We were lucky to catch up with Katherine Jansen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katherine, 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?

Cozy-hearted is a mindful lifestyle brand started from a deeply personal place. In 2018, my family was struck by tragedy. At only six months old, my sister’s son passed away. My nephew, Theo, was born with congenital heart disease (CHD) and died of complications following three open-heart surgeries. He spent his entire six months of life in the hospital. As I watched my sister lose her baby, I felt utterly helpless and wished I could have brought her more comfort — no family should have to endure what we went through, but in reality, so many do. CHD is the most common birth defect affecting ~40,000 babies every year. It is the #1 cause of birth defect-related deaths in infants.
The loss of Theo hit a whole different kind of hard when I became a Mom in 2021. The hospital doors I was wheeled out of with my newborn were the same doors my sister walked out of without a baby to take home. At that moment, I knew I had to do more.

That’s why I’m motivated to honor my nephew, help other heart kiddos, and set an example for my daughters that the most important thing you can do is help others and give back. To do that, you must prioritize your peace and care for yourself too. That’s where the idea for Cozy-hearted began. We provide peaceful comfort that warms your heart through soft+sustainable goods and mindful practices that enrich your soul and bring joy to daily life for all.

Consider gifting a premium, organic cotton blanket for the loved ones in your life or purchasing with purpose for yourself. Available in baby lovey sizes and generously sized throws in a range of colors, Cozy-hearted has options for every lifestyle and aesthetic and supports the continued work to raise awareness and support of congenital heart disease. 25% of profits are donated to a non-profit, Project Bubaloo, that my sister (Theo’s Mama) founded. The non-profit is dedicated to funding congenital heart disease research and awareness. She is doing big and amazing things for the world of CHD at Project Bubaloo.

No matter what season of life you’re in, we all want to feel comforted, and that is my hope for you and your loved ones.

Welcome to the Cozy-hearted family.

From my heart to yours,

Katherine Jansen
www.cozyhearted.com

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?

The only experience I have when it comes to starting a business is the passion I have to give back. I did not go to business school and honestly had no idea what I was doing or how to start. My background includes having my Doctorate in Physical Therapy and over the last few years I quickly learned my
career is not something I was passionate about. I don’t like to think that my 6 years of schooling and 7+ years of being a PT was wasted time. I believe that everything lead me to where I am today and have learned lessons along the way.

From physical therapist to starting a blanket brand, I am most proud that I had the courage to start. It is scary to start something new that you have no experience in. A few weeks after my nephew passed away (in 2018) I got this random idea to make blankets. I have no idea where it came from (thank you Universe) but I didn’t act on it because I didn’t know how to make blankets or where to start. Fast forward to 2021 when I realized I wanted to start a product-based business to give back to the non-profit my sister and I founded for Congenital Heart Disease, I couldn’t think of what to sell. I was deep in meditation one day when the blanket idea came back to me and I got full body chills. It all aligned in that moment and I refused to bury the idea again so I went for it.
If there is an idea what keeps coming back to you like starting this business did for me, you need to follow that nudge.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In early 2021 I thought I had found my blanket manufacturer and spent an entire year with them creating my blankets. There were things about the company I was working with that had direct connection with the supplier and I started to notice some red flags that didn’t sit well with me. I was already a year into this process without a physical blanket sample and it just didn’t seem right. I had no back up but I decided to cut ties with them even though I was already behind. I basically had to start over from scratch after a year. There were many moments during that time where I just thought about giving up and not continuing the cozy-hearted journey. I had to be resilient and be okay with starting over and I am so glad I pushed forward.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I did not know anything about manufacturing blankets when I started. What do you do when you don’t know how to do something…google it! I started spending hours researching the process and attempting to find a manufacturer that could bring my vision to life. After spending 1 year working with one, it was a relationship that did not work out so I had to start over. Luckily one of my friends also owns a small business and introduced me to a company that is like the middle man between a brand and the manufacturer. This also comes with its challenges because not having direct communication with the manufacturer is not ideal. I have learned that it takes time and a lot of research to find the right fit and suppliers you can trust. I have learned to let go of my own timeline (kind of) and am currently learning that nothing goes as planned. There are always delays and even when you are given a timeframe of 2 weeks for a delivery, add at least 2 weeks onto that end date and you might not be disappointed. As someone that likes to stick to timelines and be in control of situations, between motherhood and being in this industry, I continue to learn that I have no control. Do not ever settle on finding the right manufacturer that you can trust and have solid communication and continue to look for one until you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cozyhearted.com
• Instagram: @cozyhearted
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cozy-hearted
• Other: TikTok: @cozyheartedbykath

Image Credits
Image credit: Andrea Shipbaugh