Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day weekend! Writing to you from a beautiful home in Martha’s Vineyard, where my husband and I are staying with friends for the long weekend. We’ve had a few big personal and Sorrelli life updates in recent months that I wanted to share.

This moment in time feels like one of such significant upheaval, the news cycle is a barrage of seemingly bad news, the COVID-19 pandemic we thought was mellowing as the vaccine rollout began last spring seems to be back in full force with the Delta variant, and more and more colleagues and friends just feel burnt out, exhausted from a year and a half of trying to stay positive and optimistic in the face of so much uncertainty. 

On the personal front, my husband and I bought a house a few months ago. Our dog June is getting used to having a backyard, constantly patrolling for critters and begging us to come outside and play fetch with her. She is in heaven in the suburbs. The transition from our NYC apartment has been harder for the humans in our family, but we’re adjusting and feeling extremely grateful for the opportunity to own a home for the first time in both of our lives. We’ve been searching for furniture and trying to pick paint colors and generally “nest” before our baby boy joins us in December. I’ve learned what a “dock-a-tot” and a “baby bjorn” are, new words for my vocabulary amidst a sea of seemingly endless parenting choices. I’ve leaned on close friends hard during this time, asking thousands of questions about day care vs. nannies, books to read, breastfeeding vs. formula, and so many other brand new concepts that require decisions. We’ve contemplated what the world will look like in December: will COVID still be as prevalent? Will there be an infant vaccine to consider? Will we be able to introduce him to friends and family, and if so with what precautions?

On the business front, we’ve seen progress shifting our sorrelli.com strategy in recent months, which has felt gratifying and been such a team effort. We’ve also had great wins with some of our nationwide retail partners, working on new ideas that will roll out this holiday season to many stores across the country. We’ve had transitions within our headquarters team, as members of our Sorrelli family ponder opportunities to work remotely and travel freely, to jump into career transitions during a time of such transition across the country. 

Overall, now feels like a time of true change, of questioning, of shifting. Last week I had a conversation with my brother, who runs our Operations and Finance teams. We have co-piloted the business strategy for the past 2.5 years, through this global pandemic and many challenges. We spoke about how strongly we feel about the opportunities that exist for our brand and our artisans, about how far we’ve come in the last 2.5 years. We spoke about our optimism we share for the legacy of our hand crafted, luxury product that has existed within our family for the last 38 years. We are both feeling certain about the future we’re creating for our team. In a time of major change across America, and a major change happening in my own personal body today as I grow a tiny human, I am happy to be where we are. Forging ahead, managing the challenges, empowering our team to grow and evolve in this crazy year. 

Best wishes for a restful, reflective Labor Day. May you embrace the elements in your life that make you feel sure and strong, even in these incredibly uncertain, challenging times. 

Lily