This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Lee Rhodes, founding father of Glassybaby. It has been edited for size and readability.
When my youngest baby was born in 1991, my chest would cramp within the oddest manner after I was nursing him. I used to be solely 32 and had three children in about three years; I figured my physique had been via rather a lot. However my physician despatched me for an X-ray, then an MRI.
I had all three youngsters with me, lined up as I obtained into the MRI machine. The technician advised me I might be within the machine for 70 minutes, however she introduced me out after solely three minutes. She had tears streaming down her face, and I assumed, “There should be a much bigger emergency than me.”
Seems, I used to be the emergency: I had a large tumor in my proper lung. That was a Friday afternoon; on Monday, I had surgical procedure to take away a part of my lung.
I discovered peace in a glass container my husband made
That was the start of a six-year battle with stage 4 lung cancer. I did chemo, radiation, and many experimental therapies — which finally labored. I am one of many fortunate ones: I have been cancer-free since 2001.
Doing therapies whereas elevating three younger kids was horrible. However I discovered solace in essentially the most sudden place: a glass votive my husband had made for me. Once I dropped a candle into the container, I simply stared at the great thing about the sunshine and flame. It was a second of peace, simply after I wanted one.
I spotted different sufferers did not have the identical assets I did
Every week, I’d get chemotherapy alongside the identical sufferers. We have been like a band of brothers, however I spotted we did not all have the identical means to tackle this battle. I used to be bringing a gorgeous whole-grain sandwich to eat, whereas different sufferers have been grabbing Rice Krispies from the merchandising machine. I did not suppose twice about paying $16 an hour for parking, whereas others missed chemo sessions as a result of they could not afford to get to the hospital.
I used to be capable of meet my primary wants: high quality meals, clear air, and good sleep. A whole lot of the opposite sufferers could not, and the unfairness of that wore on me. It may well nonetheless make me cry, in the present day.
I started fascinated by the way to join the peace I felt from my glass votive whereas serving to different cancer patients, particularly those that did not have the identical monetary means I did.
A connection to Martha Stewart boosted gross sales
I offered the primary Glassybaby votives on Breast Most cancers Consciousness Day in 1996, proper within the car parking zone of the hospital. Earlier than most cancers, I used to be a stay-at-home mom, and I wasn’t fascinated by this as a enterprise — only a fundraiser. I linked with native artisans to buy their glasswork, and donated all the earnings to uncompensated care on the hospital, fairly informally.
As increasingly more individuals heard concerning the glass, demand grew: family members of sufferers started shopping for a number of Glassybabies and lighting them on the identical time to ship therapeutic to their family members. The influence of flame and coloration was so significant. On the very least, I really feel as if it reminds you to be a greater particular person.
After about three years, I spotted Glassybaby had actual enterprise potential. By 2003, I had opened my very own retailer close to my home in Washington. Then, I introduced the votives to a good friend’s occasion — a celebration that Martha Stewart’s boyfriend was attending. He beloved the Glassybabies, and introduced them residence to Martha, which is how I ended up on her present. That is when gross sales actually blew up. I nonetheless bear in mind the stacks and stacks of paper order types.
My grown youngsters are nonetheless concerned with the enterprise
Final 12 months, Glassybaby did over $27 million in gross sales. As I grew the enterprise has grown, I’ve saved the ethos of giving back. How we try this has advanced over time: at one level, we donated a set proportion of earnings, and in the present day, we donate $3 for each Glassybaby we promote. We have donated greater than $16 million to charities via our basis, which was based in 2015. This little candle holder actually does good work.
At present, my youngsters are of their 30s, they usually’re all concerned with the enterprise not directly. Even my now ex-husband helps with design sometimes — although I have been happily divorced and remarried for many years.
My youngsters grew up with this firm, and in some ways, Glassybaby appears like their sibling, and my fourth baby. The corporate — and the donations it facilitates — have given our lives which means. It means the world to me that we have been capable of work collectively to create one thing that is greater than any of us.
