You know when you see someone starting a brand and their passion shines through so much that you want to be a part of it? That’s how I felt when I found Bravery Co. on the ING Dreamstarter crowdfunding site.
Emily Somers is a Melbourne native who took off on a remote year to travel the world and start Bravery Co. Bravery Co. is brand with purpose creating headscarves for cancer patients in mind, but can be worn by anyone who loves a chic scarf and supporting a powerful initiative. From being a cancer warrior herself, Emily saw a big gap in the market for young adult cancer patients. She created Bravery Co. as a way to show them that they are not in it alone, and 10% of all profits go to Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.
Emily is passionate, inspiring, creative, and an all around legend of a human. We can’t wait for you to meet her.
Meet Emily Somers…
Where are you in the world?
I’m in London at the moment. I’ve been living here since September last year.
How did you decide to move from Melbourne to London?
Long story! I was traveling the world on a program called Remote Year (a bunch of digital nomads that travel/work around the world together) following which, I ended up living in Belin for 6 months while doing some design freelancing. I have always loved the vibe of the city so it was a dream come true to spend some time there. Also during that time, I started seeing a fellow from London. After 9 months of doing long distance I moved to London. So in short – I suppose I moved to London for love.
How do you follow your bliss? What excites you?
Being surrounded by my favourite humans. Exploring new worlds. Eating all the food. Being outside. Dancing. Music festivals. Brainstorming and making things.
When did the idea for Bravery Co first come about?
Bravery Co. was born after my second stint with cancer. I was sick of wearing my wig and was frustrated that there were no cool cancer headwear companies out there for young cancer warriors. Everything was super daggy and aimed at a much older lady.
So I started playing around with scarves. Once I nailed tying the turban I suddenly felt more like myself. It was a look that didn’t scream ‘cancer patient.’ They made me feel young while dealing with what I perceived to be an older person’s disease. I stopped getting pity stares and started getting asked how I tied my scarf. Half the time people didn’t even know I was sick until I told them! It’s this sense of confidence and bravery I want to pass onto others going through a similar ordeal.
You had the idea, how did you go about creating the product?
It’s been a long and slow journey to get to where we are! We started off sourcing scarves from other scarf suppliers. The first three designs I bought were from the lovely Ovae (previously Caravana). I wore her scarves through treatment so it made sense to begin there. Then I started picking up designs around the world while I was traveling. Surprisingly – this was really hard. Every scarf was either not soft enough, a bit daggy, not the right shape or way too expensive.
I always knew I wanted to create our own Bravery designs but all this research really solidified it. I also wanted scarves that had been created specifically for a warrior in mind. Young adults are a bit of a forgotten demographic in the cancer world so I wanted them to know someone similar to them was designing for them. I wanted them to know they were not alone. In saying that – anyone can wear a Bravery scarf – they are for scarf lovers and cancer haters.
I have been working on our designer range for about a year now. We’ve built up a collection of kick ass illustrators and so the collection was slowly growing. When I got into Dreamstarter this acted as a bit of a deadline. I trialled a couple of manufacturers and lots of different materials until I found the right one that was soft and held the colours well.
What are you extremely passionate about?
Making the cancer world less scary and lonely for those that find them self in it.
Making it easier for everyone to talk about cancer. It’s a super hard topic but you can’t really avoid it when a friend gets diagnosed.
Being a nice person. My friends. Seeing the world. Big loud prints. Finding a cure to cancer. And most types of chocolate.
Congrats on your ING Dreamstarter crowdfunding campaign being a total success! What did you do in order to get the word out there? Overall, what worked the best?
I feel like I was on Instagram about 40% of my day! Ha. I started doing stories and live feeds which I had never really done and still make me very nervous but people like seeing who is behind the brand. It makes it real – even if you stutter and stumble over all your words! It’s a lovely way to connect with my Bravery backers, survivors and cancer warriors.
I had some help from the wonderful Charlotte from ‘In The Beginning PR’ that helped me refine my press release doc and get the word out there. Working with wonderful illustrators that have lots of followers helped as they shared the designs they did.
And I suppose having my story has been the best way to promote Bravery Co. I do feel proud that something great has come out of a pretty average couple of years with cancer. For that reason, I’m happy to tell my story. Hopefully it helps others that are going through a rough patch too.
Did you have any fear before launching Bravery Co.? If so, how did you overcome it?
I was never scared to launch Bravery Co. In fact, not launching it wasn’t an option – I knew there was a gap in the market and it could really help other cancer warriors. I would have been devastated if someone else beat me to it and I think that was all the motivation I needed. I also started it while I was still freelancing full time so the financial risk wasn’t huge. In my mind, the worst case scenario was that it would be a flop, no one would buy anything and all my friends would be getting scarves for Christmas until 2020. When I’m doing anything that is out of my comfort zone, I always imagine the worst possible scenario that could happen. Most of the time it results in losing money, going back to advertising and moving back in with my parents. These are all things that I can deal with so I normally carry on!
My biggest problem in launching was dedicating the time needed to turn the idea into a business. I’ve got a creative mind and love big idea thinking, but when it comes down to the details and the paperwork required to make it happen – I kind of suck. I was working full time in advertising and I’m very easily distracted by my social life so I needed a deadline. When I was accepted into Remote Year, I knew I would be out of Australia for a year or two and that created a now or never moment. If I didn’t launch before I left, then by the time I got home again I would be too removed from my cancer experience. I knew it wouldn’t happen. So two weeks before I left, I bought some scarves, roped in a photographer friend and another survivor and we shot some images. I had already designed the branding so all I needed to do was create the website and get Mum (my logistics queen) set up with the scarves. I launched Bravery Co. during my second month on Remote Year while working on a beach in Thailand! That is a memory I’ll never forget.
How do you believe someone can use their own story to positively impact others?
When you share your story, other people going through the same thing don’t feel as alone. This is especially true in the cancer world as a young warrior. My experience with cancer was so limited and I was terrified when I first got diagnosed. It wasn’t until I found my first chemo buddy who had the same cancer as me and was a couple of years younger that I felt less isolated. No one gets cancer like someone that has been of going through it. We’re super lucky to be living in a world where all this technology can connect us with others and we can create a community to support and encourage each other. This is what I hope to do through Bravery Co.
If you have a story – They have probably had similar things or have faced the same problem. People can relate to it.
Follow Emily’s journey over on Instagram and check out her epic scarves on her site. x
