Mari and Trey Wagner share how West Coast Catholic started first as a blog and then how they grew it into a successful business with a mission to inspire and equip people to live a Christ-centered life. From starting the business in college selling handmade rosaries to building a brand that encompasses a wide range of prayer tools and lifestyle products intended to help modern Catholic woman grow closer to God. They share the story of how their personal faith journeys and experiences led to the creation of the brand, the challenges they faced, and milestones they achieved. The episode highlights how their mission to bring people closer to Christ through prayer and beautiful, meaningful products has resonated with thousands, making a profound impact on the faith lives of their customers.

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Hey, I'm your host, Mari Wagner,

and you're listening to the ever be

2

podcast where faith meets lifestyle.

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I'm so excited.

4

You're here.

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Whether you're a new listener

or a long time follower, I know

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there's something here for you.

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Pull up a chair and listen in for

insightful real life conversations

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and actionable steps on how to claim

the Full life God created you for

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if you're a woman desiring to live

a Christ centered life in today's

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modern world, then this is for you.

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Welcome to the ever be podcast.

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Welcome back to ever be today.

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We have Trey again on the show.

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We are going to be talking about a

topic that we get asked all the time.

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About a lot on DMS and other

podcasts that we've been guests on.

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People always want to know how

we started our Catholic lifestyle

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brand, West Coast Catholic.

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It's a business we started in college.

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And today we're going to get

into all the details of how the

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Lord put this on our hearts.

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How, how we even made it, how it got

off the ground, what it is now, and

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kind of our mission and our heart behind

what we do with West Coast Catholic.

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Absolutely.

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I'm excited to be here and to

share this story with you guys.

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It's a fun one.

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And for those of you who don't know

what West coast Catholic is, it's a

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Catholic lifestyle brand that Mara and

I started five years ago that sells

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prayer tools and lifestyle goods to

help the modern Catholic woman grow

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closer to the Lord and grow in faith.

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And it really didn't start

out to be what it is today.

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We didn't really plan to have

a business or have like a whole

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lifestyle brand or anything.

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If you've been following along for a

long time, um, you know, we started with

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rosaries and I would say that's still

probably what we're most known for.

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Still, we've expanded into so much.

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And so let's just get into it.

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Let's just start out.

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From the beginning, um, I would say

it kind of ties in a little bit into

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my conversion and our story together.

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And so we thought it was really fitting

to go into this story after the first

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couple episodes dove into my testimony

and our love story, because it kind

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of just intertwines through all of it.

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I mean, it played a big part in our

conversions and back to the faith and our.

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Like you said, our story and

dating and eventually marriage.

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Yeah so back in 2018, I was kind

of going through a whole like

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change of heart reversion, that's

all in my testimony episode.

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Uh, but I basically, it all started

with an internship that I took

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with focus fellowship of Catholic

university students, um, out here

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in Colorado, where they're located.

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And that summer was a big pivotal summer

for me because I had this desire to grow

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closer to the Lord and wanted to just kind

of like live a more Christ centered life.

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But at that point, I didn't really

know what that looked like and really

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didn't have a lot of people around me.

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That we're living that way until I met

the marketing girls who were on this

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internship with me at focus and they

became really good friends of mine

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and showed me through their life and

through the witness of their life,

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how to live a Christ centered life.

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And part of one of the things that

they showed me was just like this whole

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like Instagram Catholic world, which I

feel like has grown so much since then.

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I mean, like when they first showed me

it, I think there was like, Three girls

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blogging and, and it was much smaller.

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And so I love how big it's gotten.

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I love how many more voices

we have online evangelizing.

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And so at the time I started

following a few of these girls and

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these friends that I made over the

summer, I don't really know how it.

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Became a conversation or how the Lord

even placed it on my heart, but it

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just kind of became a conversation of

like, Mari, you should start a blog.

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Like you should be on Instagram,

like sharing your faith.

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And I was kind of like, really?

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Like I'd have to really pray about it,

but it kept coming back like in prayer.

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And when we talked about it and it just

was something on my heart that I like

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really wanted to do and looking at.

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The way my life played out.

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I think it makes so much sense because

I have such a heart for mission

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and evangelization and, bringing

people to Christ and to know him.

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And so knowing that this is where young

people are at, I see now why the Lord

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was drawing my heart to this place and

not to mention, those are the gifts

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and talents that God's given you is to.

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Create content, share your heart.

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You have a beautiful voice and

God use that through social media.

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And they're calling you to

this, this platform in this way.

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Thank you.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And it all makes sense to me

now, but at the time I was like,

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this is a big, scary thing.

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And I was worried about what people

were going to think, especially like

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people back in school, like in college,

like they knew I was into my faith.

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But if I like started this whole, like.

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Instagram blog about my faith.

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Like, what were they going to think of me?

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But I took a leap and I did it anyways.

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And I started an Instagram blog

called West Coast Catholic.

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Um, it took me so long, pretty

much like all summer to figure

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out what the blog name was going

to be because I couldn't decide.

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And in the end, we just went with

West Coast Catholic because I

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was a Catholic girl on the West

coast growing up in Seattle.

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And for most of my life, I felt like I was

the only Catholic in, in the West coast.

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So that was pretty fitting, I guess.

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Yeah.

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I mean, you mentioned to me numerous

times that the, your experience

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at this internship with focus

really opened your eyes to what a

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Catholic lifestyle could look like.

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And you had never seen that, especially

on the West coast and you never

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had any community or any friends.

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that lived out their faith in that way.

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And so what you wanted to do with this

blog, West Coast Catholic was to show.

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The normal everyday girl had to live

out their faith in their everyday life.

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And too, I remember that with those

first couple Instagram, like Catholic

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Instagram girls that I started to follow,

none of them were from the West coast.

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They were either from the

Midwest or the East coast.

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And I was like, well, this further proves

my point that there are not many Catholics

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on the West coast, but I now knew that

there were other Catholic people, my age,

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and I knew that I had to like, Step out

into this platform and be a voice for

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all the other women who maybe were in

my same Like experiencing my same like

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issues of feeling like I was the only

Catholic feeling like they didn't really

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have community like they didn't know

How to like live a Christ centered life.

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I'm sure that there were women and that

there are in All the West Coast states.

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So anyway, so I started

my blog to speak to Bella.

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Just kind of like your everyday

normal modern women in today's world.

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Um, and I would just at the, at

that time I was in college, I was

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starting my junior year of college.

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And so I would just share kind of what

I was doing in my everyday life, like

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living my faith as a college student,

what that looked like practically.

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Um, and it was just the start of a

beautiful journey to inspire women

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around the world to live their faith.

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And then a few months after

you started that blog, that was

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back in August at the summer.

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Was.

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It's having this total conversion

and reversion into her faith

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that summer with focus.

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I was also experiencing a

reversion into my faith.

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I was a missionary with life

team down in Georgia and just

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encountering God in a radical way.

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And one of the small parts of my job there

was I learned how to make these corded.

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Paracord rosaries that everybody

kind of knows how to make now.

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Mm-Hmm.

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. And, uh, I would just make

these with the campers.

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And so then after that, a few

months after we got back to campus.

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I wanted to gift Mari a

beautiful handmade rosary.

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Yeah.

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I think it was like for my birthday

or Christmas or something like that.

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Yeah.

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And so knowing that I wanted to

create this rosary for you, I knew.

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I want it to be special and meaningful and

have a lot of intentionality behind it.

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And I didn't want it to be the normal

chain link rosary that you've seen.

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And I want it to be different,

unique to match Mari's aesthetic.

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And so I told her I wanted to do this.

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I figured what we could do is get

some cord from a craft store like

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Michael's, pick some beads out.

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I would put the beads on the cord and tie

the knots in between to create the rosary.

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And so Mari designed this rosary

and we went to Michael's together

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to pick out the beads and that

was the first rosary that I made.

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Yeah.

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And I thought it was so cute

that Trey wanted to do this.

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I remember being like a little

bit confused because I don't know.

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I'd never had a.

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Boyfriend want to make me a rosary

before, but I'd always prayed

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for a good Catholic boyfriend.

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So I guess this is exactly what I was

getting and he probably did know I

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had a very strong devotion to Mary.

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I always have my whole life, but even

yet I wasn't actually praying the rosary

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very much at all or regularly at all

at this point in my life in college.

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Um, and so when he said he

wanted to make me a rosary, I

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was like, Oh, that's really cute.

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I mean, I guess I don't.

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Like, I don't pray the

rosary all the time.

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I should, you know, I always thought

like I should pray the rosary more.

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You know, every Catholic knows that.

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with my mom after mass on Sundays.

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Exactly.

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Yeah.

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My family, after our reversion,

when I was in high school, my family

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started to pray the rosary after

mass every single Sunday together.

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And I mean, when I was in high school

and I was a teenager and, I was

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kind of an angsty teen about it.

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And all of us kids were, we

were just kind of like, Oh, why

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do we have to pray the rosary?

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And I don't know if your mom does this.

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My mom likes to pray a solid, like 40 to

45 minutes style rosary with a long list

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of intentions and litanies at the end.

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And it's beautiful.

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Okay.

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It's beautiful.

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We, yeah, everybody's

going to get us to heaven.

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It's going to get us to heaven.

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So thank you, mom.

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Um, but at the time I

was not super into it.

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And so when Trey told me he was

gonna make a rosary, I thought it was

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adorable because he was the Catholic

boyfriend I had always wanted.

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So I was like, this is

probably part of that package.

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This is great.

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And I love Mary and I know I

should pray the rosary more.

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So let's do it.

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And so.

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Yeah, like Trey said, we went

to Michael's, I think, and we

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picked out cord and beads and I've

always been attracted to very like

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natural textures, organic textures.

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I get a lot of my inspiration

from the Lord's creation, from

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the earth, from like color

combinations that he has in creation.

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And so I picked out some beads that I felt

like were earthy toned and like gemstone.

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And we used to do like leather

cord and it was just like this very

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natural, beautiful looking rosary.

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And what I found was

that it was so beautiful.

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And so intentionally made, and I knew

that it was made with great care and

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love and intention because it was

made handmade by Trey for me, um, that

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I was just constantly drawn to it.

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I was just constantly drawn

to the physical rosary.

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Like you always wanted to carry it.

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You just throw it in your

purse, in your bag, take it with

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you when you'd walk to class.

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Yeah.

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I just always had it with me, like

whether it was in my pocket or in my bag.

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I'd put it under my pillow.

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I'd sleep with it.

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And I always had it with me and I wasn't

quite praying at a time yet, but I was

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just drawn to it and I just felt like,

yeah, like that, like spiritual protection

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that Mar that Mary gives you, or just like

having a little like, um, token or like

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tool that like reminded me of my faith

and kept me grounded in my Catholic faith.

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And the more I carried it around with

me, the more I thought, like, I should

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just pray this thing, you know, like

it doesn't actually take that long.

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I don't have to pray my mom's

45 minutes style rosary.

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I'm like, I know the rosary

is like 15 20 minutes.

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And so I started to

add it into my routine.

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And I remember too, when we, uh, when

we were dating, sometimes you would ask

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after Sunday mass to be like, Hey, do

you want to just stay and pray a rosary?

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And I'd always be like, Oh, okay, sure.

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You know?

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And so we started praying

a little bit more together.

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I started incorporating it

more into my prayer routine.

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And If you don't pray the rosary

yet, I highly recommend you do.

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If you do pray the rosary, you

know what I'm talking about.

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When you experience these like graces

of peace that just come into your life

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and desire for the things of the faith

and, um, just the, you just start

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to see the beauty of the faith more.

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Um, the more you start praying the

rosary, because truly the rosary

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is Meditating on the life of Christ

through the eyes of his mother.

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And so you can't, you can't

not grow in love for Christ.

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You can't not grow in love for Mary

when you're praying the rosary.

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So the more I started to incorporate this

into my prayer routine, the more I grew

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in my faith, the more I loved the Lord.

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The more I loved my faith,

the more I loved Mary.

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And I saw the true power, both that

the rosary has and the power of

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beauty and how beauty draws us people.

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Draws us to God.

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Yeah.

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I mean, I think ultimately it

was a Testament of the product.

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This rosary was beautifully

designed had a lot of intentionality

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and meaning behind it.

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And ultimately that led you to

prayer and then prayer is what we

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know leads us to Christ and prayer

is our relationship with God and.

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It is through prayer that we

establish communion with God.

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And so that's ultimately, it was

Mari's experience with the Rosary.

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And that's ultimately what we long

for a lot more people to experience.

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And so meanwhile, all that was

going on, and I was having this

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experience with the rosary in prayer.

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I was still, working on West Coast

Catholic, working on this Instagram

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blog, and it was growing a lot.

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The platform was getting traction

and a ton more people were tuning

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in, and it was just became this

beautiful outlet of sharing my faith.

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And people were just sharing how helpful

it was for them to grow in their faith.

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And so, around a year into

me having the blog, we sat

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down at the cafeteria one day.

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I remember, apparently we have a

lot of big moments at the cafeteria.

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Um, and we sat down for

lunch or something like that.

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And I was like, Hey, Trey, like

a lot of people are tuning into

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this platform and ask me questions

about prayer and their faith.

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And people are seeming to, people

seem to be getting a lot of

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value out of what I'm sharing.

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Like, what if we shared this

Beautiful experience I'm having

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with the rosary with them.

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You know, what if we maybe created

a few of these rosaries to serve the

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community that's starting to follow along.

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Yeah.

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And use this concept of creating a

beautiful product that would then.

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Using that beauty, draw people into

prayer and ultimately communion with God.

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Yeah.

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And we wanted them to be different.

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Like Trey said, like, we don't want

them to be like your average chain

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link one, or like those free ones that

you get at like a retreat or something

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that are like the plastic beads.

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We wanted it to be really beautiful

and different and have a little

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bit of a modern take while still

like holding all the beauty of

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the tradition of the Rosary in it.

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Um, but have it be a product that

someone like you, a modern young.

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Catholic woman would want to carry

around and hopefully by then just

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wanting to hold it, wanting them to care,

having them want to carry it around.

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They would end up praying

it just like you, exactly.

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And so we started talking about it

and simultaneously while those ideas

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were brewing in our mind, we were

like, Our relationship was getting

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really serious and we had started

to discern engagement and when the

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Lord was calling us to do that.

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And at that point in our lives, we were

also really broke college students.

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We had just spent two summers

serving as missionaries.

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And so we weren't making money during

the school year or during the summers.

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And so, Both of our parents were

like, okay, you want to get engaged.

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How are you going to pay for all that?

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Right.

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There's a wedding.

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There's life after.

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Yeah.

302

Life after marriage.

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And I was just notoriously known by

my friends as like always, always

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being the broke college girl.

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Like I would make money and then

go shopping and then have a hundred

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bucks in my bank account at all times.

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And so I didn't really have much.

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You know, to my name.

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And so even starting a business

was kind of like, well, how

310

are we going to do this?

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Like we don't really have anything.

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And then like looking at our future

and wanting to get engaged and

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married, we were like, okay, well.

314

I guess we'll just trust the Lord because

we don't really have a foundation of,

315

of anything to really start us out.

316

But both of us, we've, I mean, in

our relationship prior to this,

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like we had talked a lot about our

dreams for the future and we were

318

both very entrepreneurial minded.

319

And that was a dream that we

both had was to start a business.

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And we didn't know what that would look

like, but this was an opportunity that

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we felt like the Lord kind of just placed

in our laps and we wanted to, Try to

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bless your audience with these rosaries

and just kind of see what happened.

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Yeah.

324

And truthfully, like, even though we were

both very entrepreneurial people and like,

325

that was like, I know for you, especially,

it was a dream to like own your own

326

business and kind of do this in your life.

327

For me, like, I still pictured

myself like just graduating and like

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going to work at like a marketing

brand firm or something like that.

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Like I never really had like

a big idea for a business.

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And if I ever had one, I would

totally jump in and be like,

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yeah, cause I love business.

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I love entrepreneurship.

333

Both of our dads are entrepreneurs.

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And my dad always told me

that like, if you can start

335

a business in college, do it.

336

But he did a lot of like tech businesses

and growing up in Seattle, I was

337

always surrounded by tech startups.

338

And so I kind of thought that like, To

have a business, like the big idea had

339

to be surrounding like tech or software.

340

And so in my mind, I wasn't

even like, I wasn't even really

341

thinking about a business.

342

And at the time, like, even though we

both loved entrepreneurship, it wasn't

343

like we sat down and we're like, we're

going to create this huge company.

344

It was, it was really just like.

345

Why don't we make a couple rosaries

like bless the people in prayer Maybe

346

we'll save up so that trey can buy me an

engagement ring if that's what the lord

347

wants And we'll just see what happens.

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Yeah, and so we started

out making these rosaries.

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I remember we did go to my dad He's kind

of like our business coach in life We

350

did go to my back my dad and like shared

this idea with him and he was awesome

351

And he was like, hey i'm gonna give you

like 200 bucks to like fund the business.

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This is what, you know, what

you're going to start out with.

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And like, I'll be your first,

you know, quote unquote investor.

354

And you just like pay it

back to me when you make it.

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And so we bought our first like round

of materials and I think we literally

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bought enough stuff to make 75 rosaries.

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We had like four different skews.

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You started with four different designs.

359

Uh, and then we bought enough

materials for about 25 of each.

360

Not even like 20.

361

Less than that, but yeah,

75 total was what it was.

362

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

363

Like 20 something of each.

364

Um, and that was all

we really planned for.

365

I mean, we just planned for that batch,

sell them, bless people, hopefully save up

366

for an engagement ring and then, and then

be done and like move on in our lives.

367

But the Lord had very different plans.

368

Very, very different.

369

So I remember that at that time I

was back at a life teen summer camp.

370

And so I had all the materials shipped

to me at this life teen summer camp.

371

Yeah.

372

And in my off time, I would

just be making these rosaries.

373

I mean, by the time we wanted to

launch, yeah, we had 15 to 20 of each

374

rosary and I mailed them back tomorrow.

375

So she could take photos of them.

376

And this was the first time I

really ever picked up a camera.

377

Like, through my junior year of college, I

had a few, like, elective credits that I.

378

Could just like pick anything from, cause

I was a little bit ahead on my credits

379

and I've always liked art and creativity.

380

And so I'd already taken a

bunch of design and art classes.

381

And the only other creative thing

left was really photography.

382

And I was like, okay, I feel

like I'd be kind of into this.

383

And so I, picked up a camera

that like a friend of mine had

384

and kind of took this class and.

385

This was right around when

this all was happening.

386

And so Trey was like, why don't

you just like use what you learned

387

and like take some product photos

and we don't have to pay anybody.

388

And I was like, okay.

389

So everything was just like, so like

DIY from scratch, like not professional.

390

Like we didn't know what

we were doing at all.

391

And I took, you know, some pictures that

summer of those first four rosaries.

392

And we weren't even like, we weren't

even planning on having a website.

393

Like it was like, I think I was

just going to post those pictures

394

on Instagram and be like, yay.

395

Like DM me if you want one.

396

Yeah.

397

But we wanted.

398

By the time we launched, we were

like, okay, wait, let's make this

399

a little bit more professional.

400

You were very adamant about that.

401

Wanting actual websites.

402

Yeah.

403

And the B I remember the big reason why

I wanted an actual website, which we made

404

this decision the night before launch,

which is pretty on brand for nothing has

405

changed the reason why I wanted a website.

406

I mean, part of it was professionality,

but part of it, I was like, well.

407

If we are going to sell all these

rosaries, 75 is a lot in my mind.

408

At that point, it was

like a lot to get 75 DMS.

409

And I was like, if people are just

going to be sending me their address and

410

DMS and then payment, I just feel like

that's going to be a lot to like handle.

411

And we considered Etsy, but you're right.

412

I do.

413

I have, I like always have

loved marketing and branding.

414

And I was like, I at least want

it to be like our own brand.

415

If we are going to put it online, I

don't really want it to be on Etsy.

416

So then the night before I whipped up

a really quick website, Made up a logo.

417

I mean, we didn't have a logo.

418

We didn't have colors,

like literally nothing.

419

Like I just like picked a random

font, wrote rest, coast Catholic

420

and put it at the top of a website.

421

And the website, if you knew what

our old website looked like, was just

422

a homepage of photos of all of our

products for big blocks, square photos.

423

Yeah.

424

And it wasn't really much more than that.

425

It was just like the product

page that was landing page.

426

That was the website.

427

And I put that together

and I think I liked it.

428

It literally at like

2 AM the night before.

429

And then day of launch, August 12th.

430

Um, literally a year after I started

the blog, August 12th, I remember

431

I got on stories that day and I was

like, Hey, you guys, like I've been

432

working on, you know, West coast

Catholic, and I have a surprise for you.

433

We are, you know, launching some rosaries.

434

And it was just like a very

cute, casual announcement.

435

If you go and stalk either my Instagram or

the West Coast Catholic Instagram, you'll

436

find there's like a nostalgic reel that

has like all the clips of like, OG West

437

Coast Catholic, like the very first days.

438

And you can literally see the story

where I went on and I look like

439

a baby and I sound like a baby.

440

It's kind of cringy to go back and look

at it, but I'm just like, yeah, it was

441

just like cute little Mari, like, Hey

guys, like we're going to sell rosaries.

442

So let me know if you want one.

443

And that day was.

444

Not what we expected it to be.

445

No, not at all.

446

We literally sold all 74 rosaries.

447

Plus.

448

Plus.

449

And then we started selling.

450

We didn't want to take the website

down or like market out, mark

451

the rosaries as out of stock.

452

Cause we just launched.

453

I mean, we, we sold everything.

454

What, what we had in inventory,

like in a couple hours.

455

Yeah.

456

So we're like, Uh, just keep it going.

457

We'll just catch up.

458

Like, we'll just order more materials.

459

We'll, we'll order more beads.

460

You just say yes.

461

Even if you don't know how to

do it yet, you just say yes.

462

And you just figure it out.

463

And so we were like, yeah, we're

not going to shut this site down

464

two hours after we launched.

465

Like who knew this many people

were going to want rosaries.

466

I also had never bought

a rosary in my life.

467

Like.

468

It wasn't something that I ever thought

of like, Oh, I'm going to go buy a rosary.

469

Like they were always gifted for free.

470

Like as a Catholic, you just have

rosaries in your house, you know?

471

And so I didn't like, I knew that

our rosaries were beautiful and

472

that people would want to buy

them because of their beauty.

473

But I didn't know that that

many people would want to buy.

474

Definitely took us by surprise.

475

Definitely took us by surprise.

476

And so like Trey said.

477

We just, we didn't shut down the site.

478

We kept taking orders and we just

started ordering more materials.

479

And we told people like, Hey, by the

way, like, you know, it's just us

480

two around here, so like, it'll take

about a month to get your rosary.

481

And we started, you know, ordering

more materials and starting again and

482

making them again and at this point.

483

Customers were very patient with

us for the first, probably six

484

months or longer of our business.

485

It took them like four, five weeks to

like, our turnaround times were very slow.

486

Yeah.

487

So, thank you,

488

You were, I don't know how

people kept coming back very

489

gracious with us, but Yeah.

490

But then what's crazy is you

would, you were in, I don't

491

know, Colorado or Washington.

492

Somewhere on your Instagram

page promoting the rosaries.

493

I was in Georgia with all the product.

494

And so Mari would just like, send me

the names of the people who bought it.

495

And then I would like

package them up and just.

496

Like you're playing Manila, yellow, and

then I would just go to the post office

497

in Georgia and just drop them off.

498

And yeah, we're just like, we didn't

even know what we were doing or how

499

to even get the, once we even sold the

product, we're like, okay, now what,

500

now I'm going to get it to the customer.

501

So like, do you just buy stamps?

502

Like, what do you do?

503

Like we had no, we hadn't even

done any research anyways.

504

So that was the first few weeks.

505

Yeah.

506

And then.

507

You know, I think that

was like end of summer.

508

And so school started again,

and we kind of moved everything

509

into my room in college.

510

I, at this point, I was living in a house.

511

It wasn't necessarily like a dorm.

512

Um, but we kind of moved stuff around and

got some bookshelves and just filled it

513

with our, our inventory and our materials.

514

We did end up buying a little like.

515

Like a label printing machine to like

not have to handwrite everything because

516

for a while I was handwriting after

after like, but in beautiful calligraphy.

517

Yes, I was calligraphy writing

every single address on the.

518

Envelopes as well as handwriting

a beautiful calligraphy note

519

to every single customer.

520

So you can imagine how fast my

hands started to fall off because

521

those orders never stopped.

522

Like they just kept coming and coming.

523

And truly like everything started

to happen so fast that we never

524

had a moment where we sat down

to talk about what was going on.

525

No, we were just playing catch up.

526

We were just playing catch up.

527

We have orders that need to get fulfilled.

528

Yeah.

529

Create these rosaries as fast as

possible and we'll talk about it later.

530

Yeah.

531

So at the time when we first started,

I was the only one making rosaries.

532

Then obviously because we were

selling so fast, I had to train Mari.

533

So then we both were making rosaries, but

shortly after that, that didn't suffice.

534

And so we started turning all of our

friends were like, Hey, like, We'll

535

pay you a couple of bucks per rosary.

536

Like here's how to do it.

537

Let's go.

538

And so then we started hosting

these rosary making parties

539

to get more people involved.

540

We would buy like a pizza or something

and like feed people pizza and like

541

our friends would just make rosary.

542

There was like a seminary across the

street one day, like one night we had

543

like a bunch of seminarians come over and

they were all making rosaries with us.

544

Yes.

545

So those first batches of rosaries were

made by some very holy potential priests.

546

Potential.

547

Yes.

548

And so, but it was a story of

us just trying to figure out

549

how to keep up with demand.

550

Yeah.

551

And I think as we were falling into these

roles, like we started to fall into like

552

certain roles and responsibilities, like

in the business that we were having.

553

And so Trey was still, yeah, like you

said, We never like sat down and was

554

like, Oh, this is a business, which is why

it was always just West Coast Catholic.

555

Cause that was the name of your,

that was the name of my blog.

556

We, I remember Trey being like, Hey,

like, should we name this something else?

557

And I was like, no, like this

isn't going to last very long.

558

Probably like, let's just name it my

blog so that people can find it easily.

559

You already know what

West Coast Catholic is.

560

But anyways, he started

falling into these like roles.

561

So like Trey would kind of like

manage the rosary makers, which are

562

really just our friends and kind of

start figuring out like logistics and

563

shipping and finances and supply chain

for materials, production, production.

564

And filaments, finances, all that.

565

Yeah.

566

And kind of what just

naturally falls under my gifts.

567

I just started to kind of create a, you

know, brand of some sort and kind of

568

like put more of our shop stuff on my

Instagram and try and make the website

569

better or like take better photos.

570

And we started designing these little

like mail cards that would go into

571

every order with a little inspirational

quote or something like that.

572

We started to like level

it up a little bit.

573

So we had these four original

rosaries in the shop for a while,

574

and then came Advent and Christmas,

and I designed our new rosary.

575

And this was like.

576

This was the only other rosary

besides those four, right?

577

It was like the first new

design since we started.

578

And we chose to just make it limited

edition, like a liturgical rosary for

579

a seasonal Christmas rosary in Advent.

580

And it's our Star of Bethlehem rosary.

581

And I remember we were like, okay,

well, how many of these should we make?

582

Like.

583

I think we made like 60 or something.

584

Yeah.

585

I think we made like 60

or something like that.

586

Cause we were like, well, like everybody's

already bought a rosary from us.

587

So why would anybody want

to buy a second rosary?

588

Like only a few people are

going to buy a second rosary.

589

So maybe we'll just be getting new

customers with this new rosary.

590

So we made the start of Bethlehem.

591

And we sold out in like, I don't know,

like, yeah, like, like a day, like less

592

than a day, it was like six hours or

something like that, or five hours.

593

And we were like, Whoa, okay.

594

So maybe we need to restock that.

595

And so I think we tried to do a restock

and then, and then we stopped selling

596

that one cause it was still seasonal.

597

And then.

598

Lent came around and we were

like, Hey, let's do this again.

599

Let's do another seasonal rosary.

600

People loved that one.

601

And so we came up with a seasonal rosary.

602

And I think that when we were like,

okay, let's open it up a little bit.

603

Let's do like a hundred, you know,

let's do a hundred of the Lent rosary.

604

And that one's called into the desert.

605

We still have it every Lent today.

606

And I remember we launched

and that one sold out.

607

And even less time, it was

like, Five or four hours.

608

And we were like, what is going on?

609

This was supposed to last the entire list.

610

This was supposed to like,

yeah, last for 40 days.

611

And, I don't know, we probably

restocked that one too.

612

Because at that point we still

had the whole rest of Lent

613

to sell these rosaries for.

614

And then COVID hit.

615

And by the time COVID hit, we were

in the middle of getting ready

616

to produce the Easter rosary.

617

Cause we were like, this

is going really well.

618

People are loving these liturgical

rosaries, these seasonal rosaries.

619

So we had an Easter one

ready called the gardener.

620

COVID hit in March.

621

It was really well underway.

622

And we were, I remember we freaked out.

623

We're like, Oh, like people are

probably not going to spend money.

624

And people are probably like really

focused on the fact that the world

625

is possibly ending right now.

626

Like nobody knew what was going on.

627

And.

628

At that point we had chosen, I

remember to make like 200 of those.

629

Yeah.

630

Thinking that a lot more people would

wanna buy 'em and that we wanted it

631

to not sell out in a day this time.

632

Yeah.

633

We wanted it to last

the whole Easter season.

634

So I was really nervous

about launching those.

635

Easter comes, we launched the gardener.

636

We sell out in two hours.

637

Yeah.

638

I remember something crazy.

639

I remember it was like two

hours or two and a half hours.

640

Yeah.

641

And we were like.

642

What is happening?

643

Like, what is going on?

644

And I think that was a moment where we sat

down and looked at each other and we were

645

like, what is God doing in this business?

646

This is beyond us.

647

For sure.

648

Yeah.

649

Because like I said, like we

weren't applying any business

650

strategy, like it was just like

do as it comes, fulfill orders as

651

they come, figure it out, move on.

652

Like it was just keeping up with demand.

653

Like we didn't have time

to do anything extra.

654

It was literally, let's just do it.

655

Let's stay afloat.

656

Let's keep up with all the orders.

657

And so at that point, we really realized

like, okay, this is bigger than ourselves.

658

I think the Lord is trying

to tell us something.

659

The Lord is showing us that like, this

is a need in the Catholic world and

660

in the community that we're serving.

661

At that point, COVID happened.

662

Our classes shut down,

everything went remote.

663

COVID was the absolute best thing that

could have happened to us, could have

664

happened to our business at the time.

665

Yeah, COVID honestly was a blast for us.

666

It was awesome.

667

Yeah, we were just, we were just like,

we were still on, on the college campus,

668

all of our Classes moved online and

a lot of them were pre recorded too.

669

Like the professors would just

pre record and post them and

670

you just watch them whenever.

671

And so we actually had time to

sit down and talk about what's

672

happening and be like, okay.

673

We just had so much more time that we

could actually put into the business.

674

Like before that we were trying to work

on the business, but we basically just

675

spent class time working on the business

and then outside of class time making

676

the rosaries, shipping the rosaries.

677

So yeah, COVID gave us so much time

to actually like Work on the business.

678

Yeah.

679

And like I was gonna say, like, you

just, we just had time to actually

680

sit down and, and like, talk

about like, where is this going?

681

Like, is this going to be a business

that we actually like work on?

682

Cause at the time it was

a very much a side thing.

683

If you call making rosaries till

2 AM in the morning, a side thing.

684

Cause at that point it's kind of

starting to take over your life.

685

And so.

686

Like Trey said, like, we were like,

okay, like, let's get serious about this.

687

Let's put time into the business.

688

And so we both would just

like, do our like lectures for

689

class, like in the morning.

690

And we would probably do that.

691

Like what?

692

Like eight to noon.

693

And then the rest of the day was free

and all my other friends, like I've said

694

before, in different talks and stuff

like that, like they were science majors.

695

They worked so hard.

696

They had so much school.

697

So they were working

until like 5 PM every day.

698

And I was just like, Hanging

out with Trey, working on our

699

business from like noon to five.

700

And we actually were able to

put time in to make plans, to

701

start talking about where it was

going, talk about new rosaries.

702

And, and that's where the business

really started to flourish

703

as a business and a brand.

704

And that's where we started

to decide, okay, what.

705

Does the long term future of

West Coast Catholic look like?

706

What is the mission of this brand?

707

What's our dream with it?

708

Are we going to do more

than just rosaries?

709

And so then we started

talking about other products.

710

Yeah.

711

It was really, really fun.

712

It was fun.

713

And I remember in those early days

when we were dreaming about it, I

714

had always said, like, I want this

to be like the Catholic version of

715

like Magnolia, like Chip and Joe.

716

Like I love, I love

Chip and Joanna Gaines.

717

I love everything they make.

718

And I was obsessed with Magnolia.

719

And I remember just

saying that all the time.

720

Like, I want to be the Catholic Magnolia.

721

I want this to be more than Rosaries.

722

I want this to be a lifestyle brand.

723

I want this to be Something that like

provides products that people can bring

724

into their home and into their everyday

life that can speak, something about their

725

faith without you even having to say it,

that you can just evangelize with your

726

home and that when you invite people into

your home or into your life, people just.

727

Either either start asking questions

because of the beautiful products that

728

they see, or they just know that you

are living your faith and that you

729

are a Catholic family or a Catholic

woman, you know, in the modern world

730

due to the products that you're

wearing or that you have in your home.

731

Yeah.

732

It honestly was an extension

of your Instagram blog.

733

Like you wanted to.

734

inspire women to be in the world,

but not of it and to live out their

735

Catholic faith in their everyday life.

736

And so now we were just trying to

give them the tools, prayer tools and

737

lifestyle goods to equip them to do that.

738

That was a really big summer for us,

um, for my Instagram, that was a summer

739

I hit 10 K followers and that was the

summer we became focused missionaries

740

and we moved our life to Nebraska, or

at least I moved to Nebraska because

741

you still had a semester left of school.

742

Um, and we kind of started to have to

figure out a lot more, uh, Obstacles that

743

came our way because it wasn't really

like the quarantine life anymore where

744

there was nothing to do but be home.

745

We actually started to

live normal life again.

746

And so now we had to figure out,

okay, like how are we going to

747

run our business while we're also

missionaries and where are we going

748

to like put all of our inventory?

749

Because I was living in the missionary

girl's house and like in our inventory

750

was just overflowing everywhere.

751

Our inventory was growing and growing.

752

The more our business grew in

the more our customer base grew.

753

And so it was just boxes of beads.

754

Everywhere, everywhere, all the time.

755

So we found a little office

space in Lincoln, Nebraska.

756

Yeah.

757

We hired on a team to help

us with production and

758

fulfillment of the products.

759

Yeah.

760

At the time the team was just like

a group of Catholic sorority girls.

761

So shout out to them.

762

They were awesome.

763

It kept us afloat.

764

Absolutely.

765

And so, but yeah, then we were just

trying to balance missionary life with

766

running this small business that was

quickly taking over our entire lives.

767

And Yeah.

768

And then we were just trying

to discern what to do next.

769

Yeah.

770

And trying to ask the Lord, like, like,

what do we do with West Coast Catholic?

771

What are you trying to really

do with West Coast Catholic?

772

Because it kept growing and growing.

773

And again, that wasn't

something we really expected.

774

And at the time when we became

missionaries, so much of our time

775

was going into missionary life

because that was our full time job.

776

And so you're working

on your full time job.

777

For most of the day.

778

And then as a missionary, your

job goes into like nine or 10 PM

779

because you're leading Bible studies.

780

And so really it was like a lot of

weekends were spent working on this

781

or random, like break times when we

weren't missionaries, like we were

782

working on our business, but it

wasn't like we were pouring a ton,

783

a ton into it to actually grow it.

784

And yet, like we experienced so much in

the past, the Lord was just blessing it.

785

The Lord was just showing us

that there was something there

786

that he was calling us to do.

787

And so we really started to discern

with the Lord, like, where are

788

you, Taking West coast Catholic.

789

And what does that mean for Trey and I,

like with us being missionaries and also

790

having this business, like, are we going

to have to like leave missionary life?

791

Like, are you calling us to go full time?

792

Like, is the business

even able to support that?

793

Like, what is the long term goal and

plan with West coast Catholic and,

794

and what you're calling us to do?

795

And when you're a focused

missionary, you have an initial

796

like two year commitment and.

797

I, I loved being a missionary and I think

if I didn't have West Coast Catholic,

798

I'd probably be a missionary for longer.

799

But nearing that two year mark,

we were getting super overwhelmed.

800

I remember like, it was a pretty

stressful time for us, um,

801

doing full time missionary work.

802

Going, you know, trying to do

more with West Coast Catholic.

803

We were traveling a ton

at the time as well.

804

We're big travelers.

805

So it's not like we don't travel

anymore, but I remember we were traveling

806

a ton to see family and friends.

807

And it was just getting to be

a lot for us to, to handle and

808

juggle like in our day to day life.

809

And so we discerned that

I would go full time.

810

So we discerned that we both would

leave focus staff and Mari went

811

full time with West Coast Catholic.

812

I got my normal marketing job and.

813

And I was just able to devote, Oh,

obviously a ton more time into the

814

business, given that it just became.

815

My actual day job, um, which as

an entrepreneur, you know that

816

there's no such thing as a day job.

817

It's a day, night, 24 seven job.

818

There's all these jokes on Instagram,

like all these reels on Instagram

819

that say like, I left my nine to

five to become an entrepreneur.

820

And now I work 24 seven, which is just

the life of like those, especially

821

those early years of entrepreneurship.

822

It's a grind.

823

It's really tough.

824

And, um, You just got to get through

them, I think, but it was still beautiful.

825

And there was so much

excitement and joy around that.

826

And there still is, because I knew

at this point, the Lord had a much

827

bigger mission than what we were

doing with West coast Catholic.

828

And so I started to pray a lot

about that over the summer.

829

And I decided that it was time.

830

We had a rebrand.

831

I think at this point, it was

year three of having the business,

832

year four of having like the

Instagram blog or something.

833

It was, it was already a few years

into the business where I finally

834

decided, like, we need a rebrand

because if you remember from the story

835

earlier, I put no thought into the

brand logo, the look, and I'm such

836

a marketing nerd that I knew that,

like, we needed a really strong brand.

837

And I wanted to communicate what

I feel like the Lord's mission was

838

for us and for West Coast Catholic

through the visuals of the brand.

839

Um, Because all of our products,

everything that we do and did at

840

the time was all very intentional.

841

It all had specific reasons and meanings

to draw you into some sort of part of

842

the faith or some scripture or something.

843

And so I wanted our brand to,

to be in line with that, to be

844

intentional and meaningful and to

communicate these underlying truths

845

that the Lord wants you to know.

846

And this mission that he's given West

coast Catholic to fulfill and started

847

working on this rebrand and then

848

Yeah.

849

After a long summer, just grinding through

all the visuals, all of the aesthetic

850

for the brand, the colors, the logo,

the icons for the brands, everything

851

we learned so much about branding.

852

Yep.

853

So we did a whole like brand video

that summer too, that we were

854

traveling to Colorado to record here.

855

Yeah, it was really.

856

Having a West Coast Catholic enter

into a new frontier like yeah, it

857

was just like a We wanted to just

redefine what West Coast Catholic

858

was and who we were moving forward.

859

And with that, I also felt like this

was the time to introduce the whole

860

lifestyle part of the business.

861

At the point, at the time, we'd

only really done rosaries, I think.

862

And then at that, in that

moment, when we Rebranded.

863

I was like, this is when we are going to

open the doors to the whole like lifestyle

864

brand that I've been dreaming of that I

feel like the Lord is calling us to do.

865

And so with that rebrand and

the new website and the new

866

look and everything we launched.

867

Our first lifestyle items.

868

Yeah, it was a little tumbler

cup, which is his first tumbler,

869

which is still one of my faves.

870

I literally use it every day.

871

We launched these beach towels or

blankets, Turkish towels, Turkish towels.

872

They're a little combo.

873

You can use them as blankets in

your home or as a beach towel

874

and then a little tote bag.

875

Yeah.

876

And I remember the day before launch

was also really crazy for us as all.

877

Big launches have been big launch.

878

You're up into the early,

early hours in the morning.

879

We were in Mexico with my family on

vacation, which again, somehow all

880

these big things line up with some like

crazy travels that we have going on.

881

Cause we just, we're

just always traveling.

882

We love to travel.

883

We can't say no.

884

We can't say no.

885

We should, we should, but we were

in Mexico on a family vacation.

886

And that happened to be in the middle

of when the new website and the new

887

brand was launching and all these

new products were launching and we

888

were out making tweaks to everything.

889

Literally, I think up until like

four in the morning was when we

890

finally went to bed and woke up the

next morning to launch everything

891

at like 8 AM or something like that.

892

Um, but it was beautiful.

893

The response was beautiful.

894

Just the whole look was beautiful.

895

It's the brand that we currently

have now, and I love it so much.

896

And I love that we took the time.

897

To pray through every single icon,

every meaning, every color, um, our

898

mission statement, our visuals, like

everything has a deeper meaning.

899

And if you don't know, like our mission

for West Coast Catholic is to help

900

you experience a foretaste of heaven.

901

Basically what that means is to like

bring heaven down to earth, into your

902

life and to have you experience that

through the products that we make for you.

903

And ultimately what heaven is, is

communion with God and communion

904

with God is found through prayer.

905

That's how we're able to

experience heaven here today.

906

On this earth is through prayer.

907

And so that was our mission through

West Coast Catholic and through the

908

products that we create is to give our

customers just that little experience.

909

Of heaven.

910

And because we're hoping that every

product is intentionally made, it's

911

beautiful and it'll lead them to prayer.

912

Yeah.

913

And so on the same topic of helping

you experience heaven, I want to

914

talk a little bit about like our

main logo and our main icon that you

915

see often is a baby's breath flower.

916

And despite that they're one of my

favorite flowers, they actually hold

917

a lot of meaning and the visual in

our brand holds a lot of meaning.

918

, so baby's breath flowers in the secular

world, , commonly, Symbolize eternal love.

919

Like that's what the world kind

of like has coined this flower

920

to represent eternal love.

921

And so they're commonly used at weddings.

922

And so I felt like one that was very

fitting for our brand, because like

923

Trey was saying, like the experience

of communion or the experience

924

of heaven is communion with God.

925

And essentially heaven is this eternal.

926

wedding banquet that we're invited to,

to feast and to be in communion with God.

927

And so these flowers that are commonly

used in weddings in the secular world

928

with the meaning of eternal love could

also simultaneously represent the wedding

929

banquet that we are called to, to be in

heaven, to be in communion with God and

930

experience his eternal love in heaven.

931

And that also kind of ties in the idea

of being like in the world, but not of

932

it, you know, taking something like from

the world, but bringing this like deeper

933

meaning that brings us to God that shows

us like deeper truths of our faith.

934

That's what the baby's

breath flower means.

935

And that's why you see it in

all of our branding and our

936

photos and stuff like that.

937

And the other brand element that we have

that you see a lot are these swallows.

938

And so that's represents Mari's

favorite Bible verse, Matthew 6 33.

939

Yeah.

940

Yeah.

941

My favorite Bible verse is Matthew 6 33.

942

And it says, seek first the kingdom

and his righteousness and all other

943

things shall be given to you besides.

944

And I.

945

Loved this verse for years.

946

I mean, maybe in high school

was the first time that I heard

947

it and it just stuck with me.

948

And, um, the true like meaning

of this verse is to first, first

949

priority in your life above all

things is to seek the kingdom, right?

950

Seek the kingdom and his righteousness.

951

Seek, seek heaven and seek the

Lord and dedicate your life to him

952

and everything else will work out.

953

The Lord will bless everything.

954

But to do that.

955

You have to, you have to learn

to like, let go of your worry and

956

let go of control and surrender.

957

And so the verses leading up

to that is the whole passage of

958

like, do not worry the whole,

do not worry passage in Matthew.

959

And there's a verse that I always loved.

960

I think like, I always saw it visually in

my head when I read this verse and it was

961

like, look at the birds of the air and

they don't worry about what they will eat.

962

Want the father who provides for

these birds also provide for you.

963

Exactly.

964

Exactly.

965

And so this idea of like the animals,

you know, the birds, they fly through

966

the air and they're never worried

about what they're going to eat or

967

how, how they're going to like survive.

968

Like the father just provides in nature.

969

He just provides food for them.

970

And they, they go on about

their merry little bird life.

971

And that's what I want it to be.

972

I just want it to be a merry little

bird that like surrendered my

973

life and just trusted the father.

974

And that would allow me to.

975

Seek him first and seek the

kingdom above all things.

976

And so that's the piece of, encouragement

that I want to offer people as well

977

through our brand is this reminder of

the joy and the beauty and the freedom

978

that comes with surrendering your life

to Christ and how that happens once you

979

just give him all your trust and trust

in the providence of the father and

980

know that he is good and he provides and

putting your trust in him is the first

981

step to surrendering your life , and.

982

And living a Christ centered life.

983

And so we've had this brand, this

new, like, look to our brand for

984

almost a year and a half now.

985

And since then we've been really leaning

into that more lifestyle part of the

986

business and I've had so much fun with it.

987

And I think it's been so well received by

our audience and our customers as well.

988

I think people are really loving it.

989

And we've moved into, um, home goods,

apparel, jewelry, some devotionals,

990

All products that ultimately we're

trying to bring to you, our customers

991

to serve you, to help you experience

the four days of heaven, to help

992

you experience community with God

and to lead you into deeper prayer.

993

Yeah.

994

And these lifestyle items, obviously

like a lot of them aren't like.

995

Explicitly religious items, you

know, but my goal is always to have a

996

message of faith or like infuse like

a faith filled design into the product

997

so that you can bring the faith

and bring a little piece of

998

heaven into your everyday life.

999

And it's worth noting too, at that time,

we also decided to split the Instagram

00:45:12,899 --> 00:45:16,319

so that the business, the shop West

Coast Catholic, could have its own.

00:45:16,909 --> 00:45:17,779

Instagram page.

00:45:18,009 --> 00:45:21,649

And then Mari would continue her own

personal blog on her own Instagram page.

00:45:21,649 --> 00:45:21,939

Yeah.

00:45:21,989 --> 00:45:23,149

So there are two Instagrams.

00:45:23,179 --> 00:45:26,779

So the shop has its own Instagram

and it's at West Coast Catholic.

00:45:26,979 --> 00:45:29,749

And then I just left my

Instagram as my own name.

00:45:29,749 --> 00:45:31,579

I just took on my own name for my blog.

00:45:31,579 --> 00:45:33,139

So it's more at mari.

00:45:33,199 --> 00:45:33,439

c.

00:45:33,629 --> 00:45:34,129

wagner.

00:45:34,489 --> 00:45:38,459

But you can follow the Instagram for West

Coast Catholic on Instagram and you'll

00:45:38,459 --> 00:45:42,349

see all the beautiful products and some

more inspiration on how to live your

00:45:42,349 --> 00:45:45,219

Catholic faith as well as, you know,

be notified on all the big sales and

00:45:45,219 --> 00:45:46,239

stuff that we have throughout the year.

00:45:47,074 --> 00:45:51,314

And so here we are almost six years

later from when we started the business.

00:45:51,324 --> 00:45:55,824

And we're just in constantly in

awe of how the Lord has blessed it.

00:45:55,874 --> 00:46:01,194

And not only just the business,

but also we see now and.

00:46:01,724 --> 00:46:06,104

We realize the mission the Lord has given

us and we realize that this is more than

00:46:06,104 --> 00:46:10,334

a business It's more than just getting

product into your hands but really it's

00:46:10,334 --> 00:46:14,504

about changing hearts changing souls

and winning the world for Christ and

00:46:14,504 --> 00:46:19,094

Evangelizing through this Avenue that

the Lord has placed on our hearts to do.

00:46:20,264 --> 00:46:21,324

It's been crazy.

00:46:21,334 --> 00:46:23,664

It's been a wild ride It's so much fun.

00:46:23,754 --> 00:46:28,034

So much of a challenge, so difficult at

times, but the Lord has been faithful

00:46:28,034 --> 00:46:32,134

through it all and he has blessed us

in the business so, so abundantly.

00:46:32,644 --> 00:46:37,144

And it's just so beautiful to see the

way it's impacting people's lives.

00:46:37,144 --> 00:46:41,144

I mean, from the DMs that I get in,

in my Instagram of conversions that

00:46:41,144 --> 00:46:43,804

are happening or ways that these

beautiful rosaries are bringing people

00:46:43,804 --> 00:46:45,554

to prayer, just like it did for me.

00:46:46,129 --> 00:46:49,959

Blessing, you know, people in times of

need or in times of sickness, the way

00:46:49,959 --> 00:46:53,689

that, you know, people are just turning

back to Christ through the beauty of

00:46:53,689 --> 00:46:57,849

the rosary and the power of the rosary,

especially is amazing, amazing to see.

00:46:58,069 --> 00:47:00,809

And although we have expanded to lifestyle

products, and that's a big part of our

00:47:00,809 --> 00:47:04,849

brand now, I think the rosaries will

always be kind of that fundamental part of

00:47:04,849 --> 00:47:08,779

our mission because our mission is always

to draw people to the Lord through prayer.

00:47:09,079 --> 00:47:12,989

And it's beautiful to see like the

number of people that have one of our

00:47:12,989 --> 00:47:16,289

rosaries now, I mean, over the past,,

almost six years that we've been

00:47:16,289 --> 00:47:20,939

in business, , over, I think close

to 30, 000 of our rosaries are out

00:47:20,979 --> 00:47:22,519

in the world now in people's hands.

00:47:22,669 --> 00:47:24,999

And I mean, you'd hope that at least.

00:47:25,469 --> 00:47:27,749

All those people have

prayed at least one rosary.

00:47:28,059 --> 00:47:31,399

Most likely they're praying rosaries

more frequently now that they have

00:47:31,399 --> 00:47:35,809

a beautiful, well designed and

beautiful, meaningful product that

00:47:35,869 --> 00:47:37,369

they are drawn to prayer through.

00:47:37,369 --> 00:47:40,919

So yeah, I mean, there has been so

many more rosaries, so many more

00:47:40,919 --> 00:47:42,619

prayers that have been prayed.

00:47:42,844 --> 00:47:43,504

From these products.

00:47:44,194 --> 00:47:44,534

Yeah.

00:47:44,534 --> 00:47:46,694

And, and I think that's the

part that always gets me.

00:47:46,694 --> 00:47:51,254

It always makes me a little bit emotional

to think about because I see the weight

00:47:51,254 --> 00:47:54,644

and responsibility that this mission

has, you know, especially with the rosary

00:47:54,654 --> 00:47:58,934

and knowing that, you know, close to 30,

000 of our rosaries are being prayed.

00:47:58,934 --> 00:48:01,714

Like Trey said, you hope that

at least one is being prayed,

00:48:01,724 --> 00:48:03,584

but you just, you just hope.

00:48:03,704 --> 00:48:04,704

And you'd think that.

00:48:04,959 --> 00:48:08,209

Somebody buying a rosary would

hopefully be praying more than one.

00:48:08,209 --> 00:48:14,309

And so I just think of heaven and

Mary, like rejoicing at the number of

00:48:14,529 --> 00:48:18,159

people coming back to the faith of the

number of people coming back to prayer.

00:48:18,459 --> 00:48:21,799

Um, or even just pray, even if they

already were, you know, in the faith

00:48:21,799 --> 00:48:25,519

and praying regularly, just praying

more fervently because of this beautiful

00:48:25,519 --> 00:48:27,619

product or being drawn to the rosary more.

00:48:27,879 --> 00:48:29,789

, I'm just sure heaven is rejoicing

00:48:29,839 --> 00:48:33,589

So it is just an honor to be, , an

instrument of the Lord in this mission

00:48:33,589 --> 00:48:36,859

and that the Lord has called us to

bring people to him in this way.

00:48:37,689 --> 00:48:40,799

And that's the story of how West

Coast Catholic started and how

00:48:40,799 --> 00:48:42,169

we got to where we are today.

00:48:42,874 --> 00:48:46,844

And if you haven't checked us out,

head on over to westcoastcatholic.

00:48:46,894 --> 00:48:51,214

co and grab yourself a beautiful

lifestyle product or prayer tool,

00:48:51,264 --> 00:48:55,424

especially rosary and check us out

on Instagram at westcoastcatholic.

00:48:55,814 --> 00:48:59,974

And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for

you guys, our amazing customers and our

00:48:59,974 --> 00:49:02,134

community, our West coast Catholic family.

00:49:02,154 --> 00:49:04,974

So thank you for all your love

and support over the years.

00:49:04,994 --> 00:49:07,314

It means so much to us and our family.

00:49:07,314 --> 00:49:10,654

And we just hope that we can continue

to serve you in the best ways that

00:49:10,654 --> 00:49:13,914

we can, that the Lord calls us to

for, for so many years to come.