OH boy. Twenty-twenty. A year that no one will forget, myself included. Looking back on it three years later provides a lot of perspective on what a crisis can do for a business. Surprisingly, I never thought I'd say this at the time, but the pandemic gave Bowfish several gifts that I feel incredibly grateful for.
When the pandemic first hit, we decided, before the mandates, to close our doors to the public. We then sprang into action to help coordinate a group-effort to make masks for our local healthcare facilities. We commandeered @Driftspaces , our sister company's coworking space, to set up shop. Women across the city helped us source, cut, and sew these masks, and we coordinated with healthcare companies to pick-up. Our team of 29 women helped make 984 masks that we donated to 26 healthcare facilities. I feel honored to be a part of a community that went to such lengths to support those in need.
The biggest shoutout to @Rybandznj , who asked us to partner on their face mask headband project, which was the inception of our online store. For this project, we sold headband button "grams" where people could purchase a headband for a healthcare worker in their life and include a note of support to uplift their spirits. It was a huge success, and I tell Ryann semi-regularly that she single-handedly saved bowfish.
We also threw many ideas at the wall to keep the business and our employees working, from facetime shopping to virtual princess events to private shopping experiences, whatever we could do, we did to keep the train going. I feel incredibly thankful to all of you who showed up in a big way to support us during this difficult time. You are what kept us going ❤️ The pandemic did give us the gift of online shopping in a way that I would have never explored otherwise.
We coordinated a big photo shoot with @magifisher to bring our brand online and worked hard to build out our e-commerce experience for our customers. Huge thanks to @esideconsulting and @christineadiaz for helping us bring that vision to fruition. Oh, and 2020 was the birth year of Bubbles the dog, so that was also kind of a big deal.
