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dear diary: My story
i'm the kind of gal who travels to new zealand with her two year old son (alone)
...and flies cross-country last minute when a friend asks for help.
Hi, I'm Caroline. Mom and feminist first, I am also a creator and curator, and I have called Orlando home for over 10 years.
I'm also a new small business owner - after jumping the Corporate Ship (more like Death Star) in 2025.
My favorite thing is to thrift shop. Followed closely behind: rot with a weighted blanked and watch documentaries (side note: self awareness is hot. Watch 13th on Netflix, read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, add black voices in your media algorithms on social media, and amplify and engage those that are doing the hard work resisting. Your voice matters.)
I created Craftshop Orlando to connect to the community around me after spending December 2024 in New Zealand, I realized that Orlando needs more third spaces to hang, create and connect like I saw abroad.
I saw that the Kiwis made resource-sharing seem easy and business feel collaborative over competitive. Eco seems to be their first priority rather than last. Living with the land and honoring its natives was woven into everything.
A true Sagittarius, and year of the Tiger, I'm always daydreaming and thinking of ways to make living on Earth more fun. I've had to learn that looking on the bright side is a habit you need to practice often to maintain. Being more creative has allowed more room for positive thinking.
professional credits
Camp Counselor, Program Director, Resident Assistant, Marketing Manager, Creator, MBA, Mom
I've been fortunate to work for some of the best brands in travel and hospitality.
Also throughout my education and career, I've been super lucky to travel and study in other countries like England, Italy, Morocco, Argentina, and Australia.
Work in the fashion industry brought me to some amazing places for photoshoots like Harbor Island Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos.
I'm old, like a vintage human.
Just kidding, but I'm old enough to remember days before the internet and cell phones. My mom rocked her Ace of Base cassette in the family sedan - the model that had seats in the trunk that looked backwards. Seat belts were suggestions.
I have always gravitated more to the underdog story and anyone brave enough to give the middle finger to society's expectations.
all signs point to travel in this world
I grew up all over: Georgia, New Hampshire, Maine, NY / NJ, Virginia, Texas....
My family's first move was before I turned 1 year old, so I'm used to it. I can always rely on a family vacation to the same place in Maine every year for consistency.
Junior year of high school I attended School Year Abroad - Italy. I am still in contact with my host family and, I love going back!
I recently returned to SYA to help facilitate a day-long lecture and sessions on racism, diversity, equity and inclusion with my best friend from that year abroad in high school. My friend and I created the opportunity through sheer will power.
This trip sparked Craftshop Orlando into motion.
Throughout my life, I have held on to best friends from each place and time - and one of my favorite things in the world is to bring them all together. This is what I want the feeling of Craftshop to represent. Friends together, from all different places, making the world a better place around one common goal: Love Thy Neighbor. We are stronger together.
college and electing the first black president of the United States
After high school graduation I was terribly lost. Thankfully my best friend invited me to join a gap year in Morocco. Without hesitation I said yes.
We lived and studied together at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Then the second half of the school year I studied Italian in Milan while immersing myself in Milanese student culture and Polish (Yes, Polish) culture.
After the gap year, I returned to the North East and attended Boston University where I studied Anthropology and Religion. Throughout college I worked in my free time to afford plane tickets back to Italy to see my Polish boyfriend (the one I met in Morocco).
I traveled as much as possible so as not to be home. To my mom, I'm part alien (which is fair) and to my dad, part silly woman - part student can achieve anything if I work hard enough, bootstraps and all.
I made it through high school by playing soccer on multiple teams, running track, dancing and going to concerts.
buy a bikini, save the ocean she says
I studied the different ways humans seek connection and how easily groups can be manipulated en masse. My senior project was on ethical consumption and Product(RED) which I was obsessed with as a new business model - sell products that do good.
After liberal arts, I started to focus my life back on fashion and eco living. The big heros that stood very alone at the time were Patagonia and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. They stood at the pinnacle of good business.
I was totally hooked and started to apply my passion for fashion with business - believing there was a way for people, planet and profit to all win.
After returning to summer camp as Program Staff and leading the Small Crafts Division, I moved to New York City where my aunt, who worked in eco advertising lived in The Upper East Side.
I started working at ABC Carpet and Home as a foundation intern and served in their farm-to-table restaurant ABC Kitchen. There I met some of the most creative people NYC had to offer. I began classes at Fashion Institute of Technology and received my Sustainable Design Entrepreneur certificate.
During that program I met the team at Eco Swim by Aqua Green, a new concept and brand from Mainstream Inc. - a manufacturer in the garment district of Manhattan. My passion for eco fashion led to an internship with that team where I was able to bring a brand new concept - sustainable swimwear - to market.
I fell in love hard in New York City. With fashion. With life. With myself again, after ending my four-year relationship with the Pole. His eastern european ways had quite an affect on me and it took time for me to come out of the fog.
When I was in New York City, I studied green marketing, sustainable fashion, and the fashion industry as a whole. I am acutely aware that fast fashion and the plastic-big oil domination over consumption and politics is ruining our planet. I've also been following the innovators in this space and those who dare slow fashion down.
Over the past 15 years, I've done a little bit of everything in marketing, learning on the fly how to style clothing, work with influencers, launch a brand, entertain editors, buy media advertising, or create digital assets for ecommerce. I learned on the job how to make a website look alright, write effective copy, or develop SEO strategy.
I'm big at Doing It Yourself
With my MBA, I most recently studied the luxury hotel and boutique hotel business and the growing return to remodeled motels.
Also having worked on Annual Passes for Universal and Timeshare for Travel + Leisure Co, I have a lot of knowledge of acquisition and retention of clubs, subscriptions, co-ownership and direct-to-consumer models.
I burnt out at the fashion company and decided to quit and move to Australia with absolutely no plans except to stay with Australian friends I had met working at ABC Kitchen.
Sydney was the time of my life. I worked from a mansion in Tamarama and walked the steep coastline path to Bondi Beach every day. It felt amazing to work for myself. After 7 months, I was running out of money and needed to return to the States for my childhood best friend's wedding. (I was sharing Maid of Honor duties with her friend Alexandra. We stood with her in the church and I gave a hilarious speech that just flowed out of me onto paper that early morning. I wrote it down once, practiced a few times and then nailed it. People came up to me after the speeches on the dance floor and congratulated me on a great performance.)
When it was my time to come back to the USA after traveling alone up the coast of Australia and diving the Great Barrier Reef, I secured a job at a well respected luxury swimwear retailer based in New York City and Orlando.
I met my husband soon after moving to Orlando and the rest is history.
a note on love
love is for absolutely everyone. and it does not matter how you do it or who you do it with, or at all. it's not my business. but i'll protect your right to do whatever you want with your body and our collective right to peace until I die.
God is real - but it looks and feels differently for every being on this earth. human or fuzzy baby animal. You and I do not have to agree what God is - for us to agree that life is magical and it deserves to stay as magical as possible - free. Freedom from oppression. Freedom of movement. and The Separate of Church and Mother-F'ing State.
I don't care where we gather to resist, to craft, to create flags, but time for all the girl scouts of the 1990s to get together!
Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Everyone deserves kindness and respect. We believe we all have the universal human right to love, to chosen family, to speak up and feel heard.
I also feel everyone needs to put in effort into supporting small, local business to foster strong communities.
Craftshop's aim is to keep the vibes high and get the good times rolling while healing in community and networking to create tight-knit communities that can survive anything.. Join an event or book a private party.
I believe that whenever you shop, or can make a decision about your money, shop local and shop small as much as possible. Especially immigrant-owned, female-owned and ethical businesses who care for the environment. We do have the power to make a circular economy work for us, not against us.
That's just how we choose to show love. Where you shop is showing who you align with. Period.
xo Caro