Utah Business Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40

I’m still a little in shock that I made this year’s Top 40 Under 40—that is Utah Business Magazine’s top 40 executives under the age of 40. It’s an absolute honor, and I’m excited to meet everyone on the list at the end of the month.

If you want to read the short bit about me, you can read it here.

And while I am feeling very happy for what we have accomplished in the short four years I have been in the crafting/fabric industries, I’m just as excited for all the things to come. We have so many exciting things coming up during the next 6 months and I’m on the edge of my seat to share (soon!).

The crazy thing is looking back at how I started out (with a little digital scrapbooking shop in January 2008 while still teaching at the University of Minnesota) and my transition into scrapbooking papers, fabric, online teaching, workshops, licensing, and (the biggest leap of faith) manufacturing and designing sewing patterns. It has been an amazing four years for my family and myself.

When I talk about hard work in the article, I really mean it. It makes me grateful that the attitude of hard work instilled in my home. My father grew up on a farm and was the 8th child in a family of 9 children. He was the first to go to college. And my mother is an immigrant from Malaysia who took a scholarship to England to go to college.

I remember the stories they told me of how they started out…the first five years of my life that I don’t remember. From that to where I am now seems like such a fairytale that I will admit that I believe (as cheesy as it sounds) in American dream. I feel like I am living it.

I couldn’t feel more humble or lucky than I do right now.

Well, I got a lot more personal there than I was intending, which is always a little difficult for me because that comes with a feeling of vulnerability. But I wouldn’t be who am today without all the back story. Nor would I want to try to be a better parent, creative, business owner, or wife if it wasn’t for these kinds of reflections.

Thanks for following my work and being involved with everything I and my team have tried to do. I hope that we can continue to bring happiness to your lives through crafting, sewing, and creativity.

XOXO-Carina