Three chapters.

My first business had nothing to do with retail. For four years I ran a one-on-one coaching practice, helping people build healthier relationships — clearer communication, more emotional intelligence, the confidence to ask for what they actually wanted.

It sounds a long way from commerce, but it taught me the thing the rest of my work is built on: every good outcome starts with a real relationship, and the patience to understand what the other person needs. I treat the brands we carry and the customers we serve exactly that way.

Then I got operational. I took over a struggling Santa Monica café as general manager and rebuilt it from the inside out — sharper product, tighter systems, smarter sourcing, and a standard of service customers actually wrote reviews about.

That stretch taught me how to turn discipline into growth — how the unglamorous work of systems and sourcing is what makes the part customers see possible.

SupplyForge is the company those two chapters were preparing me for. We buy good products from brands we believe in, sell them well across our own storefronts, and treat every order like it's the only one.

Technology and process keep us efficient at scale; relationships — with brands, with suppliers, with the person opening the box — are what actually make it work. I still read the reviews and answer the hard emails myself.