Coming back to work with Craig for a second start up venture was a no-brainer for me. Craig and I share a lot of the same motivators. For one, we’re both heavily driven by purpose and for another, we both like to do hard things. When we first started talking about happy, I was working as a manager of a small organic farm. I loved the work and I loved that I was doing something good for the land. Growing food for others was deeply satisfying. The main reason I didn’t think twice about joining happy was that Craig had thought deeply about a mission for the company. His wife is a clinical psychologist and she had suggested that he look into the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as a potential partner for happy. When Craig told me he was working on giving NAMI equity in happy, this really got my attention. We both have kids, and like so many, we appreciate the stress and challenges that come with parenting, all amplified, during and post-COVID. The statistics of suicide in young people is horrifying and alarming and this mission- of bringing awareness to the challenges people of all ages face with respect to mental health-was one that really resonated with me. Knowing that it wasn’t just starting another fun, cool, beautiful brand, but one with real purpose made joining happy an easy decision for me. 

All of the conversations that Craig and I had about happy were while we were both out walking in nature. At the time, I think daily mileage for Craig was 10 miles or more as he did all of his calls while walking on country roads. I remember walking around a local nature preserve while Craig told me all about the amazing team he was assembling for happy. 

I love the discomfort and unknown that comes with starting a new company. For me, that’s what’s exciting. There are the atypical work situations like how Craig and I had all of our first meetings for hello at the Rt. 22 diner halfway between our houses. We always had dogs in the office. With happy, our current office aka Happy House is Craig’s house in Montclair. His kitchen has become a brewing/ tasting room and we all try to chip in so it doesn’t look like 11 of us are using it as an office.

Craig knows how to build an awesome work family. He keeps the team lean and he has high expectations. We all know that we aren’t doing our job unless we are trying to over-deliver. He makes it super clear that we are all critical to the success of the company and that we all have skin in the game. We all play many different roles in the company, and personally, I thrive in this kind of environment. It’s also fun. When we’re together at Happy House, it’s a lot of hard work, but a lot of jokes (sometimes bad Dad jokes), a lot of laughter and a lot of good snacks. We truly like each other as people and enjoy spending time together. I’m sure happy will be another wild ride with a lot of ups and downs, but it’ll all be good because we have Craig as a leader and a solid, passionate team