Author - Brandon Brooks

To Me;

2nd Story goods is action. It is movement, it is a foolhardy challenge to the status quo.

It/we are not always wise, not always efficient and not always right, but we are trying. None of us are professional anything. All of us are learning as we go.

2nd Story Goods is being a bit scared. A bit further out of the comfort zone than we’ve gone before.

Its a bit past crazy = exciting and fun and bit into crazy = what the heck are you doing?

Right there in margin. Right where God like to hang out.

Its a crazy gamble like jesus trying to talk sense into his worst enemies.

It’s a business in a an industry with an astronomically high failure rate.

None of this makes sense, There are SO many people who could and maybe are doing this better than us.

BUT - this is our story. WE are finding life in this crazy scary ride.

WE like to email and talk on the phone and pretend that we are in an office - haha they never know the difference!

There is no guarantee that this will work or that it even matters, the only guarantee is that GOD almighty said to do stuff like this, and maybe even this specific thing. So we can rest assured that succeed or fail (what do those words even mean???) We have done the RIGHT thing; In Trying. in Challenging the status quo, in moving, in acting.

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Author - Victoria Mead

When I tell people I work for 2nd story Goods, I then must explain what that means. "What is 2nd story Goods?" they ask and have to try to sum up the entirety of what this business/lifestyle looks like in just a few sentences and I always fall short of what I want to express. Because to a stranger, I tell them the "business" version or sometimes the "missions" version. "I work for a company dedicated to helping people in Haiti provide for themselves and their families through artisan work."  or something similarly close to that. But every time that slips out of my mouth I have the desire to take it back immediately. Because that isn't solely 2nd Story. Mafi, our jewelry manager, is second story. Emmanuella who makes the aluminum pieces, Benson who works with leather, Ariel, Christiana, Geredsen, Ect. Their stories are 2nd story. Its the people. The looks on faces when they have finished a new product. The look on their faces when someone likes and buys a product. Its the building of a community and the changing of families and homes by the community themselves that make up the integrity of 2nd story goods. My job isn't to help them have a better life. My job is to work with them as they make a different life for themselves. 

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Author - Olivia Hosey

I didn't know much about it until 2 weeks ago, when I got to come experience it for myself. During my first few hours here, I asked so many questions. I wanted to know everything. I wanted the whole story. But just as a story isn't written in on day, it can't really be told in one day either. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to not only hear pieces of the story, but to live in the midst of the story and even get to be a part of the story myself. And what I have discovered has been incredible. Every piece in the shop has a story. A story of a second chance, a new way, an opportunity. And behind every piece is a person with a story. These stories, when told, are extremely powerful suddenly this thing- a journal, a necklace, a daisy- is so much more than a thing. It's a thing that someone is proud of, a thing that is bringing hope and change. In my time here, I've discovered that I too can have a second story. My life doesn't have to be what everyone expects it to be. This place has changed me from the inside out and as a result a new story is being written for me as well.