact. It was back in 2015 when I first started Mod & Ethico and it really sustainable fashion and ethical fashion were very novel ideas at the time. Like, you could find some organic brands. but there wasn't a lot of demand from the consumer. So there was a lot of storytelling. Yeah.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:07:06]:
And we didn't think about slow fashion back in 2015. I can't remember anyone talking about it back then. It just came later. Right? Yeah.
Candice Collison [00:07:14]:
Yeah. I mean, I did a lot of educating. Anyone that would come into the store, clean beauty is having a bit of a moment. And I think finally, you know, 8 years after I started my first slow fashion ethical fashion venture, we're starting to have a lot more wear but the problem that's happening happening now is there is a lot more awareness around sustainability, sustainable values, climate change, is that we're seeing so much greenwashing. Greenwashing describes when a company will say were sustainable, and they may have recycled packaging or recycle a bowl packaging. But yet it's maybe difficult to recycle. It's really difficult to recycle. You may have a company that, says they uses sustainable fabrics and it's recycled polyester. Well, the process of recycling polyester is still pretty toxic for the environment. There's still a lot of byproducts from recycling in and of itself. And then, I also something that, makes me boil a bit is that recycled polyester is still polyester. It still has microfibers that can shed into our waterways. So green washing is just making blanket statements about your commitment to the environment, eco friendly sustainability, you're using these terms to describe your business practices when there's really more that meets the eye.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:08:51]:
Along with environmental impact, Candice has lots of reasons for creating sustainable garments. She tells me about 2013 factory collapse at Bangladesh's Rana Plaza, which claimed the lives of over 1000 workers. They were victims of fast fashions ever demanding turn round times for new cheap clothing options.
Candice Collison [00:09:09]:
The workers are they're overcrowding factories, and the conditions are deplorable and day dress, you know, people could see the cracks in the building, and they were forced to stay in the building and then it collapsed. So that was around the time where I just started questioning a lot about the origins of the things that I was purchasing as a consumer. And when I thought about the the lens I wanted to focus on.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:09:34]:
But her reasoning isn't just based on ethics. She talks about how microplastics and forever chemicals are found in certain clothing items, which can cause liver damage, fertility issues, cancer, and more.
Candice Collison [00:09:46]:
I have a thyroid disease myself that I've had I was twenty years old. And, I'll never know if it's because of the microplastics that I've consumed, or is it forever chemicals in the clothing I've worn over the years, but at the very least, I wanted to eliminate that hazard from pieces that are touching a mother's skin and are also so close to their babies.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:10:09]:
Armed with an MBA from Northwestern, Candice first found work in Chicago at major tech companies like Google as their senior analytical lead and Facebook as their lead of global marketing solutions. She spent years at these organizations and earned a healthy income, but when she became a mother, she felt like something was missing.
Candice Collison [00:10:32]:
I think having my first daughter, so she's now 6.
Candice Collison [00:10:36]:
But after having her, you know, I still had a really demanding schedule and a very stressful job fulfilling and fun, but stressful. And I I felt as though if I were gonna take away the time that could be spent with my child, then I felt compelled to be doing something that just lit me up that made me feel that I am changing the world that I'm at the intersection of my talent, my passion, and what I believe the world needs. when I thought about my real passion, yes, it's sustainability and how it intersects and touches our everyday lives. but the motherhood piece. I just felt so, like, so tied to it. It was so personal. it's such a kind of beautiful and jarring experience when your identity shifts so drastically from being an individual to them giving sustenance to other people. I mean, I'm still a nursing mother, and they still don't have that autonomy and independence. So, you know, your identity shifts so much. And I was working with an executive coach at the time as well. And we she actually helped me break it down into baby steps. And she said, what can you do this weekend to help give you clarity? And I said, you know what? I could sketch the designs. I could just start there and sketch them and think about what this could actually be, and that's where I started. So I took this tiny step. And from that tiny step, then I researched more about the maternity space. Got feedback from a friend of mine who then became an angel investor and cofounder. All the building blocks started coming into place. And then when my maternity leave was up, I went back to work and It was time. Then I knew. Then I really knew in my bones and in my soul that it was time to go ahead and just go all in, and I did. 3 years ago. Wow. August 3 years ago.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:12:27]:
I think that's amazing because in your story, there's no more personal reason why you would launch into something like this. It's literally because you are a mother and that you have gone through this firsthand and it means everything. It could not have been easy though because you're coming from a a marketing and sales and advertising background to now shifting into design and entrepreneurship and being a new mother. Tell me more about that experience.
Candice Collison [00:12:58]:
Yeah. You're right. It was it was definitely not easy, but still exciting. Every single morning, you know, so excited to get up and start the day. I have a small office, but I pretty much work. I work from home, and my little ones are around. And even though I can't stop myself from jumping in and helping with lunch or cleaning some dishes between calls, but, I've gotten to, you know, see every step every first crawl, all of these milestones, I haven't missed anything because I've been here with them every single day for the past 3 years.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:13:36]:
Oh, wow.
Candice Collison [00:13:37]:
That's wonderful. It has been amazing.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:13:39]:
Yeah. You're lucky.
Candice Collison [00:13:42]:
Very lucky. But, you know, it was hard to turn away from a study you know, steady paycheck. We were a two income family. Everybody knows inflation is real, and we've felt it as a family. So It's been really hard to fight the urge to not go back to work and have this then be a side hustle. you know, I felt that last year. And they actually took a job offer that didn't end up working out, and they think it was just the universe saying, no. This is the calling. This is the thing, and it will never be what I envisioned it to be. And I also had a conversation with one of my friends and, like, peer mentors probably about a year ago when I was going through that experience of do I go back to full time work and have an origin be the side hustle for now? You know, he kind of helped me shift. He was like, well, what, you know, when you think about what does it feel to have arrived? What what does that feel? And I talked a lot about the freedom of choice and to get to you know, have to if I have to take my kids to a doctor's appointment, I don't feel guilty that I'm not there for, you know, a meeting or or, you know, I'm not there for a boss to have to ping me with a question. Like, to have arrived is it's that freedom owning my destiny and the freedom to spend time with my children, if I wanted to take them to the park right now, I could. If I wanted to take them to the pool, I could. and so that freedom is is priceless.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:15:13]:
Today, Candice can clearly see the dividends of her work. She's able to spend quality time with her kids, which brings her immense joy. However, her type induced fear of disappointing others loomed large as she first sailed into the unknown waters of entrepreneurship. What was the hardest thing you had to do?
Candice Collison [00:15:34]:
Resigning from, from Facebook at the time. That was really hard because I am a perfectionist people pleaser by nature, and I don't like to let anyone down. And I've spent a lot of my life rather than trying to fill my own soul up is trying to avoid disappointing other people rather than trying to, live my life to its fullest. And in that moment, that's exactly what I was doing, but it was so hard because I've always been the overachiever and always, you know, looking for that. For the next accomplishment in my career, in my more traditional career. So resigning was a really I mean, I talked to my executive coach. Probably most of my maternity leave was talking through and roleplaying what that conversation might look like and just my fear and anxiety I had around actually saying those words that I was gonna leave and take this opportunity. So it was really, really hard for me.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:16:40]:
Did you ever think that, I don't know, resigning is the equivalent of giving up? Because we're all trained to be in good, solid, reliable jobs with the paycheck that comes in regularly. And so leaving that is kinda like giving up on that. Did you ever feel that?
Candice Collison [00:16:56]:
Yes. But almost the opposite of it where it felt like going from the known to the complete unknown, and that was so scary. It was almost like saying yes to complete, like, just having no idea. And no one to pat me on my back to say, oh my gosh. You did a great job. This event went so well, and it's like, there's no one coaching me along the way anymore. There's no boss to answer to. There's no
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:17:25]:
-- Right. --
Candice Collison [00:17:26]:
goals that we're setting. Right? It was just, yeah, it was me running all of it. so was the fear less of giving up and more of taking this leap of faith of, oh my god, and my act actually voting on myself at this, like, this is crazy. So, yeah, it was it was really scary.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:17:44]:
Yeah. You're betting on yourself now. There's no one else to do it for you.
Candice Collison [00:17:48]:
And -- There's no safety net.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:17:49]:
No. There isn't. You just jump off the cliff and hope for the best.
Candice Collison [00:17:53]:
Yes. Yeah.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:17:53]:
Yeah. Earlier, you were talking about freedom. And one of the things that I encountered as an earlier entrepreneur was that the the price of freedom is also loneliness. Because you give you give up the the safety of the boss and the the coworkers and the everything that goes along with having a steady job. And did you ever feel lonely jumping into this kind of, enterprise?
Candice Collison [00:18:21]:
You know, I have heard that so much. And, some of my mentors who I've just received amazing coaching from, I've heard so often that you know, it's lonely at the top. It's lonely as an entrepreneur, but I felt because the space I'm in with, you know, the motherhood space, there's probably more of that. And maybe this is a flavor of loneliness. But, yes, this idea of, like, what do I do next? Or, okay, this isn't working, or where do I focus on? Do I focus on building our email list, or do I focus on spending paid media at this, like, maybe feeling with you under a microscope.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:19:07]:
You just sound like such a hard worker and a person who has her heart in the right place. And so all those You know, the elements combined create such an amazing entrepreneur and in a in a way that maybe you never thought you could be. Like, how did you imagine it initially? And is this where you've arrived now?
Candice Collison [00:19:24]:
Yeah. It's it's really funny because I remember in business school, you know, like, during the orientation where we're, you know, we're we're writing kind of like our own our own obituaries, and we're doing this very, you know, aspirational, like, where do we see ourselves, or why are we doing this, or, you know, when you would, like, icebreaker questions, like, why business school? At the time, it was I wanna get promoted at Google. I need the skills to be able to feel like I I can be at the top and to not feel, self conscious. I mean, I am a 1st generation college grad, and I paid my way through undergrad and then also through my MBA program. And and I went to top schools, but there was I didn't have my family to help me navigate because I was doing this on my own. And I felt like I needed the the pedigree, the MBA to prove to myself that I belonged, and I deserved to be there. And, I remember other classmates saying, you know, I want the MBA because I wanna be CEO of a fortune 500 company, and I was thinking, oh, god. I don't wanna do that. That sounds terrifying. And then, you know, I found myself over the years diminishing that dream in some way by saying, oh, this is my small startup. I have a small startup or my small business since, no, I am the CEO of a a startup. And I put all of my savings into this. I put 3 years of, you know, some of the most precious times of my my kids' lives. into this. And I didn't think necessarily that's what I I wanted because I was so afraid of being the decision maker, I think. but then, you know, you take those baby steps. It's building blocks. along the way to build your, you know, to build the confidence. Like, every scary thing you do or every scary thing I've done along the way where I thought, I can't do that, or I'm gonna cancel that that pitch call because I still feel ready. Like, I can't talk to the former CEO back and beyond and pitch my pitch my business. And then guess what? I did it, and it went really well. It was a great conversation. Yeah. Maybe I didn't get a check, but I got really good feedback, and I had a really rich discussion. And it's every scary step along the way builds that you know, that that confidence and also your competence.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:21:47]:
And you're right. You build confidence by doing. You you don't just have confidence shows up, especially if before you never had to make those big decisions. And I'm assuming that people listening are also going through something along those lines. There's maybe an insecurity or there is a questioning or, you know, I'm not I don't feel prepared, but it doesn't matter. You just you have to keep trying.
Candice Collison [00:22:09]:
Yes.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:22:17]:
You'd mentioned your family just quickly. they weren't, entrepreneurs, or they didn't go to college. Is that my understanding?
Candice Collison [00:22:25]:
That's right.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:22:26]:
Mhmm. Ah, okay. And so when you were growing up, what was the model?
Candice Collison [00:22:31]:
Yeah. So it's it's so interesting. yeah, I come from Williamsburg, Virginia. It's a historical town. But I also happen to grow up in an especially rural part of my town. Yeah. My mom. I mean, she was she stayed home with us until I was maybe about 7 or 8, and then she went back to work at, like, a small retail shop that she had worked in this family owned, a gift where and, like, home goods shop. And my dad, he had his own construction business for a bit I mean, I saw them work really hard, but education was not something I was pushed into I was the this innate perfectionist, and people pleaser that I mentioned before. And, I did really throw myself into academics. That work ethic really stuck with me. My parents, and I think seeing my dad, you know, he built our home from scratch. I mean, and he built it with his hands. Yeah. And, we were a part of that. Like, we painted and we helped with, you know, we'd sweep or shop back after you all the sawdust at the job site, things like that. So we're I was very much around, you know, working with hands and and then my mom worked retail, and so I always I think at a young age, you know, I was doing customer service and ringing people up on the cash register and clearing up the cash register at the end of the day and doing a little bit of that accounting type of work. So, yeah, I think I was exposed to some of the at least some of the values that I hold close today and some of the skills that I probably honed at a young age, but it was less on the academic side and more on the I think some of the physical labor and producing.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:24:14]:
Yeah. And it sounds like there were a lot of practical lessons that that come from observing your mom or your dad do those kinds of jobs, and they are absolutely life skills. You know, building something with your hands or running a small business and being able to talk to your customers and offering the right change and all those little things help shape you as a, especially, like, younger children watching that you can't forget that. Those are important skills, and it's good.
Candice Collison [00:24:42]:
Answering the phone, which is the gen zs don't wanna do. It's so funny.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:24:49]:
But I love the the the story. And did you ever get any advice from your mom or dad?
Candice Collison [00:24:55]:
Well, they always tend towards the safe routes. So when I told my parents that I was doing this, my dad was Oh, no. You can't you can't leave. You can't leave your your job. You have kids. Like, you can't do that. So I think there are always this, like, voice of, like, reason and a little, you know, more conservative. But since leaving, you know, as I share with my my parents, the milestones that we're reaching with the business. We launched on target.com last year. I mean, how amazing is that? One of the best retailers is And -- It's so huge. They tend to be more conservative, very risk converse. Really proud of, I think, what I've accomplished.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:25:41]:
Thank you so much to Candice Colisson. You can learn more about Of an Origin through the link in the episode description, along with Candice's 1st venture, Mod & Ethico. If you like the show, please rate review and subscribe to And So, She Left wherever you listen. Your feedback helps us to better serve current listeners and reach new ones. You can also fill out our quick feedback form. It's just five questions long and your response helps us to make this show that you want to hear. And So, She Left is made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode. Our music is by Chris Zabriskie, edited for your enjoyment. You can find a list of all the songs you heard here in the episode notes. I'm Katherin Vasilopoulos, and thanks for listening.