Today we’d like to introduce you to Kasey Ward.
Hi Kasey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Founded in the summer of 2018, I initially began making and selling headbands in order to buy books for my third-grade classroom library. After a few months, my headbands were becoming more and more popular and I quickly realized that my “side hustle” could become something much bigger. Because my business was doing so well and I had already purchased tons of books for my own classroom, I decided to launch our “Bands for Books” program. This allows me to take a percentage of our sales and dedicate it to purchasing books for teachers and their classrooms across the country!
After simultaneously teaching and running my business for a year, I made the tough decision to leave the classroom and pursue The Happy Headband Co. full time! I was saddened to leave teaching but very excited to see how I could make my business grow.
I continued to operate The Happy Headband Co out of my basement for two years, all while hiring several contracted employees. Once I brought on two full-time employees, I realized we needed more space so we purchased an old fire station in downtown Kalamazoo. We moved in after making some small renovations to the space in February of 2021.
I’m still amazed at how far we’ve come in just three years and excited to see what the future holds!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Trying to teach and run my business at the same time was pretty difficult. I would wake up early to work on The Happy Headband Co, head to my teaching job, come home to spend time with my family, and then go back to work on headbands once everybody was asleep. I definitely could feel myself burning out which is why I decided to leave teaching to pursue The Happy Headband Co full time.
Covid was also another struggle that I encountered in my second year of running my business. Fabric and materials were delayed as factories shut down across the country, and I was nervous people would stop buying headbands since they are not a necessity.
Fortunately, I was still able to work since most of my employees were contracted and could work from home with limited contact. We were able to make it though some really tough months and are grateful to still be operating today!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Happy Headband Co is a small, female-owned, and operated business in downtown Kalamazoo. Every single one of our headbands are handmade by a small team of women in Michigan.
We currently offer five different styles of headbands in over 300 different prints. We have a headband for everybody! We are always finding fun and unique patterns, which allows us to drop weekly restocks. We use a variety of fabrics to bring you the softest and most comfortable headbands around. Our headbands are a stylish and fun accessory that help women feel better about themselves, especially on days when they need to quickly do their hair!
I am most proud of our Bands for Books program that gives back to teachers. Each month I choose a handful of teachers from our applications and buy them books for their classroom libraries. As a former teacher, I understand that funds are often limited and teachers are unable to purchase the books their students want and need. Having a diverse classroom library is so incredibly important for students, so I am glad that we are able to help out with that need!
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My husband, T.J., has always been a huge supporter of mine. He was the one who initially encouraged me to leave teaching and pursue the Happy Headband Co full time.
He is the one who helped me set up my workstation in our basement to make it more efficient and he also designed our first website. My husband also helped to find us an amazing accountant, lawyer and served as our realtor when purchasing the fire station. He had a huge part in renovating our building and bringing my dream space to life. Even though all of his work is behind the scenes, he is so important to our success.
My family also deserves so much credit for supporting my dream. They have always offered help when needed and my mom actually retired from teaching to come and work for me full-time. We now get to spend our days working together. She takes care of anything I need from filling orders to customer service to production. She really does it all!
Pricing:
- Pricing-very affordable, most products are $10.00-13.00
Contact Info:
- Email: info@thehappyheadbandco.com
- Website: www.thehappyheadbandco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehappyheadbandco/
Image Credits
Patty Leonor Photography
