Meet Kelsey Urie

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelsey Urie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelsey below.

Kelsey, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

From a very young age, I remember spending a lot of time outside. Whether we were camping, biking, or playing with my siblings and friends. I was given the gift of free time as a child to explore and solve problems on my own. While at times, it was extremely frustrating and lonely, this was the beginning of building my resilience. Knowing I was capable of solving problems at such a young age is truly a super power for a young mind.

In high school, I quit a sport I loved because of a horrible coach. I often think of that as a pivotal point in my life, I was no longer willing to accept mediocre leadership and set a serious boundary at a young age. From then on, I was never completely satisfied in any career move I made. At one point working 4 jobs at a time. Absolutely, I gained a ton of working knowledge that has made me capable of starting my own business, but I was always harboring a feeling that there was so much more to life than a corporate ladder or being a cog in the wheel of a huge business.

Then came my children, and wow does your perspective of all things shift when you bring children into this world. Parenting should be in the dictionary under the word ‘Resilience’. My children have not spent more than a week away from my husband or myself in the last 6 years, this should show you how much “business dedicated” time I do not have. Guiding children through life to help them find and be true to themselves, is the most rewarding, humbling, and demanding job in resilience I’ve ever gotten to experience. They will trigger you in ways that you’ve never imagined and, if thoughtfully managed, it will give you an amount of inner strength you didn’t know you possessed.

And as cheesy as it sounds, every career and life move I ever made led me to creating Sunsie.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Sunsie is the world’s first full body coverage for infants and toddlers. We aim for you to confidently explore anywhere under the sun and not have to worry about putting toxic, messy sunscreen on your most precious little bundle! Built exclusively using UPF50+ rated materials, all Sunsie’s include a hood, coverage for extremities, and optional coverage for hands and feet. Sunsie empowers you to confidently take your tiniest adventurer anywhere under the sun!

For the next year, I’m aiming to do more education on sunscreen environmental and biological toxicity for public safety. We are currently working to find a couple local partnerships to support and impact in our local community. A big non-negotiable of mine when starting Sunsie was making sure there is a way to give back to our community, so hoping to make this a major priority this year!

After much demand, we are working on expanding our offerings to include Sunsie’s in bigger toddler sizes and sun-shirts in ‘big kid’ sizes and more accessories by summer ’25.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Positive Intelligence – if you aren’t sure what this is, I highly recommend getting familiar with it. Your mind is your best friend and also your worst enemy. Entrepreneurship will throw you a million curve balls, make you think you aren’t capable of creating, and give you some of the biggest highs you’ll ever experience. If you cannot tame your mind during the highs and lows, it will be a tougher journey.

Have good intentions – ultimately, if your heart is in the right place, it’s hard to come out on the wrong side. Lead with what feels good and true to you. Any well thought out decision that’s aligned with your core values will get you exactly where you are supposed to be!

Ask for help – Disclaimer: Not all advice is good advice….Make sure you have trusted advisors/friends/mentors, when you are stuck ask your trusted people for advice or bounce your ideas off of them! Try to have a mentor in your same field of business, they’ve done what you are doing before, so learn from their mistakes and save your self some time!

My advice to you, JUST GO FOR IT!! In a million years, I would have never thought I’d be in the children’s apparel sector of clothing. Time doesn’t stop, someone else will come along and do it, if it’s something you will regret not doing, then avoid the heartache and DO IT!

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Sunsie is looking for outdoor apparel companies, families who are passionate about bringing their kids along for ANY adventure, and anyone who is passionate about skin protection (dermatologists, doctors, any regular person). We are hoping to gain brand recognition and have backed experts on our side. If you are interested in collaborating with us please email me at kelsey@sunsie.co or reach out on Instagram/Facebook (Sunsie.co).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sunsie.co
• Instagram: Sunsie.co
• Facebook: Sunsie
• Linkedin: Sunsie

Image Credits

Ivy Bencheck