Michelle is stepping down from our business partnership to be with her family.
Michelle's decision to take a step back from business operations is something we support her in greatly. She is going to be due with her 3rd child in May! I support her in seeing her and her family grow the way she feels is best and I am ecstatic for her! This has been a consistent converstaion between Michelle and I since the start. She shared from the beginning how she wanted to be a mother and that her and her husband had been trying for some time. December of 2021, Michelle finally becomes a mother to twins, Ela and Luca. They are so precious, smart, spunky, and just wonderful humans already. They are going to be wildly talented people, just like Michelle and her entire family!
It has been an honor to become business partners with Michelle during the time we were. She helped streamline a ton of the behind the scenes work at Trellis Marketplace. Michelle's understanding of our elevated visions' of branding, style/ curation, co-creation and collaboration really propelled us forward with refreshing momentum. Some of my absolute favorite days were days working along side her!
I welcome this new chapter for myself and the shop. Trellis Marketplace is a place to support growth and promote positive change. It would never want to be a place that holds someone back, or keeps someone from following their passions. I grew as a business owner because of Michelle and I am grateful for the experiences we’ve shared. She's an incredibly talented person and our team is sad to see her go. We are refreshed with the support that she has given us. I will post Michelle’s resignation letter below! Help us wish Michelle all the best!! We love you, Michelle!
- Charley + Team
A letter from Michelle,
My time at Trellis Marketplace started in September 2019, as a vendor at the Fall Festival Pop-Up Market. Over the next year, Shellbird Studio became a Trellis vendor, I took on some responsibilities at the shop, and learned the ins-and-outs of working at the shop. Charley and I worked so well together that this naturally evolved into an official partnership; Charley and I officially formed Trellis Marketplace Collective LLC in May of 2020.
While I was beginning this professional journey, my personal life was in a state of upheaval: the same month I became a vendor, I began fertility treatment in the hopes of expanding my family. I was working hard to get my mental health on track, so I had been out of consistent work for some time. With all of the unknowns in my life, I needed a sense of purpose and belonging. As it turns out, Trellis Marketplace was exactly where I needed to be.
I have always thrived in places where I can make a difference, improve things, and solve problems, and Trellis gave me the opportunity to use all of my skills to help the business succeed. Trellis has always been a project of opportunity, growth, and creativity—not just for me, but for so many local business owners, artists, makers, and creators. It is a wonderful feeling to be a part of something that has real value to the community, and I am eternally grateful to Charley for trusting me to join her in it.
I always intended to be a part of Trellis for the long haul; of course, life never happens the way you think it will. Right around the time that Charley and I formed our partnership (and during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020), I became pregnant with my twins, Ela and Luca. And in May of this year, we will be welcoming another child into my family.
While we are so excited about this, it is obvious that our family has grown very quickly. I will soon become the main caretaker of 3 children under the age of 2. In order for me to take care of my family and be a more present mother to my children, I have made the difficult decision to resign from my position at Trellis Marketplace. I have already taken many steps back in my responsibilities to accommodate my family so far, and Charley has risen to the challenge of taking on so much more work. I want her to have full control over the direction and management of Trellis Marketplace. I am so grateful for Charley’s support in this. She is one of the most persevering, hard-working, creative people I have the pleasure of knowing, and Trellis is still, as it always has been under her leadership, in very capable hands.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be working on transitioning my responsibilities to Charley. She has already taken on payroll and communications, and I hope you will all meet this transition with patience and understanding as Charley adapts to these changes. In the next week or two I will also be announcing this publicly. I will miss working with all you so incredibly much. Trellis Marketplace has made my life full of meaning and purpose for the last two and a half years; I hope it can do the same for all of you. And while I won't be actively involved in the day-to-day operations, I will still be cheering you on from the sidelines, both as a customer and friend.
Thank you all for being a part of Trellis Marketplace.
- Michelle Rehkugler
