We’re looking forward to introducing you to Julia Kepler. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Julia , thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I have been planning a Joyful Little House Party for some of my girlfriends this week. Planning all the little details has brought so much joy to me. From picking out the paint colors and the trimmings for the houses, planning the food and the hot cocoa menu…it has been so fun and I have been finding joy in the service of it all. Creating a girls night, giving them a night off to connect and unwind before life gets crazy for the holidays is a immensely joyous experience.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am Julia Kepler and I own 3 retail spaces. Serendipity Road is a small business that supports small business in the form of a gift boutique with over 75 makers from Michigan in that shop. Next is Joyful Tantrum a toy store unplugged so you can plug in with these you love and lastly is Shop with Moxie it is a place to shop that is fun for all. This shop is an experience based shopping boutique with Moxie Bars where you can bring your friends in and create pens or candles, paint ornaments, make snow globes. The bars rotate and so there is always something new to do. It has lounge spaces to hang out with moms while your children play at the train table or sensory bin. Teens come in often to hangout and study or play games. It really is fun for all!
The mission of these 3 spaces is to Make Life Joy Filled and I think we accomplish that everyday!
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
When I was growing up I would go spend a week at my Grandmas house around my birthday. We would of course go shopping for my perfect birthday gift but we would also pick vegetables from the garden, play games, and bake. All of that is lovely but what really shaped me from spending time with my grandma was she created in me a servant heart. We would make my grandpa lunch and I would bring it to him at his chair on a flower covered metal tray. We would go shopping for my Great Grandmas groceries and bring them to her and put them away along with a handful of other tasks like laundry, doing the dishes, and cleaning up. I enter the world differently from those experiences I had with her at a young age. I enter this life seeing and thinking how can I help?
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
There was a day like any other and I was cleaning off the kitchen table after dinner. I asked a clarifying question about something that was asked of me and then the next thing I knew I was fighting for my life with everything I had. I however was maybe 100lbs soaking wet and so I was going to be at the losing end of this fight. I remember my body going limp and the world going dark. I was dying slowly and then I was gone. I couldn’t tell you what happened from the time I the world went dark and me waking up, I was actually shocked by being alive. Several years later I was praying to Heavenly Father asking Him to heal my hurt through the atonement of Jesus Christ and in an instant the pain and hate was gone and the heavenly inspiration I was given was: do not give him one more day, one more hour, one more minute, one more second of your life. I was healed in the moment by the atonement but with all trauma there are moments it rushes back without warning and you can’t plan for it. It is those moments I remember that sweet peace of healing I had that day and I have a choice to not give him one more second of my life. How freeing is that? I have the choice to heal, to forgive, to not give anymore of my life to a deep seeded wound and that has immense power to know it is my choice.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Cutting people out of their life because it’s uncomfortable to fix the mess of living imperfectly.. ( I want to add a disclaimer here. If you are being abused in anyway through manipulation, emotionally or physically by all means please get yourself out of that situation). What I am talking about it is we don’t agree on XYZ, they didn’t meet my uncommunicated expectations, I have unresolved past hurts but I am unwilling to have a conversation about them. Have the conversation – listen to understand, ask questions to better see others perspectives, communicate, communicate, communicate and recognize most everyone is really trying to do their best, nobody is perfect, neither are you so give an abundance of grace and have the conversation, it really won’t kill you.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
She Loved God and She Loved People.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.shopwithmoxie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serendipityroadmi , https://www.instagram.com/shop_with_moxie , https://www.instagram.com/joyfultantrum
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/serendipityroadmi , https://www.facebook.com/shop_with_moxie , https://www.instagram.com/joyfultantrum
Image Credits
Julia Kepler and David Kepler III
