Christina Sunday

I would say resilience. And when someone typically says, like, I can't do something, watch me. I've always been somebody who's had so much crap given to them, and you know that fight or flight response? I've always turned to fight mode. I've had a really, really dark and horrible upbringing, and I've been through a lot of trauma in my early 20s. But feeling like I have been able to finally be able to live life, and to be able to be somebody who can help inspire other people and be able to find that in themselves - that's what drives me. I've really been on a transformational journey of my health and my life overall for the last ten years. I got myself involved with a lot of people that were inspiring for me to get out of my shell and just jump at any opportunity possible. When I started doing that in school, it just really made me press forward that whatever came to mind, just go for it, because life is short. When I ended up going through a layoff at one point during my career in insurance, it was one of those things that nothing is guaranteed. Why not go for something that's gonna give you that spark of life? Getting everything out of life, being able to live it to its fullest - that's what I value most.

The best advice I've received is that a comeback is stronger than a setback. I did a lecture when I was in the Honors Society about how life's hardships can actually become your strengths. This mindset has really shaped how I approach challenges. It's hard to pinpoint just one thing, because I've really been on a transformational journey for the last ten years. I got myself involved with a lot of people that were inspiring for me to get out of my shell and just jump at any opportunity possible. When I started doing that in school, it just really made me press forward that whatever came to mind, just go for it, because life is short. When I ended up going through a layoff at one point during my career in insurance, it was one of those things that nothing is guaranteed. Why not go for something that's gonna give you that spark of life?

Don't second guess yourself. If you truly feel that there's something within you that feels that you should go for it, go for it, because it doesn't matter if you don't have any skills - all skills can be learned. So just put yourself out there. I'm very much someone who just jumps in the water and learns how to swim, and a lot of times that's how you should do it anyway. Fear is crippling, and the more that you think about the fear, the better that you become at it in other circumstances. Just get started and don't let fear hold you back.

I know the challenges I've had are trying to figure out the right type of places to be able to have my business model at. Finding the right venues where I have my vending at, like craft shows, has been huge. I found that out pretty fast. I was rather surprised to find out how certain people that were quote-unquote organizers took advantage of vendors - if you paid for a certain space, they didn't actually supply that amount of space to people. They didn't end up advertising it to where nobody would show, and I found out there was politics involved with certain organizers. Things of that nature just kind of really set me off guard that I wasn't expecting. There's also just trial and error of still trying to figure out certain products, how to make them, how much to make, being very careful about profit loss. I'm still self-funded - I'm not taking out loans or anything like that. I've done everything on my own and started everything at small scale first so that I can get a feel on that. I ended up learning very fast that health-oriented, woman-oriented, and sports events were the only places for me to really go, because otherwise, many places like craft-oriented events, people just walked on by. They just were not in that type of a mindset to have any interest in it.

I've had a really, really dark and horrible upbringing, and I've been through a lot of trauma in my early 20s. But feeling like I have been able to finally be able to live life, and to be able to be somebody who can help inspire other people and be able to find that in themselves - that's what I value most. Getting everything out of life, being able to live it to its fullest. I've really been on a transformational journey of my health and my life overall for the last ten years. I got myself involved with a lot of people that were inspiring for me to get out of my shell and just jump at any opportunity possible. When I started doing that in school, it just really made me press forward that whatever came to mind, just go for it, because life is short. When I ended up going through a layoff at one point during my career in insurance, it was one of those things that nothing is guaranteed. Why not go for something that's gonna give you that spark of life? That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to create a safe space where women from all walks of life can feel welcome, no matter what stage they were at or what happened in their life. I wanted to be able to provide something that gives a mental push when you need it.