“Important encounters are planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other.” — Paulo Coelho

When I was a little girl, I was not what you would call a “free spirit”. My parents were lawyers, obsessive organizers and compulsive planners. My life was decided down to the smallest detail; the colour of my tights under my modest skirt, the swimming lessons and English tutoring after school, the number of green beans I was forced to eat off my plate.

We lived in a small town, the same town my family had inhabited for generations. By twelve years old, I already knew what college I would attend, where in town I’d settle down, the job I would have as an engineer.

My life was a marble rolling down a smooth, predetermined path.

Then, at sixteen, I was in an accident. Suddenly, my life was thrown off-kilter and I was left reeling. I made a full recovery after over a year of physical therapy, but the damage had been done. I was behind all my classmates, my parents’ smothered me with their anxiety and overprotectiveness, and math didn’t come effortlessly to my concussed brain the way it used to.

I felt like my entire meticulously planned future was swept out from under my feet. It was devastating. For years, I struggled to make the puzzle pieces fit again.

Then I met Jordan. He was dropping in for a few nights for a hot meal and a motel bed while on his solo road trip across Canada. I was working at the nearby diner, waitressing and taking part- time classes online as I struggled to get my life back on track. He was calm and steady, soft- spoken but confident in a way I never was. I served him herbal tea with honey, and he tipped me grandly and slipped me a note.

He left my small town no longer a solo traveller.

Together, Jordan and I have travelled the world, meeting new people and experiencing life in ways I’d never let myself before. I slowly completed part-time classes and eventually graduated with a degree in language and a passion for living life to the fullest. Jordan was a freelance web designer and I was a writer, and we’d spend cozy evenings typing over steaming cups of tea at quiet cafes and beat-up diners.

I’d left with barely a backpack of clothes, so I slowly built a wardrobe that was bohemian, comfortable, sustainable, and good quality.

We eventually moved to a small cottage in a rural lakeside community where we could raise our beautiful family naturally and with the same free-spirited ideals we lived ourselves. We started Rose & Rebel as an unconventional company that aligns with our values of sustainable style and connection to nature, named after our first child Rose. I like to think of myself as the rebel, standing apart from the expectations placed on me to forge my own path. We hope our products align with your own special path.

Love, Jess.

Rose & Rebel