One of our favorite days is coming up very soon on March 8! It’s a very special day where women all around the world celebrate our fight for equality and all of our achievements. We like to use this day to get inspired by reading powerful stories about women that we admire, get together with other #GirlBosses that started their own company like we have, reflect on the women in our lives that made us who we are, and celebrate those before us that paved the way for us.
As you may have read on our About Us page, we are Andrea and Alexandra, two best friends that grew up together in the tropical country of Venezuela, who years later decided to complete our joint dream of starting a business together. We have now spent four wonderful years translating our personalities and values into designing products that empower women to live their everyday lives stylishly, without sacrificing comfort. We couldn’t be prouder of our journey and happier with our beautiful neoprene accessory designs. It’s hard to put into words how grateful we are for our #PopUpsLovers, which time and time again have supported our small business and inspired us to create new, trendy designs to fit every type of lifestyle.
To start a small business, there’s one very important thing you need. More than an idea, more than a product, a logo, a name, or a client. It’s courage. Courage to start something new, something that might fail, something that could skyrocket into a huge success, something that will be hard to keep up with at times… So today, we wanted to talk about what courage means to us, coming from one of the women that inspires us the most: Michelle Poler!
Michelle is one of the women that inspires us the most. She went viral for following a challenge of spending ‘100 Days Without Fear”, and has since become a speaker at hundreds of events (including speaking at Google and Facebook) and has created a community that supports each other through speaking about courage and her experiences. In her book, Hello Fears, Michelle talks about how the base for courage is assertiveness. She says that when we are assertive, “...the only one who can validate you, is YOURSELF. Only you can remind yourself of the reasons why you decided it was worth it to fight for what feels right for you…”. When we began our PopUps journey, it took us time to learn how to be assertive, but we had the courage to pursue our vision, and that is what has made us succeed so far.
On special days like on this International Women’s Day 2021, we wanted to celebrate by looking back on our journey and speaking about the women that inspire us, from Michelle Poler to our loyal PopUps shoppers. We are proud women who design for women, with ourselves, our friends, our teachers, our mothers, and many more in mind. It is incredibly heartwarming to know that we are a part of so many women’s daily lives, from those carrying all they need from the office to the gym in our large neoprene tote bag, to those that use our neoprene pouches to keep all of their makeup, to those taking their favorite crossbody neoprene bag on holiday all over the world!
So this Women’s Day, make sure to celebrate by reflecting on the women that inspire you everyday, maybe gift something special to the women in your life that you admire (like a new PopUps crossbody neoprene bag or comfortable tote bag!). And most important of all, remember to be assertive and courageous not only on March 8th, but every day!
