We recently connected with Khadeeja Morse and have shared our conversation below.
Khadeeja , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Social media can have it’s flaws but I can tell you an extremely positive side of social media. In January of 2023, after our house of 20 years was destroyed by a house fire, people on social media came out of the woodwork to provide assistance and support.
People sent gifts, donated money, offered words of encouragement and support, sent prayers and everything you literally could ever imagine.
It moves me even as I’m writing this to think that people who follow and support me on social media, literal strangers, people, most of whom I had never met and may never meet, found the goodness in their hearts to be so incredibly thoughtful.
It is a humbling yet incredible feeling to think about how in such great tragedy you can find so many positive things and people.
What makes it even mores significant is this has been a long process to get back into our house. People still check on us today to see how it’s going.
I feel truly blessed.
Khadeeja , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
It all started during a rough patch in 2020. I had just retired from a job I truly loved. I was navigating depression, anxiety, and PTSD and all of the turmoil of 2020. Even my beloved garden couldn’t lift my spirits.
But one thrift store trip changed everything. I found a simple coffee cup that spoke to me—not literally, of course—but it sparked joy and inspired me to embrace the day with a better attitude. That little cup became my morning ritual, and soon, my collection (and obsession) grew.
Cue the Universe. Messages started flowing: “You’re meant to do more with these cups.” Initially, I thought posting them on social media was the “more.” And I did that for a while. Just posting pictures of cups with positive messages.
But over time, the idea of CupofMood was born—an online shop where drinkware inspires moods and spreads positivity.
Launching CupofMood.com in late 2021 felt like my purpose had finally come full circle. CupofMood was beginning to take off right along with my growing social media channels.
However in January 2023, tragedy struck. A devastating house fire destroyed our home of 20 years and 95% of my inventory.
Ironically, a few weeks before the fire, I saw Jennifer Hudson on The Colbert Show. She talked about how she had a process similar to mine where she used a cup to help set her mood for the day.
After seeing that, I developed a plan to record a video and share it with Jennifer Hudson about CupofMood, the CupofMood origin story and invite her to select a cup from the CupofMood Shop.
After the fire, I made following through on that part of my driving and motivating factor behind getting CupofMood restarted. While I haven’t recorded the video yet, I keep Jennifer in mind as I add to the CupofMood inventory.
As I respond to this, I’m proud to say, CupofMood, like a phoenix, has risen from the ashes. There are now over 3500 different cups, mugs, glasses, water bottles, champagne flutes and more in stock and ready to help set your mood!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my audience on social media, the old fashioned way. Consistency and dedication. The challenge with long term sustainability on any of the social media platforms is to be prepared to respond to the changes in the algorithms.
Social media is so broad the only way to truly be successful is to find your content niche and tailor your content primarily around that. My recommendation is to make sure your content is something you truly enjoy. Because you’re going to be constantly providing content in that area so make sure it’s enjoyable for you.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Fortunately my business doesn’t require a lot of capital to get started. Most of my cups I’ve acquired through thrift stores, garage and estate sales and sometimes antique stores. To fund it, I set aside money as part of my retirement plan to be able to start a business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cupofmood.com/shop/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@khadeejaTheCupMogul
Image Credits
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