CORNER BROOK — Nancy Buckle doesn’t just sell T-shirts, she sells inspiration.
Buckle, a former resident of Corner Brook, is one of the driving forces behind Live. Breathe. Grow.
The New Jersey-based company specializes in apparel that according to its website — looks and feels amazing whether you’re practising yoga or sipping martinis.
Buckle called Corner Brook home from the age of 10 until she moved to the United States in 2005. Her parents, Marg and Andy Buckle, and a large extended family still live here.
In between getting a bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of Prince Edward Island and a masters in counselling psychology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Buckle spent a few summers working with a summer camp company based in Pennsylvania. The company later offered her year-round work, complete with an apartment, in New York City. So on Dec. 31, 2005 Buckle moved to the Big Apple.
Buckle, now 34, said it was never her intention to stay in the United States.
“I really just wanted to come down for a couple of years. To have some fun and live in New York City.”
But within that first year she found true love with her now husband Maz Radwan.
After a couple of years with the Pennsylvania camp Buckle went to work with another camp company. Then the economy started to crash and she could see the job going downhill, so she left that position. At the time she was going through the process of renewing her green card and found out that she wasn’t allowed to work for a year.
That was about two and half years ago. Buckle and Radwan had just moved to New Jersey and it was a hard time for her because all the things she identified herself with through work were gone and she didn’t have many connections to her new home.
She decided to get back to her yoga practise, something she had started doing years earlier, and enrolled in a yoga teacher training program.
“The beauty of yoga is that it’s so much more than just like a physical exercise and physical practice. It’s really something that you connect with. It’s really healing, emotionally and physically, and there’s so much that you get from the practise of yoga.”
Looking to start everyday on a positive footing, Buckle started writing notes on Facebook. She would describe a yoga pose and how to do it and follow it up with a reflection about the pose.
Within about three months she had 300 people following her notes and people started telling her how much her words were helping them get through things like divorce or chemotherapy.
It was suggested she write a book, but when that didn’t work she started to look for another way to connect with and inspire people.
Buckle said when she first went into the yoga training program is was more of a way to find a community of people that she hoped would help break the disconnect she felt with New Jersey.
She and one of the women she had connected with, Heather Priel, started talking and put their ideas together and from there Live. Breathe. Grow. was born in June 2010.
She said from all her experiences with yoga clothes there was not a lot of quality items out there that were in line with yoga principles and philosophy that include being ecofriendly.
“I thought how awesome would it be to create this clothing ... to bring people good quality for a decent price and something really meaningful. Something that really has soul to it.”
Buckle brought her cousin Amanda Gosse, a graphic artist who lives in Corner Brook, on board and a year ago the company went to print with its first shirts, two different designs with just 48 of each available.
“And honestly it’s been an insane whirlwind ever since,” said Buckle.
“We live in a time right now where people are really, really stressed out,” said Buckle. “People are just reaching out for inspiration, and hope and something that can make them feel better about the day and something that can give them the energy and the drive to take that extra step.”
And Live. Breathe. Grow.’s T-shirts are doing just that.
“We never intended to be a T-shirt company. T-shirts just happen to be the way we spread the message,” said Buckle.
Priel later left the business to devote her full attention to another project and in January Terra Pfund Kroll joined Live. Breathe. Grow. as co-owner.
Since that first “tiny” run of 48 shirts the company now has an inventory of over 1,000 shirts and other items. The company’s website, www.livebreathegrow.com, receives over 1,000 visitors from 42 different countries every month. The company has also expanded with the hiring of a sales director and an events co-ordinator and the opening of a yoga studio. It also offers a design service for other corporate and non-profit organizations.
“It’s beyond what I could imagine,” said Buckle of the success Live. Breathe. Grow. has had in one year.
Live. Breathe. Grow. products are available locally by contacting Gosse at Amanda@livebreathegrow.com or by calling 638-4691.
