Where Have You Been?

It’s been almost three years since I last shared anything on the My Style is My Brand blog. It is not for lack of wanting to, but life got very chaotic. My last post was October 12, 2023, announcing a group trip to Italy (which was canceled due to the life events discussed below). That was just over two months before my mother passed away, and since that time, life has been a whirlwind. I want to briefly catch you up on what has occurred. Though I may cover some of these topics more in-depth in later posts, we’ll just go with the Cliff’s Notes (remember those?) for now.

Losing Mom

On December 20, 2023, after a four-year battle with appendiceal cancer (cancer of the appendix), my mother succumbed to the awful disease. During the latter part of 2023, she spent more days in the hospital than she did at home. She was in and out repeatedly, during the last six months of her life, to address various symptoms, and many of those days I worked remotely from her hospital room. Though the medical professionals were always speaking with hope and optimism, I could see the decline and did not believe she would recover.  Mom was tired from surgeries, treatment, and was losing independence with every procedure they performed.  Throughout her illness, I mourned the loss of her physical freedom and independence that occurred after a second major surgery in late 2022.

She tried hard to stay the course and be strong because she didn’t wat us to see her give up. I told her that we know she’s not a quitter, but I could understand if she didn’t want to receive treatment anymore. She was too weak to receive treatment in the last few months anyway. In December, they finally told her there was nothing more they could do. After seven days on hospice and palliative care, she took her last breath. While mourning her passing and preparing for her memorial service, life took another turn.

The Heart

Three weeks after my mom passed, on the evening of Monday, January 8, 2024, I rushed my husband to the emergency room. He’d had a bad cough for a few days but was still going to work and doing life. That evening after showering, he sat on the bed and then fell to the floor. I jumped up out of bed, looked over at him and asked, “Are you okay?” He looked at me and nodded yes, but I could tell by the look in his eyes, that something was not right.

I dialed 911 and requested that they dispatch an ambulance. While we waited for the paramedics, my husband got off the floor and onto the bed (against my wishes). When the paramedics arrived, he was alert and I assume his vitals were “normal” because they didn’t seem alarmed. My husband asked the paramedics if they were taking him to the hospital, and they said it was up to him. Either they could take him, I could take him, or he could choose to not go. Not going was not an option; a person does not just fall to the floor when everything is alright. I got him dressed, the paramedics walked with us to my car, and I drove him to the ER.

In the spirit of keeping this short, the highlights are:

• It was his heart. When the checked him into the ER, his heart rate was 240 beats per minute. [My husband was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at the age of 39. They could never tell him how or why he had it; he was just unlucky.]
• At the hospital, they called the on-call cardiologist to come in and perform a procedure to stabilize his heart. After the procedure, she asked me if anyone had ever spoken to us about a heart transplant. What!!!!????
• A week later my husband received a new heart. The surgery went well, but the recovery was rough. He was hospitalized for a month though the standard hospitalization is only 7 – 10 days.
• After being home for six weeks, the doctors found he had a serious infection that resulted in him being hospitalized for another month.
• Two years later, you couldn’t look at him and believe that he had ever been that ill.
• Playing the roles of caregiver and patient has forever changed both of us and made a strong bond even stronger.

Sock It To Me

In November 2024, I started my socks brand, Sock Swag. A dream come true! I wished, hoped and prayed to be able to have my own socks brand. I got connected with a company that helped creators become entrepreneurs.  They’d provide all the support I’d need from finding manufacturers, warehousing, shippers, and developing a marketing plan. Launch day was bumpy, but the kinks got worked out, and sales were pretty good. I was ready to develop additional products, but my partners became very flaky.

They wouldn’t respond to calls timely and the communication became awful. It didn’t seem like my business was a priority for them, and I found out that it wasn’t! After much anguish and unanswered questions, I was over it. I met with the founder to let him know it wasn’t working for me, but he had news of his own. They were moving on to a new business endeavor anyway. That put everything on hold. I didn’t know anything about doing the things they did to support my business, had no connections because they handled all of it, and was forced to shutdown the website.  Then I had to get familiar with the infrastructure they built, dismantle it, and create something that I could support on my own.

That shift has taken 18 months, but my site is finally back up, and I am selling my remaining inventory.  Though things didn’t work out as I had hoped, the experience and education have been invaluable. I have shed the fear of doing big things. If not for my partners, the socks brand would still be a dream. I am currently working on finding a new manufacturer for the designs I have ready to go.

A Setback

In December 2024, I was the victim of a scam and lost my original My Style is My Brand Facebook account with over 240,000 followers. Meta was incredibly unhelpful, and I have not recovered that account. While this negatively impacted my business, the impact to my mental health was the worst part. I still have anxiety anytime I’m dealing with logins and passwords. Nevertheless, I established a new account and have been slowly growing a new community. Thank you to those who sought me out, reported the rogue account, and continue to support me.

Dream Collaboration

Influencers all dream of representing their favorite brands through paid collaborations, but few get the opportunity to truly partner. In January 2025, I was asked to collaborate with one of my favorite clothing brands, BruceGlen. BruceGlen is a brand from twin brothers Bruce and Glen Proctor, known for their colorful designs and bold prints. Together, we designed created a 12-piece, time-limited capsule line with beautiful prints that expressed our bold and colorful style perspectives and equally shared the profits. I was their first influencer collaboration!

Freedom Era

In March 2026, after a 30+-year career in local government, I retired at the age of 53. I am incredibly grateful that I was able to do so and am now free to spend time on creative endeavors that feed my soul. My career was rewarding and fulfilling in many ways, but it didn’t bring me real joy.  I was great at my job and enjoyed lots of career advancement that put me in a position to really enjoy my next chapter.

A lot happened in the last three years, and I survived. That means I have a lot more to do. Thank you for being here. Please stay around to see what happens next! LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW!