Bobbi Paidel:
Creative Director
& Founder

How does a dream manifest into a reality?
Here’s my story…

bobbi-story-1
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The Dream

At the end of 2013, as my career in the Canadian fashion industry began to finally move forward (after 3 years of schlepping, interning & other non-joyful, creatively stifling & thankless activities), the universe called, and it called hard.

“So my inner gypsy took rise and I left Toronto with my girlfriend and my backpack and the search for something extraordinary.”

An epic year of travel and self-discovery are what I entered in to. A total cliché, but never the less, it was totally and utterly magical. I started in Indonesia where I began to explore my spirituality, Australia where I was faced with my weaknesses and somehow, completely unplanned, made my way to India (and I finished off with a wild love story in Sri Lanka but that’s for another time).

While I was in India, I was guided and inspired by a dear friend, and with her support I began to consider what this life is, what I have to offer and what I wanted to create for myself and others. My dream for freedom and service began to take shape.

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The Issue

I was deeply touched by the situation of children in India…with 440 million children (more than all the people of North America combined), one can imagine how many “forgotten” ones there are. I say forgotten, yet as a westerner in constant culture shock, it’s a problem that is next to impossible to avoid. It’s hard to be a witness to children struggling to have even their basic human rights met and understand how we, as citizens of the world, have allowed this to happen. My sense of social responsibility pulled hard and soon I was teaching dance classes to some pretty awesome kids at two orphanages in Himachal Pradesh. They inspired me totally, and I was faced with the fact that I couldn’t NOT do more for them, and others like them. I had everything they didn’t and I wanted to share my prosperous world with them.

Tribe of Lambs - Indian Child
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The Opportunity

As much as I am a compassionate spiritual being, I am also a westernized fashion girl and understand our culture of consumerism at it’s core. I began to explore and understand the products produced and exported from India. A country rich in handicrafts, skill and raw material, it’s unfortunate that due to mass-production and unregulated labour laws, they produce a lot of junk.

“With a good eye – textiles, jewellery and clothing can be tailor made to appeal to the consumers I know so well. The opportunity started to become clear.”

While I could never change our western perception of what we “need” and what we should “give”, I could help build a bridge towards compassionate consumption. With my friends and family in mind, I began to build a business model based around providing sustainable and beautiful products as well as an opportunity for others to help the children who affected me so much. And voila! Tribe of Lambs is born.

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Tribe of Lambs - Bobbi & Indian Child

The Realization

Our first “trial” run was made possible through an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. I realized two things straight away – shit, this is awesome! And – OMG this isn’t going to be easy! We raised over $5000, provided 55 kids with winter jackets, shoes, underwear, backpacks and sanitary napkins as well as tested out some products to our contributors. What a smash! I was in it to win it. Since returning home, I’ve partnered with a life go getter, business manager and my life long soul sister Dani to build the business into full swing. Together we’ve embraced our entrepreneurial spirits, we’re learning as we go and we’re totally inspired to do well in this crazy world. Our Tribe is growing and I’m so thankful to you reading this, your support is essential to our business and our mission.

I love you! Peace, love & glitter.

Founder & Creative Director, Bobbi Paidel's Signature
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