Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittny Horne. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brittny, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

In 2020 my life was flipped upside down. I was dealing with anxiety and depression and I just needed an outlet that would bring more peace, more joy and more accomplishment back into my life that I was no longer having during that tough year. And that’s when I started researching and saw that puzzles were really making a huge comeback. I felt connected to it because as a child I grew up doing puzzles with my grandmother and I remember the joy that it brought me when I would accomplish putting all the pieces together. From there I searched high and low for a new puzzle that matched my aesthetic. I wanted to find something that would become a piece of art in my home. But unfortunately, I could only find one puzzle that matched my aesthetic or even featured a Black woman. I knew there were other Black women that had to be feeling the same way. And so I decided to create my puzzle line by working with Black female artists and incorporating their art into the puzzle that truly uplifted Black women and portrayed them participating in self-care. For me, the biggest thing was that puzzles could be so overwhelming with all the pieces. So it was integral for me to create a starter kit of just 48 pieces to make it less overwhelming and more encouraging for Black women to use puzzles as an outlet.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

From the moment I started RVL (pronounced “revel”), I had just one goal in mind: help other Black women find alternative ways to find joy and practice self-care.

In 2020, I experienced a level of stress and anxiety that made me feel like I was being hit by a bus. As a result of a career shift, my mental and emotional health was taking a hit and I suddenly found myself doing more surviving than thriving.

After almost a year of focusing on nothing but work, I made a conscious decision to finally begin seeking ways to bring peace and happiness back into my life.

I turned to my childhood for inspiration and instantly found happiness in memories of puzzling with my grandmother. With that in mind, I researched the benefits of puzzling and found that it has some of the same effects as meditation. Desperate to reduce my stress levels and motivated by the chance to help someone else do the same, puzzling became my new place of peace.

However, there was one problem: I struggled to find puzzles that had images of people who looked like me.

I created RVL to provide the representation that the puzzle industry was missing. While highlighting artwork created by Black women, capturing the beauty of our Black culture, and prioritizing mental wellness, RVL helps you secure your peace with every puzzle piece.

I knew from my own experience that puzzles can be super overwhelming with all of the pieces. So it decided to offer a smaller size puzzle option that would encourage more women to give them a try. Our puzzles are meant to meet you where you are in terms of time and effort. Whether you have time for a mini wellness break or a full day for quiet time, we have a range of puzzles for you to bask in your peaceful moment. Our handmade puzzles are currently available in 48, 120, and 300 pieces. I want to encourage all of our customers to hang their finished puzzle as artwork in their homes or office.

My hope is that Black women will use this modern take on an old classic to find and maintain their peaceful moments.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

When I first started my business in 2020 I was originally using Wix and Etsy as my primary sales platforms. Over time as I connected with more and more entrepreneurs, many of them would mention how Shopify was an amazing platform that I should consider. At the time I didn’t know much about it, and was hesitant to look into it. I later found out that I didn’t even know what I was missing. In 2021 I relaunched my business on the Shopify platform and it was a complete upgrade. Wix just does not have the even a quarter of the functionality or comprehensive analytics that Shopify has. It was a real game changer for me in that I was able to dive so much deeper into my analytics than I ever had before. It also gave me access to thousands of apps that I could use to customize different features for my website. I would definitely recommend Shopify to any small business owner with a product based business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rvlwellnessco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rvlwellnessco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rvlwellnessco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rvl-wellness-co/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8gQVMlL5XP_lThu9lNpRoA