While digging around in my brain for what to write about in this blog post, I thought about businesses and people that inspire me from my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. I immediately remembered Thistle Farms, a business and community that make and sell all sorts of body care like balms, oils, lotions, hand wash, candles, etc. Though their products are awesome, the mission and idea behind Thistle Farms drives the business. Their mission is based off the motto “Love Heals” and to “Heal, Empower, and Employ”—particularly women survivors of trafficking, prostitution and addiction.
Thistle Farms was founded by Becca Stevens in Nashville in 2001. Becca and 4 other women, all being survivors of addiction and assault, started out by making a few balms and candles in Vanderbilt University’s St. Augustine’s Chapel. Eventually, their small business grew into a company and they expanded the business beyond the Nashville area and even added a café. However, Thistle Farms came out of need for the employment of the women of Magdalene. Stevens founded the Magdalene House in 1997. It is a program that provides around 32 women with housing, education, programs and therapy as well as a stable job for 2 years—either making body products for Thistle Farms or working in the Thistle Cafe. The mission for Magdalene house is to give opportunity and love to women who have been subjected to a less fortunate life.
Becca Stevens was born in 1963 in Connecticut and moved to Nashville at a young age. At the age of five, not only did her father die, but she was also sexually assaulted by an older male member of her family’s church. She attended The University of the South and thereafter Vanderbilt Divinity School and became ordained in 1991. Four years later, she became the Chaplain at St Augustine’s.
Becca’s experience with sexual assault as well as her Christian background and faith lead her to form Magdalene house as well at Thistle Farms. She realized that women in the Nashville area were struggling with the major setbacks of prostitution and addiction and wanted to provide a place where women could get back on their feet. This reminds me of Gardner’s developmental perspective in relation to creativity. He says, “What may distinguish creative individuals is their ways of productively using the insights, feelings, and experiences of childhood” (Gardner 31). Becca used her experiences as a child to form her idea for Magdalene as well as Thistle Farms.
I admire Becca Stevens as well as her business because of its innovation in terms of serving the community under the mission that love is healing, while also making great products. Now, Thistle Farms and Magdalene are used as models for other businesses across the nation.
This is such a great post, I think it is such a creative model to create products that promote wellness and relaxation for those who purchase them, as well as having the benefit of promoting valuable employment to women who might not otherwise be able to.
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing how Becca could take a traumatic, awful event in her life and turn it into something positive. Creativity doesn't have to be something completely new; it can be building off of something that already exists and making it better. These women who are assaulted deserve to feel good about themselves, and with the work of Thistle Farms and Magdalene, I hope these women find a bit of comfort in knowing they are not alone and there are products, as Carolyn said, that promote wellness and relaxation available to them.
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