About......

About Carole

I am the mom of a toddler son and the wife of a great man-father. I was born in Omaha, Nebraska where I lived for 34 years. Right after high school I started working full time and really wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take with my work life. While working as an administrative assistant for 10 years, I also attended college part time and started my first business at the age of 24. My first business was modeled after a home party plan and it was called Country Accents. Initially everything was made and sold by me. Eventually things started taking off and I took on a business partner and we also proceeded to hire sales reps to book and hold shows. We had about 30 sales people at one time, in addition to wholesalers, since I couldn’t keep up with making the items any longer. Unfortunately our partnership didn’t go so well and we ended up closing the business. At this time I was also in a very bad marriage that I finally ended after nine years.

After the business ended I decided to pursue my education and eventually was able to attend school full time to fulfill my dream as an interior architect. It took me 12 years, but I finally received my BS in Architecture when I was 34. It was then that I discovered lighting and that there were actually careers as an architectural lighting designer. So I left Nebraska and moved to upstate New York to pursue my graduate education in Lighting. I received my MS two years later and began my career as an architectural lighting designer. That is how I met my husband and the father of my precious son. He is also a lighting designer and was actually on staff at the graduate school. We decided to go into business together and open our lighting practice. Needless to say, the architecture business isn’t necessarily booming in upstate New York so we decided to move to the DC area. We still have our lighting design practice but my goals have shifted a bit since having our son.

Once we finally decided to have a family, (I wasn’t necessarily the goo goo ga ga type), it took us five years to conceive. We went through several medical procedures, injections, traveling to the clinic that was over 4 hours away, sometimes every day, a few miscarriages and much heartache until we had our son. He is now the light of our lives. I have decided to focus on raising him and leave the lighting practice behind. That is where Hippos Toes comes in. On a recent trip to South Africa, I was deeply affected by the plight of the local women that live in the townships (what we often call slums in this country). They have very limited opportunities to support their families other than as domestics and nannies. I felt that my new mission was to do something to help if I could, but I didn’t know how. While we were in South Africa I discovered a children’s clothing store that employs the local women to make the clothing. They pay fair wages and offer very good working conditions for these ladies. I knew I had the answer to my question on how to help. So to make a long story somewhat short, I am now selling the clothing on my eboutique, Hippos Toes.

I’ve recently started a blog that follows my journey through not only starting my eboutique, but thoughts I have, friends I’ve met and just plain life along the way. From someone that could never have imagined themselves with a blog six months ago, I am now hopelessly addicted. I love the fact that it allows me to build some great relationships with some truly amazing people. I love to talk about my life experiences, products and places that I recommend, people that I’ve met along the way and life as a mom. I hope you follow me on my journey…….