About the Maker

 

HIIII FRIENDS!!! 

My name is Kelsey Powless... but you can call me Kels ☺️ I'm the Owner/Maker behind Powless + Co. I'm a Mohawk Snipe from Six Nations of the Grand River. I'm so happy you've landed here in my little corner of the small business world! 

I have quite the story to tell and allll of the decisions I've made lead me right here, doing something I wholeheartedly love to do. 

I graduated from The University of Western Ontario with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Kinesiology in 2016. Being a new graduate looking for anyyyy job that would hire me, I found myself working in the employment and training field in early 2017 as an Intake worker. During that time I was fortunate enough to become a Mom to the most amazing human－Dax 🥰 He is my whole heart beat and I know that I'm the luckiest to have him 💕 Needless to say the rest of 2017 and most of 2018 was a complete blur filled with lots of snuggles and watching him grow. 

In the fall of 2018, I returned  back to work and got back in the swing of things. It was around the Christmas season so I attended a night market with my Mom. We were walking around, looking at so many talented vendor when we happened across this vendor that made home decor signs. But they weren't you're classic Cricut stencil or vinyl kind of sign. This was different. The design on the sign was 3D. I LOVED how it added such a different element to your traditional home decor signage. It looked so sleek and had this added element that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I had absolutely no clue how they made it, but I was determined to find out... 

*oh! and I also wasn't about to spend the $70 on the sign because "I can make that"...............LOL* yes. I've been there, and thought that too. 

－And that I did.Thank goodness for Instagram because I stumbled across Lizzy from @thehouseoftimber and Leslie from@oakandfeatherdecor and they made THE MOST STUNNING SIGNS EVAA! They used this tool called a scroll saw- It uses a very thin blade to cut through wood like butter. They were cutting the most intricate designs with so many details and tight corner- I was enthralled with watching their instagram highlights. They provided tutorials on their highlights so I 👏🏽binggggeee 👏🏽 watcheddd👏🏽  hunnnaaay! I wanted to know everything there was to know about the ins and outs of Scroll Sawing. I definitely hyper fixated on this because when Christmas rolled around, and guess who asked Santa for a Scroll Saw and a Cricut?! yep! me! 

Santa graciously delivered and I spent all of Christmas Day watching tutorial after tutorial.

*please keep in mind I had NEVER operated a Power tool a day in my life*. 

On Boxing Day, I ran to some stores to grab the basic materials I needed to get started... then 11 LITERAL HOURS OF SCROLLING LATER, I had cut out my first sign. I was so proud of it! And it lit this fire in me that my creativity had been missing for far too long. 

I started making gifts for family so I could practice and I started posting them on my social media accounts. Next thing I knew, I was getting orders. CUSTOM👏🏽ORDERS👏🏽. 

✨And that's how Powless + Co. was born ✨

I quickly became comfortable with my scroll saw and learning new techniques for painting, sanding etc. Adding new tools to my collection quickly became a love of mine because with every new tool, I was able to expand on what I was currently capable of creating. So, I kept Powless + Co. as my little side hobby while I worked full-time and Mom'd full time. 

 

Thennnnn we all know what happened in 2020. At this time in my employment and training career, I had worked my way up to become the Programs and Services Manager of the organization. I was fortunate enough to remain employed during the pandemic, which meant being a work-from-home-stay-at-home mom, doing all of the things with Dax and his Cheetos by my side. 

*skip to the part in 2021 where I had a life epiphany while up at a cottage in Metachewan, ON because I read the book The Secret*

This is 100% true. The Secret changed the course of my life. It was like all of the messaging in the book completely resonated with me and I truly had to reflect on what it was that I wanted my life to look like. What did my dream life look like? When I gave it my most honest intentional thoughts, I always drifted to "I would be truly happy if I could work at Powless + Co. every day". My mind would interfere because it would always bring up to unknown variables; The uncertainty of no guaranteed income, how am I going to do this full time etc, etc.

But. 

The only person who had to believe in me, was me. The only person who had to know in their heart and soul that they would succeed, was me. The only person that I would 100% without a doubt count on to put in the work day in and day out, was me. So, I took a chance on me.  

In October of 2021, I officially became fully self-employed at Powless + Co. 

AND IT HAS BEEN THE BEST DECISION I EVER MADE FOR ME! 

If you made it this far, know that from every fibre of my being- I appreciate you! 

Because of you, I get to live my dream and HAVE THE BEST DAY EVAAAAAA! every single day. I truly mean that. 

I haven't had one bad day since I followed my heart, and It's been the most amazing adventure yet. If there's one thing I'd love for you to take with you it's this: find what sets your heart and soul on fire and chase it!

Niá:wen | thank you for being here 🤍