06/16/2026
About a year ago a friend and I were chatting about the hilarity of this midlife journey and somehow, I put art + all the thought bubbles in my mind together and came up with the project you now know as Le Paused.
I gave myself a year to explore. I met people. I started building out a brand. I curated my art. Copywrote. Built a shopify store from the ground up. Started using social media and then Meta ads and created ads with the help of software. I wrote to businesses, I went to trade shows. I reached out to friends and potential collaborators and it was fun. Until it was more work then fun. And until I felt the market for my product was not there. My "day job" got busy early this year and to be honest, I was burning myself out trying to juggle both. While I had really big and fun hopes for Le Paused, I learned something. I love building brands. I love the creative component of it all. I loved creating art.
But the outbound marketing, the social media management, the algorithm and AI and e-commerce learning curves were very steep. I "Paused" Le Paused in February and I've been sitting in this space for a few months.
I don't know if I will pick this back up to be honest. What I do know is putting all my energy into the computerized aspect of an e-commerce brand took a lot of the creativity away. I just picked up a paint brush again. And that felt a bit freeing. So I want to spend some time creating art. For myself. For my own pleasure and then we will see....
Anyway, I really appreciate the support I've had a long the way. It's not for nothing. I've really learned a lot in the last year.
More to come. In some form. Under some name. And to all the midlifers - I bet you get it. Sometimes you just need a nap, a bit of grace, and a permission to yourself.
