Just like some of you, this little company is a family business. When you decide to partner up with us, you're partnering up with me. Not reps or robots. (I can do the robot moves, but not that well.) We're going to be a team from here on out.
A little more than a decade ago, I was given the opportunity to grow this side of the family business from a combination of luck & love & finding myself deep in the heart of Texas by following a boy one day. I will be forever grateful to this boy and his family for allowing me to let me build upon what they had begun and for letting me fly by the seat of my pants. This venture has become my second child!
Anyone who knows me personally or professionally will tell you that I sometimes have trouble blurring the line between work hours and when to put it away...because, as you family business owners know--no one cares about your business like you & I will. You know what I mean. Family business...that's why you'll get email responses while I'm at the baseball fields or at 3am when I can't sleep and why my child thought that my face was the back of an iPhone for the first few years of his life. Family business...
...and ours starts out with the neatest story. Our parent company, Flying Circle Bag Company, was started on the family ranch some 20 years ago by my inlaws, Joy & Jim Chittim. Joy's entrepreneurial spirit couldn't be tamed on that ranch, coming down from the big city of Dallas in the early 70s. She moved away from her family and the big city and onto a ranch far away. She and Jim are so creative and an excellent team--they had lots of adventures together and innovative products and eventually Flying Circle came to be. What started out in a few modest barns with concrete floors has grown into something that's quite an operation today.
So about 12 years ago, Jimmy & I started our own adventure similar to Joy and Jim's. We came back from Chicago to help his mom out with the family business. Jimmy dove in to learn the responsibilities of the military side of FCB and & I worked on the FCB kids line. After taking a break to have baby Jack about 3 years in (at this time it was confirmed I was indeed domestically-challenged) it was time to get busy again. Armed with a little creativity, a hundred million ideas & an awesome group of employees, we re-launched the kids' line as 'Mint' and started to really take it to the next level. Today we're proud to send our Mint boxes to over 6,000 retail storefronts & web-based businesses across the US & international locations like Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, the UK and Toronto! Woo-hoo! It has been quite an adventure for all of us, to say the least. We are so grateful for the loyal following & continued growth.
Lots of people keep Mint running smoothly, like Courtney, Claire, Alma, Eduardo, Elliot, Maria, Celia, Audriana, Juan, Arthur, Antonio & Dustin. Those are my peeps--they keep things under control. We're a small crew, but we do the best we can!
All of us at Mint® appreciate you. None of this would be possible if it weren't for your loyal following for all of these years. We love working with our customers and I love creating new things for you & your customers. Thank you for the opportunity to bring you new things each Market!
Oh, and I love Mint. I hope you will, too.
Christi Chittim,
Proud to work with you as Mint & FCB co-owner, creative director, & Jack's very proud mama. Also the mother of several furchildren, 1 hard-shelled thing (not a Tootsie Pop) and whatever else the boys bring home.
