We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Conarty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.
Michelle, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
Life is unpredictable. Like many others, I have learned this over the years starting at the age of 5, when my parents divorced. My older sister and I were confused, devastated and saddened, and it seemed as though the world was ending. In the months and years following the divorce, both of my parents went on to re-marry, bringing my sister and I incredible new extended families into our lives. My siblings expanded from one to three, bringing me unimaginable support and lifelong relationships. Our family dinners were bigger, the laughs were louder and everyone was generally happy. This was my first experience with recognizing that there is always a silver lining, and that things in fact do happen for a reason.
As I grew up with the full support of my extended families, I graduated from ASU, and started interviewing for jobs. I put all my hope and efforts into the one job that I really wanted, banking on receiving an offer. When I didn’t get the job, I was crushed and felt defeated, like a failure. I was at a loss on what to do and felt that I settled for a job which did not measure up to my full capabilities. At the beginning, I would show up with a bit of a pessimistic attitude which was not my typical nature. My dad always raised me with the mentality of “no matter what it is, show up, do your absolute best, and you can go to sleep at night knowing you gave it your all.” I started opening myself up to new relationships and opportunities within the company.
Working at an educational institution, I learned that as an employee, I had the benefit of earning a degree with minimal cost; I went on to complete my Master’s Degree in Business/HR Management within 18 months. As I continued to network and meet new colleagues, I met someone who asked me “have you ever thought about a career in professional recruiting?” My answer was no. My interest grew as he educated me on the recruiting and HR industry, and introduced me to a local recruiting business owner. She went on to become my personal mentor, and assisted me in my next career move as a professional recruiter, which is where I excelled for the next 15+ years. The job I didn’t ultimately want led me to furthering my education, creating valuable relationships and shaping out the direction of my professional career. This was my second significant realization that everything happens for a reason. If things don’t necessarily go your way, it’s okay and probably even for the best.
Over the years, my HR career has taken me into exciting and challenging leadership opportunities supporting start-up companies and major projects within large tech corporations. In recent years, my HR job was unexpectedly impacted by an economical downturn, along with thousands of others within the Talent Acquisition space. In the moment, I felt nervous and unsure of what the future would hold. As someone who has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, I decided I would turn that unforeseen downtime into an opportunity to focus on building a small business which is exactly what I did. I was able to dedicate 100% of my time to growing and scaling Lily and Llama, creating pre-packed hospital bags for expecting moms. The company has taken off as a result of my dedicated time, which never would have happened without the change to my corporate career status. This is yet another example of why I stay optimistic and trust the process.
As I have grown into an entrepreneurial career woman, wife, and mother of two, it’s easy to get caught up briefly in disappointing moments, or outcomes that don’t go our way. In those moments, I quickly reflect on my experiences over the years, and remind myself that one situation has honestly led me down another path which was even greater. I share this message wholeheartedly with all the people in my life, because it’s an important reminder that we all need to hear sometimes. After all, as John Lennon said “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” which is one of my favorite quotes.
Trust the journey. Remain optimistic. Find the silver lining.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a mom of two little boys, I have experienced the stress, time and confusion that comes along with packing a hospital birth bag! Lily and Llama was born to provide pre-packed hospital bags for moms, helping them worry about one less thing during pregnancy. The products included in the Lily and Llama pre-packed hospital bags were hand-picked by me, based on my own personal experiences, many hours of research, and feedback from other moms. Our Lily and Llama products are carefully manufactured to reflect our brand and aesthetic to ensure high quality and neutral colors. We intentionally include essential items inside our hospital bags which can be used before, during, and long after birth. New moms absolutely love our L+L hospital bags, and we constantly hear heartwarming feedback about how much our products help them. We see a lot of returning customers who gift our Lily and Llama pre-packed hospital bags to other expecting mamas, as it makes the perfect baby shower gift.
We love to give back! As an Arizona native, I also believe strongly in giving back to the community. We partner with three non-profits in the valley: Maggie’s Place, Hope Women’s Center, and Pearce Family Foundation, gifting monthly hospital bags to each organization, helping expecting moms in need.
It has been amazing watching Lily and Llama grow over the years, based on word of mouth. We cherish customer feedback, and have recently implemented some exciting changes, including inclusive sizing (Small-3X), gift cards, non-profit partnership donations, and customizable bag orders.
We currently offer four pre-packed hospital bags, and have goals to expand the pre-packed bundle options, providing even more options to customers. We look forward to continuing to listen to our customers, and making changes as we go.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1) Delegation. You can’t do it all yourself. Or, maybe you can, but maybe you shouldn’t because that will likely lead to a lower quality of work, and potential burnout.
Advice: Leave some of it to the experts, and own what you do best, and are most passionate about. Working with a small team can not only help to balance the workload, but can increase creativity, brainstorming and FUN!
2) Organization. When you’re moving too fast, things usually get scattered, unfinished or even misplaced. Getting organized can take time – which sometimes feels like we simply do not have.
Advice: It actually ends up taking even more time to try to chase down files or objects that are not where they are supposed to be when you need them. Or even worse, you end up re-creating work that you’ve already done. Do yourself a favor and block out 3 hours one day to just get organized: put files in dedicated folders, delete/throw away what’s not needed, etc. It will be worth it in the long run. I promise!
3) Invest in yourself. Knowledge is power!
Advice: Learn all the things. Google that acronym. Listen to that podcast. Read the article. Absolutely nothing will catapult you in life and in your career than continuing to learn and to challenge yourself. Not only will you be educating yourself, but having a tool belt full of skills will set you up for success, and will help you save time and money in the future.
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?
We are always looking to collaborate with others who are involved or work in the “mama/baby” space! If you or your company are interested in working together in any capacity, whether it’s guest blogs, giveaways, retail partnerships, or signing up as an affiliate/brand ambassador, we would love to chat!
Please reach out by sending an email to [email protected] or DM us on Instagram @lilyandllama.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilyandllama.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyandllama/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilyandllama
- Youtube: @lilyandllama
