A little over a year ago I joined the Rasa team. And, that very same week, my father passed from “complications due to Covid-19”. I’m a pretty introspective person, and this rupture caused me to ponder even deeper my relationship with my father: what was it like for my dad, bringing me into the world? What was his world like? What was his dad like? And what was The World like?
When I first became a father in the fall of 2002, I was just shy of two years sober from a drug and alcohol addiction, and running my own agency in Oakland, CA. Cliche as it is...it truly was the greatest miracle to watch someone be born that was literally a part of me. Truly: woah.
Years later, I would remarry, and our blended family would be born, with my new wife and her two daughters. The role of father took on more meaning—it grew, as did my kids—and became ever so much more meaningful. They are, each of them, on their own path, and forging their own way, and of that I could not be more proud.
To me, more than anything, being a father means to instill confidence: that my daughters know that they can try, and fail, and try again, and succeed, and fail, and try and on and on and on—and still be loved, still be celebrated. To be loved and celebrated because of the bravery of effort itself: that is what I want to send them out into the world with. My father expected the former (to succeed)—but never gave the latter (permission to fail and still be loved). The paradox is that the lack of safety to fail made me ever more cognizant of the need for this safety and support—for both my kids and the creative team at Rasa. How else would they grow? How else would they be able to take risks?
Rasa, in turn, has given me freedom. The team allowed me to grieve my father’s passing: create as I was able, and begin the steps to manifest in our brand the healing, the open vulnerability, and rawness of my energy that was so alive for me in those moments following his death. Rasa (the product) has helped me deal with so much stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion as I mourned the transition in my family of origin, and recovered from the tumult of 2020. And Rasa (the brand) has been and continues to be the most rewarding work of my life.
Thank you, dear reader, for being part of this wild project we’ve set our minds to. This brand, and you, are the reason we show up to do the work we do, everyday. May you fail with safety and security, and may you always feel loved and supported and celebrated as you effort your way through this uncertain and beautiful world.