We were lucky to catch up with Kiersten Parsons Hathcock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kiersten, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission the drives your brand?

I’m happy to say that I’m wearing many hats nowadays. My mission for my furniture company, Mod Mom Furniture, has always been to design and produce safe, eco-friendly, modern heirloom-quality furniture for kids and their families. While I was busy building that business over the past 13 years, an entirely new mission presented itself. Now, as the author of an upcoming memoir called Little Voices: How Kids in Spirit Helped a Reluctant Medium Escape and Heal from Abuse and as the Co-Chair of The National Institute for Law and Justice, my mission is still focused on helping kids, just in a different way. As an abuse survivor (both as a child and as an adult) and an intuitive medium who volunteers her time helping law enforcement investigate missing persons cases involving children, I am committed to helping spread awareness about generational cycles of abuse that affect current and future generations of kids.

At the National Institute for Law and Justice (nilj.org), our mission is to provide management of investigative services (at no cost) for crime victims and their families who are searching for answers, resolution, and closure. Decorated NYPD Detective (Ret) Mark Pucci wrote the foreword for Little Voices after working with me on a missing persons case in New York. We founded the 501c3 nonprofit in November of 2021 in order to help families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children, missing persons (in general) and homicide victims.

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 background and context?

I love these questions! Thanks for asking. Here’s my stranger-than-fiction journey, in a nutshell:

I’m a former TV marketing executive turned self-taught furniture designer/carpenter and late-in-life volunteer psychic medium. (I know, it’s a weird life path, isn’t it?)

In 2007, I followed my intuition, which led me to start a modern kids’ furniture company called Mod Mom Furniture. I had no design experience, no funding, and no carpentry knowledge when I took the leap. For three and a half years, I handcrafted everything in our four hundred square foot garage until 2011, when I outsourced manufacturing in the US. Over the years, Mod Mom Furniture has not only partnered with Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation but has also been featured in the LA Times, the New York Times, shelter and parent magazines, TV shows like Shark Tank and The Nate Berkus Show, and international design books. My furniture designs have been purchased by families all over the world and by celebrities like Christina Applegate and Matthew McConaughey and wife Camilla, as well and tastemakers like Rachel Zoe.

Two years after starting Mod Mom, I suddenly realized that I had a gift for mediumship. (I tell the full story of that journey in my memoir.) In addition to running my furniture company, I quietly founded and ran a 501c3 non-profit called The Little Light Project. I was able to put my gifts to work by volunteering as a medium to help parents connect with their children in spirit while I also helped guide highly intuitive children (and their parents) who were having a hard time understanding intuition. In addition, I formed life-long partnerships with law enforcement officers across the country. Today, I continue to volunteer my time with detectives, grieving parents, and kids struggling to understand their intuition.

In addition to furniture design and mediumship, I’ve written articles for trade magazines and I’m currently mentoring entrepreneurs and speaking nationally on topics such as Using Intuition in Business, Healing from Hidden Abuse, and Building a Brand.

As I mentioned above, in November of 2021, I teamed up with Detective Mark Pucci to help families (free of charge) who are searching for answers and missing loved ones. Having recently received our 501c3 status approval in record time, we’re busy getting everything set up in order to take on cases at NILJ.

And finally, I landed a book deal for my spiritual memoir, Little Voices, in December of 2021. Post Hill Press (Distributed by Simon and Schuster) is slated to release Little Voices on September 20, 2022. An audiobook version (Blackstone Publishing) will also be released on the same day.

By far, I’m most proud of the fact that throughout my life—no matter how scary or intimidating the situation—I somehow push through fear and don’t back down from whatever I’m being guided to do. Challenging societal norms and mainstream ideas is and will always be nerve-wracking, to say the least, but I’ve always trusted in my inner voice (my intuition) to show me the way. Whether it’s standing up for myself with Shark Tank producers, carving out a space for Mod Mom in a heavily male-dominated industry, or sharing publicly what I do with NILJ, I trust that by owning who I am authentically and without shame, I’m right where I’m meant to be. Life isn’t always roses and rainbows, but it is a gift. One that I don’t take for granted—and one that continually amazes me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

After I won a deal on the TV show Shark Tank, I was close to inking a licensing deal with a multi-million dollar furniture brand. I was on cloud nine! Only I didn’t realize I’d given my power away to the furniture elites that would soon cancel the deal. You see, when I went from “mom in a garage“ to building a large brand, I stopped trusting my own gut. I thought the men in suits knew more than I did. I didn’t even bother to do due diligence on my end. Had I done that, I might have realized that they were nearing the end of the road as a company. Instead, I gave my power over to them and ended up scrambling when things fell apart. When I mentor entrepreneurs, I encourage them to surround themselves with really smart, heart-centered people but always filter the advice they get through their own intuition or gut. Your inner compass won’t steer you wrong.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe strongly that by being authentic—sharing both the hard stuff and the good stuff—I’ve been able to connect with customers, industry leaders, mentors, and partners on a deeper, more meaningful level. We will always make mistakes because we’re human. But it’s in how we handle those mistakes (or redirections) that defines the trajectory of our path. My advice is to just be real. Admit mistakes. Be kind to others and be humble. Look for the synchronicities in life, and follow your heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kierstenhathcock.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kierstenhathcock/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/modmomfurniture
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierstenhathcock/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorkhathcock
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELge-aoj1P0&t=9s
• Other: https://nilj.org/

Image Credits
Tanya Malott (Headshot) ABC TV (Shark Tank photo)