Meet Trailblazer Sarah Clark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Clark.

Sarah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in a family that made everything and married a man with the same background. Our families each made gifts both for economical reasons and for the love of craft. We didn’t know people usually buy gifts in stores! We married and kept right on making. The more things we made, the better they got, from furniture to clothes, to baby stuff, to body stuff, to wallets and bags. We honed our skills in a few areas. He did furniture and I do bags.

We dabbled in online sales and worked ourselves into side gigs, and helpful income. I stay at home with our four kids, and kith&kin is a cool way to contribute financially, as well as an outlet for all the momming.

Has it been a smooth road?
I’m not sure I’ve ever been on a smooth road! I think I’m more of a trail girl than a road girl, and all the good trails are kinda bumpy. The expectation that anyone doing cool work is on a smooth road is problematic. Embrace the climb, the decent, and the bumps on the trail.

I’d advise women to just go for it. It will not be perfect ever, so just start out. Put something into the world that wasn’t there before, and learn as you go. There will always be ways to morose, but it’s really tough to improve on nothing out there yet. Put it out there. It will be hard and embarrassing and incomplete and awesome!

To any moms with kids at home who feel guilty for taking time away from them for your work – cut yourself some slack. You are doing multiple VERY HARD things at once all day long. You don’t get to turn either one-off, so relax and be your own cheerleader. No one knows, no one will ever know, how much you do. It feels too hard because it is too hard. But don’t quit. Just slow down and think of three or less things you can for your work every day. They change every day, but moving slowly is still moving. You have such a giant capacity and the slow pace will not last. You’ve got this! We need you to do your thing.

We’d love to hear more about kith&kin.
I love kith&kin! the phrase kith and kin is an old fashioned phrase that means friends and family. That’s what we are, a company of handmade products from us to you, to your friends and family. We use high end, high-quality materials so they will be a timeless part of your day to day.

We are partnering with a Denver manufacturing company, We Made This, to source sewing. I’m so excited about this connection in the community. We Made This is a refugee run manufacturing facility, providing jobs training, and jobs to refugee women in our area. I love expanding the family of kith&kin to those far and near. Our ethnic textiles will be sourced from the refugee women’s families in their home countries. It really will be like we are all carrying each other around supporting one another on their journey to freedom – all in the bag.

Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I am really into the Enneagram and am into learning more about that. I like the podcast Typology. Julia Cameron is a wonderful resource for any creative. Her work The Artist’s Way has impacted my life in profound ways. I am also into the Parenting Forward podcast because, sheesh, it’s a hard job. I tune into On Being Podcast for inspiration and read almost everything I can get my hands on. I read lots of poems, take lots of walks, and listen to the birds every morning.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kithandkinshop.com
• Phone: 720-298-6886
• Email: sarah@kithandkinshop.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kithandkinmakers/

Image Credit:
Teta Petit Photography, Kayla Smith Photography

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