Ever struggled to find a gift for someone? Whether it’s your best friend, partner or parent. I always find it challenging to narrow down what to buy within a specific budget. Wonderkind takes all the pressure of gifting on their part and gives more in the way of spreading kindness.
Wonderkind is an online gifting service, which started in 2019 by Tara Cochrane and Shawna Pereira. Each woman brought their area of expertise, Tara – the content and marketing side and Shawna – the graphic and visuals side together to form a company whose core passion is bringing communities together through kindness.
Each Wonderkind package (which comes in a beautiful keepsake wooden box) contains tailored items made from female-owned or co-owned businesses across Canada. These are known as the Women Who Wonder. These are women who were curious, full of talent and took the initiative to create. As someone who loves supporting Canadian entrepreneurs, especially small businesses, these values give me an incredible feeling to share their stories as well.
PC: Ampstudios
In a recent chat with Tara, I learned about Wonderkind and its initiatives for the community we are lucky to call home. Here is a snippet of our conversation:
Why is it important for yourself and Shawna to support Canadian female-owned businesses?
The entrepreneurship journey comes from different places. Some just have the dream to run their own company, for some, it’s a lifestyle choice to free up their time to spend with families. We believe that when you invest in the community and women you invest in so much more. You invest in their child’s hockey team and giving them the freedom to choose motherhood. Or for some entrepreneurs who don’t have families, investing in their dream.
Women have come a long way but we still have a long way to go. We are better together. We are better to support each other. We work with a lot of husband/wife and brother/sister teams that are supportive of female entrepreneurs as well. It’s very motivating and empowering. We’ve made a really great community and it motivated us to try harder and keep going.
Wonderkind gives back 10% of annual profits to its charitable partners which includes Second Harvest Canada, Dress for Success Toronto and most recently Opportunity International Canada. In fact, when you order a gift you can choose which charity you want to support with your purchase. Each charity is relevant to our community and beyond as its instrumental in helping people in need improve their lives.
One-of-a-Wonderkind Gift
Don’t think these gifts are just for someone else. You need to treat yourself as well and what better way than by getting a One-of-a-Wonderkind surprise. Each item is handpicked by the founders using the online quiz you fill out when placing an order. This Buzzfeed style quiz helps the women determine what items the person will love from a library of over 120 vendors, which equals A LOT of products. At times it’s even challenging for them to narrow down the items.
“It warms my heart when someone lets us know how much they loved their surprise.” – Tara Cochrane
Wonderkind of the Season Gift
On the other hand, if you want to know exactly what you’re gifting, you can opt for the Wonderkind of the Season gift. This gift clearly identifies what the person will receive for each price point. You can choose gifts catered towards her, him or them. This line of packages also has a specific one for Mother’s Day (or matriarchal figures) and frontline workers.
With the success of care packages for loved ones, the Wonderkind team thought of ways they could do more for the community. This brought the launch of Front Line 2020. With frontline workers being the backbone of our healthcare system and economy these gifts are meant to show appreciation and give back to the community. These tote bag packages are filled with self-care products like cleansers and lotions but also yummy food products.
The Self-Love Gift You Need
I was lucky to try one of their self-love boxes and my One-of-a-Wonderkind gift included a graphic printed tote from Okay Ok, loose tea from Clearview Tea Company, donut flavoured milk chocolate from Alicja Confections, a notepad from The Baltic Club, Thai lentil soup mix from The Soup Girl and a bracelet from Si Simple. Check out all these products up close on my IGTV.
The team got my tastes and preferences to a tee. Each item represents self-love which was the occasion for this gift. A notepad would be handy to journal my thoughts or support my blogger lifestyle and ready-to-make soups would give me more time to unwind. I also put down that I love exploring and the city and like colourful things making a graphic tote the best choice. They also made careful note of the fact that I don’t like coffee and prefer gold colour jewelry as well. I can tell the amount of care and thought that was put into this gift.
Enjoyed reading? Pin it for your next gifting dilemma.
No Comments