The kernel of Kith & Kinship came from an idea born in my kitchen to have my husband, Robert, shoot and edit videos of me making some of our kids’ favorite recipes so they could cook them for themselves.

I also thought, “Well, life’s unpredictable. So, if anything happens to me, our kids could have these for always and, maybe, show their own kids one day.” Because Robert and I became parents later in life, I thought about how we really might not get to spend too much time with any potential grandkids and these videos would be a lovely way for them to get to know us if we’re not around anymore. We made the videos and thought not much more of it. 

So, <<leans forward for the delicious telling of this story>> let’s set the scene for how it became a company.

It’s the end of January and Robert and I are visiting Shelli, one of our oldest and dearest beloveds, who lives in Austin, but was in Chicago for business. 

The three of us were staying at the Hotel Zachary and we were sprawled out on a hotel bed in my and Robert’s room. We were in our jammies munching on a slew of Reese’s peanut butter cups in various incarnations that Robert got on a run for everyone (because he’s just that sweet.)  

Robert says to Shelli, ‘Hey, let me show you something Tracy and I made.” (He’s always so adorable when he does show and tell. Like a giddy five year old. I can’t help but look at him fondly whenever I know he’s about to do it.)

As Shelli’s watching the video, I noticed her getting teary-eyed. Then she said wistfully, “I want you to make one of these for me and Rory (her son).” Then she exclaims, “HOLY SHIT! THIS IS A BUSINESS IDEA!!!”

I look at her. Thunder-struck. I get goose-bumps alllllll over my body and practically bellow back at her, ‘HOLY SHIT! THIS *IS* A BUSINESS IDEA!!!” 

<<Cut to: the three of us looking at one another in amazement>>

From that moment on, hand to heart, it’s like the spirit of this idea possessed us body, mind, and soul and we’ve been utterly enchanted with making “Kith & Kinship” a sensational reality.

As I’m writing this, it’s been less than three and a half months from idea to execution and WE HAVE BEEN UTTERLY SLAYING, BELOVEDS!!!!

We stayed up almost all night that night brainstorming and got up early the next day to do some more.  We left each other with a list of objectives including nailing down a name, identifying beloveds who we knew would be willing and enthusiastic to help us, beginning to learn more about social media, and pre-production planning. We floated away from one another on cloud nine prescient in our confidence that we’d be seeing each other very soon.

About a month later Shelli and I had a brainstorming session via Zoom. I had a list of options I’d been kicking around, but we weren’t really keen on any of them.

Then, our gorgeous muse struck again, and I sat up and said ‘Kith & Kinship!’ And Shelli exclaimed, ‘Yes!’ And we were both SUPER GEEKED!!!

I boogied on over to godaddy.com and, lo and behold, the name was available so I snapped that baby on up right then and there!

We continued our work by putting our heads together around logo concepts and ended our late night agreeing that Robert and I would do some playing with drafts while Shelli continued to work her formidable genius in our business conceptualization and marketing.

The VERY next day, I was doing research on Instagram. I came across an account called @forgoodcode and the gentleman there (shout out to ya, ABI Bouhmaida!) had a post of a list of AI companies that could be helpful for startups. I thought, “Neato! Looks fun. Imma check it out!”

So I went to Looka.com and I SWEAR within 15 minutes of playing with their free feature of making your own logo, I had a jaw-dropping moment of recognition when I locked eyes on the only logo that could ever be ours. I felt like Gollum as my mind whispered “My preciousssss.) Three clicks later and I was the proud owner of the logo and branding kit which came with the ability to create branded marketing, merchandise, and our very own website we could build and customize!

I hold a little bit of fear right now that this is all going to sound terribly unbelievable, but I swear it’s true, our muse has been shining copious blessings down upon us.

Speaking of our muse, as I get ready to sign off, it occurs she needs her name. I’ve wondered about her presence, and honestly? She has a super feminine energy about her to us, so that’s what we’re gonna go with. Want to help us name her? We’ll be like Bastian in The Neverending Story! Drop your suggestions in the comments. Here we goooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!