Brooklyn Hayes-Yelin | Owner & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brooklyn Hayes-Yelin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brooklyn, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had a few thoughts that prompted starting my own business. First would be the flexibility it would allow as a mother, wife and caregiver. I didn’t want to miss any firsts. I went through so much to become a mother and I wanted to be there for every moment if I could. Daycare can be expensive too so I thought there had to be another way. Luckily, I found it in working from home for myself. I was able to take care of my grandmother with Alzheimer’s during the day, raise my little boy and still manage to have dinner on the table when my husband got home from work. I typically worked late at night or nap times. As we have grown and our little guy is in school age, our schedule includes being able to work more during the day and some weekend events (pre-COVID). With this type of schedule, I still work more than full time but I can also make it to field trips, classroom parties or pick up from school. I really enjoy being able to do life on my own terms.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets our creations apart from other similar businesses is our process. We powder coat vs many that use epoxy and other type mediums. Powder coating is an extremely durable finish that is applied electrostatically which will create a durable, smooth, heat safe product. With my background in graphic design, I am able to recreate just about any image sent to me too. We’ve put many different things on tumblers from tattoos to autographs and pretty much anything you can think of in between. All of our designs are powder coated as well instead of vinyl like most designers. This ensures they will never come off or melt. We have so many colors to choose from and have upped our topcoat game recently! We have added glow-in-the-dark and pearl topcoats to lineup of light and heavy glitter, matte and gloss. I would say our biggest challenge lately would be the popularity of the custom tumbler trend in recent years and the competition that can potentially bring. Most would assume we are all the same but that is not the case. Everything from our process to design ability and even our turnaround time is very different. We have been here for over 5 years now and will be around for many more. We truly have the best customers! After Christmas, our busiest time of year is volleyball season! We have developed a large following in the volleyball community which has been a lot of fun. You can find us at tournaments from January usually thru May. Unfortunately, this season was cut short and we so missed many of our regulars we love seeing. The teams love to have matching water bottles with their logo and athletes names! We’ve done several successful fundraisers for teams (of all sports) over the years as well. It’s a great way to promote team spirit and help the club with costs. We have also found our niche within the emergency services world with our custom badge tumblers! We have done hundreds of departments across the country. We just have the customer send a picture of the badge and we take it from there. This has been a very popular item and we have done many bulk orders for entire departments/stations. We truly enjoy being able to work with our first responders and provide them with a personalized yet useful creation.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There have been SO many people in our journey that have been so incredibly supportive and encouraging that it seems impossible to name them all. I could write pages on this and I would never have remembered everyone that has gotten our family business to this point! First, I need to give my husband a shoutout. He works a full time job with lots of overtime while attending school and still manages to come home and work this business with me and be an amazing father. Next, our friends and family have been incredible. They were our first customers and always our biggest cheerleaders. My parents have always been such a huge part of our success as well. From babysitting so we can fulfill orders or attend events, you name it. They are our sounding board and always encouraging us. Last but not least, we couldn’t do it without our incredibly loyal customers that deserve so much love. I have made some true friends out of people that started off as customers I met at a vendor event . We adore how they share our artwork with their families, friends and co-workers and excitedly connect us to their following.