From Nigeria With Purpose: A Summer Reflection from the Founder of Elisamama

I will be honest. Lately, finding the words and the energy to show up has not come easily. Life has been moving fast, and there were moments when it felt like too much to hold at once. If you have ever felt that way, please know you are not alone.

Last month, my children and I returned from our fourth annual summer trip to Nigeria. Years ago, while still working a corporate job, I joined a leadership program where we were asked to imagine and write down the life we wanted to build. One of the dreams I wrote down was simple and bold at the same time: to spend every summer in Nigeria with my kids. I had no idea how that would work or what it would look like, but I wrote it down anyway.

Four years later, that dream is real.

That is the quiet power of planting a seed and trusting it will grow, even when you cannot yet see the path.

Being in Nigeria always grounds me, but one of the greatest joys of these trips is time spent with our Elisamama team. Walking into our workshop fills me with purpose and reminds me why this work matters. This visit, though, felt different. There was a heaviness in the air that I could not ignore.

So we paused.

For one day, we stepped away from work. We loaded everyone onto a big bus, brought food, laughter, and music, and spent the day at the beach together. No agenda. Just space to breathe, connect, and remember our shared humanity.

It was exactly what we all needed.

Later, I realized that some of the weight I felt was my own. The current economic climate has been challenging, and I have been carrying a quiet fear about the future. So many brands that started around the same time as Elisamama have had to close their doors. That reality is hard to sit with.

But alongside that fear is something else.

I still have fire. I still have belief. And I still have deep faith in this work, the people behind it, and the possibility of what we are building together.

Elisamama has never been just about clothing. It has always been about people, care, and choosing to keep going even when the road feels uncertain. This trip reminded me that rest, honesty, and community are not luxuries. They are necessities.