Will Taking 6+ Months Off Hurt My Career?

Well that was a long Maternity leave! 

Hi, I'm Dina, owner and Creative Director of Alchemy & Sorcery, and this is my first blog post ever. Thanks for joining me! I want to talk about coming back to work after taking a long time off with your little one. 

I'm a Fashion Designer, and started this company 6 years ago. It's been my dream come true and also...a lot of ups and downs. When I got pregnant with my 2nd in 2023, it felt like A LOT of downs. As in, I heard nothing but no, no, no, no, no, no thank you, not interested, NO for many months. At the time, I was trying to do wholesale and get my brand in stores. "You'd do so great in Anthropologie!" "I can see your clothes in Nordstrom!" Me too, but, boy was it harder than I ever imagined.

For 2 collections, I sent lookbooks to what felt like every single boutique in the country. And heard nothing but No in return. Not a single sale. I was defeated. So when I got pregnant and had my baby, I needed a break. I needed to step back and focus on my child. I didn't want to give up everything I had built, but I couldn't go on with so much rejection when I had a little one to nurture. 

I feel so fortunate I was able to take the time I needed with my child. I know a lot of moms out there are not able to do so, and have to return to work in 12 weeks or less. That just breaks my mama heart so badly. One day when my brand is big enough to have employees, I hope I can support my mom employees better than most companies do. 

I ended up taking over 2 years off from my brand here. For awhile, I hit such a low that I was just done. Having a fashion brand was my dream my entire life, and it felt like it didn't work out. Couldn't make any sales. No interest. Out of money to make new pieces. Just couldn't get it going. I felt like a failure, and it hurt so deeply I didn't even want to think about it. I started to wind down operations, stopping short of closing down my website entirely. 

And then something amazing happened. Seemingly out of the blue, I got a sale! A Harper Neon Dress sold- my first sale in 2 years! Sometimes we just need a little reassurance I suppose. Someone liked my dress and wanted to wear it! I can't tell you the immense joy that brought. So from the very depths, I came back around and decided to give my dream one more try. Charlotte in San Francisco, you have no idea what that sale meant to me, thank you.

Coming back to work now, the landscape is so different than it was just 3 years ago. AI has changed the Fashion world so much, some for the better, some for worse. Overall I'm pretty anti-AI, and don't want to use it for my business. That's why I wanted to start this blog- I think we need more human experiences written online again. 

I hope you'll follow along on my journey. And if you're a mama coming back to work, I see you, and I'm rooting for you. I hope you'll be sent an unexpected joy soon as well <3