Hey All,
We are really excited to share our journey with you. We've been marinating on ideas for a while, for me personally, many years. One of my first "business" ventures was printing greeting cards & stickers I would sell to my classmates in middle school under the name Kay Cards.
As a team we started thinking about serious ideas around 2019 and the name Niayd was born out of brainstorm session. We were inspired by the Naiad's from Greek mythology - female spirits that look after bodies of water.
All of founders had the need for more choices - that started specifically in food. Courtney and myself have spent 10+ years working corporate careers with the thoughts of starting a brand always in our ear (thanks Naiads). All three of us have struggled with finding foods that didn't upset our sensitive stomachs and Natalia (my sister in law) has a deep passion for developing those foods. She suffers from Hashimoto's and has had trouble finding foods that don't negatively effect her immune system. I've spent all of my career working in food & beverage - so we thought developing a food brand would be a perfect choice.
We came together to develop Niayd Kitchen and create more options for better for you foods. Our core belief was that creating more choices are key to changing the culture of healthy eating and seeing more women succeed in business.
We experimented with baked goods & sauces for several years but struggled to make it work (between full time jobs, grad school, life) to find something that would be simple to go to market without raising major capital. I may be a little jaded from the industry, but bringing a product to market in the food world is extremely complex & costly.
We put our process on hold, but the desire to create something that empowered choices didn't go away.
In 2023, I found myself searching for clothes that were simple, specifically reversible & lightweight that would not take up a lot of room in my suitcase or closet. I brought the idea back to my partners and we decided to (still between full time jobs & grad school) launch a reversible fashion brand that keeps our core values of choice, better for you & inclusivity in mind.
This collection will not only be a reflection of something that we wanted to make our lives easier (and hopefully more fashionable) but the hard work it takes to create something from nothing. We hope to showcase the ups & downs of creating a brand, inspire & be part of your closet. :)
-Kaylina