Meet the Founder
My name is Anna. I'm on a mission.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, elephant auntie, question collector and mother to the world’s most adorable Adidas sneaker collection.
Growing up as a young child with ADD in the 80's was not easy, to say the least. At that time nobody cared or talked about mental health in children, which left me with an overwhelmed mother, school bullies, dismissive teachers and constant reminders how I was just way too much!
When I turned 40 I decided to embark on a deep emotional pilgrimage in search of the answer as to why it felt like my childhood experiences were still in full control over my life.
As I was stumbling through my eat-pray-love journey I had long conversations with my family and friends to find out everything I could about our childhoods and how they are still affecting us. I wanted to know if I was the only one feeling this way. I discovered that I was far from alone! The reality was, no matter who I spoke to it was the same story.
I thought about how different our childhood experiences would have been had society given our parents permission to ask for help. Tools to deal with their children's as well as their own emotions, normalized discussions about mental and emotional health, and celebrated parenting as a team effort rather than a competition. Even though I do not have children I realized that I owed it to little Anna to redeem her childhood experience and to pay it forward for the next generation of children and parents.
So I went out and founded Owl & Oak. A place where we can generate conversations that scare us. Actively seek to create more safe spaces where we’re free to talk about our children's emotions and our parenting struggles without shame. To connect more deeply with ourselves and with our children. Show up with our more-than-enoughness in every single way that we can. To motivate courage over comfort, to ditch the ruffles and glitter, and to opt into conscious brands that put their money where their mouth is by using their powerful presence to speak up for what’s right.
In the wise words of Brene Brown; “People do the best they can with what they know”, and although I’ve realized now that we can never know it all we can damn-well make a start in trying. It started with our parents but it continues with US. I’m about to strap on some box-fresh Adidas and fall flat on my face into making a difference.…and even if yours are Nike, I hope you’ll come with me, too.
