We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor Ard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.

Taylor , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I wanted the name of my company to reflect one of the motivating values that inspire our brand. We seek to be connected to our community by employing local women who are seeking to rebuild or recover from certain obstacles by providing a flexible avenue to reenter the workforce. The name “East Of These” is a play on words from the phrase “least of these ” in the Bible which refers to anyone who is marginalized or looked at as “less than” by society. We also loved that the “east” is the direction from which the sun rises and signifies new beginnings and hope.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At East Of These we make handmade, sustainable textile goods. We make clothing, and hair accessories along with other small apparel and gift items for our own brand, as well as offer custom accessories for businesses, sports teams, schools, churches, etc. We specialize in designing unique products for other brands by using their branding aspects in unique ways.

I first entered this space by learning how to sew as a therapeutic means of coping with a difficult pregnancy as well as recovering as a domestic abuse survivor. I am extremely grateful that I am now in a position to help other women by teaching them these skills and employing them as they seek to rebuild their lives.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As a domestic abuse survivor, I had to completely rebuild my life with my two children once my marriage was over. At the time, I believed that my life could be characterized mostly by failure and knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me to rebuild my life. Many of my hopes and dreams at that point had been crushed. After having gone through the psychological, mental, and spiritual recovery of coming out of this situation, I am now in a place where my worst fears having to do with business seem to pale in comparison to what I have already been through.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

We have worked really hard to create as many in-person sales opportunities as possible. Having a gifted team of women who can connect personally and care for others through our services is key. Having a call to action at each step of our process is something we aim to do as well. Using social media as a tool to poll our audience has also been very helpful in determining the amount of investment we choose to put into certain products or designs.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eastofthese.com
• Instagram: eastofthese
• Facebook: East Of These
• Linkedin: East Of These