Hey friends! This is a bit of an out-of-the-ordinary blog post for us, and so I’m going to step aside and let Jess Ekstrom, founder of Headbands of Hope, tell you a bit about her amazing company. Needless to say, her mission really captured my heart and I wanted to do what I could to help them spread their message. :) Take it away, Jess!
“During the summer of 2011, I did an internship at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I found that girls loved to wear headbands after losing their hair to treatment, but there were no organizations that provided them.
Therefore, I founded Headbands of Hope during my junior year at NC State University. For every headband purchased, one is given to a girl with cancer and $1 is donated to fund childhood cancer research.
Since launching HoH in April 2012, we’ve now donated headbands to every children’s hospital in the United States!
One moment in particular, a girl received her headband in the hospital and sadly passed away a week later. Her mom called me asking if she could have that same headband for all the women in her family to wear to her service the next day because that headband meant so much to her during her last week of life. It’s moments like this that prove how powerful one simple headband can be.
Starting Headbands of Hope has also led me to meet wonderful people, like Carolyn Scott. I had originally reached out to Carolyn in hopes that she’d use one of my headbands for one of her many bridal shoots. Instead, she so generously offered to do a complimentary shoot for Headbands of Hope. I was over the moon!
Not only is Carolyn beyond talented, she was also a blast to work with. Because of her generosity, Carolyn is really helping us spread the word about Headbands of Hope to the bridal community. We feel that our headbands can make perfect bridal headpieces and also give them the chance to give back on their wedding day.
It’s such a great feeling to meet people like Carolyn who want to use their talents for the greater good.
I also want to give a special thanks to all the models who came out for the shoot, Vestique for providing the clothes and Molly’s Musings for the awesome hair styling!”
