The idea for HerStory started with a FaceTime call during the COVID-19 lockdown when “two preschoolers had just found out that their pre-k 4 class was canceled for the indefinite future.”

The kiddos got bored and their moms—Akola’s Brittany Underwood and Miracle Milkookies’ Whitney Rowell—turned the talk to the “unsettling future of retail,” according to the company.

Underwood’s next call was to her sister, Pairr co-founder Tinsley Merrill, and the rest, as they say, is HerStory.

Merrill, an experience and branding guru, had just pivoted her business during the pandemic “from a live-event platform to a virtual platform to keep up with the abrupt change in consumer behavior,” according to the company’s site. The three seasoned entrepreneurs brainstormed “how they could work together to create a solution for small, female-founded businesses to make it through the crisis.”

Merrill saw “the power of meaningful experiences” and pitched the concept of connecting consumers with small business owners to experience their ‘story.’ The entrepreneurs came up with the idea for a brand box that makes it easy for folks to support local businesses.

The result is the HerStory box—a curated collection of items from local, woman-founded small businesses.

HerStory calls its mission to help local founders a movement, and says “giving back is baked in.” The sales can help support local brands and the thousands of employees and their families during this time of crisis, the company says on its website. 

In about a week, some 10 local brands, such as Gardenuity, Grit by Brit, Miron Crosby, LoweCo., Rent My Wardrobe, and BeautyBio, joined in. 

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