Why We Built This

We’ve earned our stripes as buyers, having gathered over 25 years of combined experience at one of the largest online e-tailers. While buying has been our profession to date, now it’s a tool we’re committed to using to build an experience and a community for you – a shopper who we feel has not been prioritized in the transactionally-driven ecommerce experience to date.

As both Bridget and I were leading divisions at Zappos, we’d see so many new products from brands across the industry. We were excited about new innovations, but continually saw the brand message and story lost. New or upcoming brands and trends would get buried under ‘best sellers.’ It was near impossible to get emerging trends or technologies featured.

As two working moms with small children we both know that all we want to have in a shopping experience is to be easy, convenient, and fun. Let’s face it; no one needs more stuff. We all just need functional pieces that are going to make you feel confident to tackle life.

We feel that bringing our global perspective and buying experience to a small group of shoppers is our best next step. Active Threads is committed to empowering you through choice, but instead of going for the most choice, we’re going for just the right curated products and content. Through this focus, our business can prioritize people, product and purpose. 

I spent my early childhood years moving around as my Dad worked for the government. I was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming where we lived until moving to Sterling, Virginia.

My early love for being outside came from my Dad. When he wasn’t traveling for work, we would spend our weekends getting outside together, hiking or canoeing. After our time in Virginia, our family ended up in my Mom’s home state of Colorado.

When I landed in the suburbs of Denver, the foothills of Colorado called to me. I spent winters snowboarding and summers hiking and camping. After high school I attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. I was considering going back to school for my masters when my future husband found a job at a small online footwear retailer in Henderson Nevada. We took a leap of faith and moved to the desert.

In May, 2007, I also joined the then-small online footwear retailer starting in the logistics department. That same year, I went for an open position as a Merchandising assistant for kids outdoor and from there, I kept climbing.

What an incredible opportunity to grow with Zappos during the company’s biggest growth years. I have to say that working for Zappos for 13 years is one of the parts of my life I’m most proud of. Zappos is a trailblazer in terms of customer service and employee happiness. I know I can speak for Bridget as I say that we could not be more grateful for our time there firmly rooted in what Zappos taught us.

It also gave us perspective that is very much informed the vision we share for Active Threads. Through the entirety of our last years working together, Bridget and I became united on a vision. We saw that a critical shopper was being overlooked in the market- this consumer reminded us of ourselves.

I grew up in Tempe, Arizona with my parents and older sister. The weather was always scorching hot, so if we wanted to get outside it was mostly to swim or travel to cooler weather. My family enjoyed a lot of different activities growing up from camping with friends, going to the lake and traveling to the beach in California every summer. One of my favorite spots was my grandparents’ cabin in northern Arizona. I have so many wonderful childhood memories spent at that cabin: From watching the fireworks show every 4th of July summer to sledding laps between the A frame houses in the winter.

I attended Arizona State University and earned a degree in Business/Communication and while attending ASU, I met my now husband. After graduating we moved to Henderson for job opportunities but since moving here, we’ve had many adventures and traveled all over the world. We now have two beautiful little girls and prioritize spending time outdoors as a family. In fact, having a family makes me realize even more the importance of staying active, getting outdoors and experiencing new adventures.

Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a buyer. I used to spend time every summer visiting my aunt in San Francisco and fell in love with a buying career after watching one of her closest friends who was a buyer for Gap. I thought she had the coolest job ever and fell in love with it. After moving to Vegas I thought I would never find a job as a buyer but then heard Zappos’ headquarters were  only five minutes away; I knew it was destiny.

After dropping off many applications and never giving up, I finally got a job in 2009 as a merchandising assistant on the fashion bags team. One of the most important things at Zappos is culture, which gave me the opportunity to meet Marisa. We soon discovered a common goal of growing the smaller categories within a mainly shoe driven company. She recruited me over to performance/outdoor in 2017 to lead the Bags/Accessory team while she focused on Apparel. The rest, you could say, is history!

I’m very proud of our hard work while at Zappos. Marisa and I have worked with well over 200 brands during our careers and thankful to continue working with some of them now. We’re grateful we were able to live into our passion while at Zappos: it was always about the brands, serving the customer and having fun while doing it.