Out Of A Job & Into A Business

CNN:

Denise Garlow clearly recalls the summer day when her 9-year-old daughter brought home a plate from Girl Scouts.

On the plate was a transfer drawing of colorful, mouse-like creatures with large saucer ears and big black eyes.

“I said, ‘Grace, what are these little characters? What do you call them?’ ” Garlow said.

“And that’s when she said ‘Mom, they’re my representatives … they come to children who are sad and lonely or who were meant to have a better life.’ ”

It touched the unemployed, 48-year old Atlanta, Georgia, mom’s heart during a time when she wasn’t feeling too good about herself or her job prospects.

Now, she has her own business and faces the same reality that many small businesses do — trying to get off the ground in a tough economy.

Garlow turned her basement into a workshop, cutting patterns, writing story lines and sewing prototypes to turn “The Representatives” into dolls.

Today she has four completed doll prototypes and story lines to go with each main character.

Bo-boo, a deep purple creature with fuzzy ears, is the peacemaker who shows up to quiet a child’s fears. Ta-moon-a is little and gentle — she “puffs you back up when you’re feeling low,” Garlow said, hugging the dolls against her torso as she speaks.

She hopes to market the dolls to parents going through hard times — financial difficulties or maybe military members preparing to deploy overseas, leaving their children behind with relatives.

Image from A Place Of Good

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