If you've shopped in person with us, odds are friendly & energetic Lindsay Vest was behind the register.
Learn more about InRugCo's store manager with this brief interview.
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Lindsay Vest at InRugCo
What is your favorite part about being the InRugCo Studio & Gift Shop Store Manager?
The relationships that have turned into friendships!
I like people. Many people have come into our store as strangers, but after visiting, they become friends. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I am impacted easily by people, and the stories they tell when they come into shop with us.
I feel like there’s a real “Cheers” vibe going on at our store. Not to be too corny (see what I did there?), but don’t you wanna go where someone knows your name and they’re always glad you came?
Additionally, I really like buying things and picking out fabrics for aprons, pillow covers, and market bags!
InRugCo seems to constantly evolve and reinvent itself, where do you draw your inspiration from?
EVERYWHERE.
No literally. My brain never shuts off. Driving, listening to music, walking, attempting to run and think of other things so I don’t feel like I’m going to die.
The thing about what we do is, because it's a family business, it never shuts off. I can’t speak for everyone, but I think most of my family would agree when we walk out the door, it really doesn’t mean anything. Family gatherings have been known to turn into brainstorming sessions.
The inspiration for every idea, product, product line, tshirt, sticker, etc. lies in everywhere and everything we do.
The beauty of small business, especially this one, is you aren’t limited, and you never know when a good idea is going to strike. Now, you may take that idea to the family drawing board, and get peculiar looks, but hey, that’s what keeps you grounded.
All good ideas aren’t great, and all bad ideas aren’t terrible. Our family works together to get the kinks out and put the best products and events out that we can.
Lindsay's beloved Isuzu Trooper which took her all over the US.
You've lived in Idaho, North Carolina, & Japan, for those who don't know your story, describe to us how you came into your current role with InRugCo.
I think traveling and living in other places enriches your life. From each of the different places I have lived, I carry my most favorite pieces about them with me, and they continue to impact who I am to this day.
When I moved away from Indiana at the age of 19, where I had spent the majority of my life, I was quickly enlightened to just how different other places are in the US as well as abroad.
The people are one of my favorite treasures of traveling to a different place. The stories you learn about people remind you that we are so very different, yet exactly the same in so many ways.
Different cultures, terrain, and food were some of my biggest highlights. When I was 22, I left US soil in LA on a plane bound to Tokyo, Japan for a brief layover, and continued on to the tiny island of Okinawa, Japan that I called home for 3 years.
It is Okinawa that taught me so many things. Broadening my horizons and going to a completely different place where corn fields were replaced with sugarcane fields, and the East China Sea and Pacific Ocean took the place of the Great Lakes.
I was quickly homesick, and my deep appreciation for the USA blossomed in those first few months living in a foreign country. I was part of the American bases in Okinawa, and there were traces of “home” spread throughout, but the bases were only so big. While Okinawa itself is small, it was so full of culture and exciting adventures, time began to fly.
Within a year of living there, my husband and I regretted living on base, and decided to live off base. Our house looked nothing like the houses in Indiana. Our appliances were different. There was rice paper on the walls. The sounds were different. The smells were different. The best thing we did after that was throw ourselves into the culture, and eat and adventure our way all over the island.
One Christmas, we took a ferry (where I learned I get motion sickness) with a group of close friends who had became like family, and walked, rode mopeds, and just had a blast exploring this tiny island off the Ryukyu Island Chain. To this day, that is one of my most memorable and favorite Christmas Days ever.
Our last year in Okinawa, my husband and I found out we were going to have a baby. We felt it was time for us to go “home.”
What is one thing that someone who knows you would be surprised to learn?
I like people and talking, but I don’t like to be the center of attention.
Also, I am terribly nervous the night before Small Business Saturday.
What are you most excited about for InRugCo in 2021?
The sky’s the limit.
Despite everything 2020 threw at us, our business had a phenomenal year thanks to our amazing customers. I sometimes still can’t wrap my head around how much support we received.
We feel honored, and humbled, but want to make sure we bring you an encore for 2021.
So, get ready, because we are dreaming big dreams for 2021. New products, events, and more!
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