I started K Sense Co. as a side-hustle-to try to make some money while I looked for a new full time position. After about 5/6 months of having no luck on the job-hunt and the 2019 holiday season creeping up on me I figured let me just focus on making this a legit business rather than just a hobby or a time-filler. It paid off! I was gaining traction and popularity online and continued to push forward.Â
In February of 2020 I signed a 3-year lease for this new commercial development in Worcester's Canal District, our goal was to be an eco-concise gift boutique and Worcester's 1st plastic-free shop ♻️✨
Since I was putting in blood, sweat, tears, and LITERALLYÂ every dollar my 25 year old self could scramble at the time. We had our soft-opening on March 14th 2020! Being told I had to close 3 days after opening was heart-wrenching to say the least.Â
Ironically enough I was reading a book at the time that inspired my company's mission and vision called The Big Pivot, and as I write this it has hit me-this journey so far has been just FULL of pivots, and it has made me so much better for it.Â
Let's be honest owning and operating and manufacturing as a small business is effing HARD, doing it during a global pandemic has felt impossible at times. I have lost multiple family members to this virus and like many of us experienced and was diagnosed with mental illnesses during the "lock-down" phase. Plus all the added stressors of that weird journey of my "late-twenties"Â
So your girl had 1 option: KEEP GRINDING.
Since September of 2022 I have been contemplating what to do with my little 96-sq foot shop- extend the lease and keep trying to make it happen in a space I wasn't 100% satisfied with or take some time to reflect and recharge. I thankfully chose the later, I took the entire month of January "off" (I work 24/7 365 IYKYK✨). Took a little trip for inspiration and I am READY for this new chapter of my life, of K Sense's story and what it means for our #Kommunity.Â
For the next few months we will be an online-based business with short-term pop-ups throughout New England, our first event back is this weekend Saturday Feb 4th in collaboration with the Downtown BID, and the Worcester Regional Food Hub.
& to celebrate and honor LOVE ❤️ we are hosting a special pop-up market @ Redemption Rock Brewery on Monday Feb 13th from 5-9 pm.
We are even hoping to attend some in different regions as well *EMAIL US IF YOU HAVE GOOD MARKET SUGGESTIONS*.
We are also going to be hosting at least one pop-up market and or one candle making workshop per month in Central, Mass. We are hoping to open up another brick-and-mortar location again soon- we just have to find our perfect match 💚♻️✨Â
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NOPE! As I always say "every difficult thing I overcome is just another chapter for the memoir". I am glad I never gave up on myself, my dream, or our mission/vision as a company.
Plus it wasn't only negative- in the past three years I have met amazing mentors, clients turned friends, leaders and shakers in diverse industries, youth in my city who look for me as a mentor/guide *one of my greatest honors in life*.
I have refined my skills as a professional, I have more confidence in myself than ever before, and I am ready to tackle this "new" phase of my life and business. ✨♻️💖
Again I am so thankful you are here for the journey with us. If you aren't already I highly suggest following us on social media-instagram is where we are the most active.Â
#SiSePuede #KommunityÂ
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]]>For me my dog Penelope is everything she is the baby of the household so it’s important that she gets only the best of the best!
Aloha Dog Soap Bar
When Katherine decided to add this to her website, I needed to buy this soap bar. Now there are a few different scents to choose from but I decided to go with this one. Honestly the main reason I choose this scent is because I visited Hawaii a few years ago with my hubby and till this day we still talk about it. So once that I saw the Aloha Soap bar that really caught my attention. Once I bathed my dog with this soap, I loved how soft her hair was afterwards, I absolutely loved everything about it. The texture of the soap bar was nice and smooth and didn’t leave a sticky residue once it dried up.Â
The way I see it is if you’re someone that cares about what they put on your skin or what you eat, than your fur babies deserve the same attention. Dogs tend to have more sensitive skin and some shampoos can be harsh for them. These soaps are a great way to keep your fur baby's coat looking beautiful and also a way to stay away from harsh chemicals that are in most dog shampoos.Â
If you go to K Sense website link right here there are different soap scents that she offers. The Aloha one is just one of the bars that I decided to go with. Interested? Visit her site and make sure you only get the best for your little one at home.
After picture!
]]>MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE
Owner Katherine, has created the perfect Mother’s Day collection & it will arrive at your doorstep right on time! Or even better local curbside pickup is available! The beauty of these gifts are that they are all sustainable products. The candles are made by Katherine the beautiful jewelry pieces included are hand made by AV Art Jewelry. The other products that can be included in your gift box are all from businesses who also believe in the idea that we can all live a more sustainable lifestyle.Â
This year Mother’s Day will look different for many of us, unfortunately we will need to be practicing social distance on this day. That means that for many of you will not be spending it with your mother’s. Instead of ordering a piece of jewelry or whatever it is you would create a package that she will love and enjoy. There is more meaning to it, she will know you took the time to do this for her.Â
I hope you truly consider curating a special gift box for your mom on this COVID-19 Mother’s Day we will be having. We will always remember Mother’s Day in 2020. Instead of ordering something online take time to create a package that she will truly love. Interested? I hope so! Click on this link here and it will take you directly to where you need to go to get started.
]]>Over the weekend we decided to do a fun activity with my daughter Jasline and my husband. Who doesn’t love a cute tie dye shirt? Instead of spending the money buying the tie dye shirt or sweats why not make your own. The kids will love the idea of making their own cool shirts with all sorts of colors on them. Jasline loved the idea of picking her own colors out and adding it to the shirt. If you’re interested, click here on this link for the tie dye kit found at Wal-Mart. The kit comes with gloves and the supplies you will need to make your shirts.
With the kit the instructions on what needs to be done will all be in there. Very easy and fun activity that your kids will have fun doing. I mean my 8-year-old loved it and best part we all made a shirt, so she wasn’t alone on it.
]]>Self-care during this time is so important, so every day you should be taking a few minutes to care for yourself. The way you feel physically and mentally during a time like this where everything is uncertain is more important than ever before. Here's how I do self-care in my home
Morning Routine
Everyone typically has their own routine or maybe, no routine at all, and that is totally fine. For me personally, I am all about routine and having a schedule is important even during this time. Part of my self-care is going to bed at a time where I know I will be able to get up the next morning at a decent hour. In my mornings I like to incorporate prayer and meditation, now this is something that works for me. I know meditation sounds difficult but it's not with some practice. Sometimes just start off with 5 minutes alone with your eyes closed and keeping your mind quiet can make a difference in your mood and overall day. Benefits of mediation are here, if you are interested in reading up more about it. Something that I picked up a couple months ago is I started to journal daily, I personally like to journal in the morning. Writing down my thoughts and what I am feeling can really help. It's like a therapy session, done in the comfort of your home. Part of my morning or even daily routine is a quick yoga session. Moving the body through a yoga flow for just 20 minutes can improve how you feel and change your mood! Breathing intentionally can help during this period where we are all very stressed. Interested in reading up on it, check out more here.Â
Body Care
When we think about self-care, I like to also associate that with the way you look. Now looks are not everything, but in order to feel good on the inside you want to feel good on the outside as well. During this time at home I will be honest most of the time I have spent it in leggings and a t-shirt. There have been some days where I have put on a little bit of makeup and a pair of cute earrings. Now for me earrings are a must. If your interested K Sense sells beautiful handcrafted crystal jewelry by a Worcester Woman named Alex aka AV Art Jewelry check out her collection here and follow her along her journey on instagram!Â
Now who doesn’t love a good body scrub? Let me tell y'all I sure do! Since we're at home why not make your own? Instead of running to the store and spending 10 dollars on one make it yourself. I grabbed a mason jar out of the kitchen filled it with sugar and melted coconut oil and poured it right over. Now for the smell you obviously want it to smell good if you're rubbing it all over your body. I love essential oils, my favorite is lavender, so I added a couple of drops to the scrub and mixed it all in and that was it. You have made your own homemade body scrub right from your kitchen.Â
There are so many things that you can do that can be part of your self-care routine. Something that I didn’t add to my morning routine is drinking my green smoothies every day. Part of my routine is eating healthy, when you are mindful about what you put into your body you feel good. Now self-care for many of you can be very different from mine. Self-care can be reading a book for a couple of hours. Working out, going out for runs or walks and even bike rides. Anything that helps you get out of your funk and feel better and helps you become a better version of you is a self-care routine. During this time take advantage of the time you have created healthy habits that you can continue to do once this is all over.Â
Tips:
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So, I wanted to get into the things that I have been doing at home and incorporated in my everyday routine to live a more sustainable life. When I started this journey, I had no idea what I was doing honestly or what I was getting myself into. Everything you do is baby steps of course; this is something that you can’t do overnight its more of a transition. I mean I am still learning and honestly there are still tuns of things that I can continue to add to my sustainable life changes.
We all know that plastic does play a huge part in our everyday life. We literally use it all the time. Water bottles, paper plates, paper cups and utensils. There are everyday items in your household that contains some form of plastic. Now I am not saying that I am plastic free because trust me I am not, but I have made little changes to have less plastic at home. Small changes I have made I stopped buying plastic water bottles and gallons of water, instead I bought a Brita which is a lot better personally all you need to do is change the filter every few months. I stopped using plastic bags so instead I was bringing recycle bags not plastic to put my groceries in. What about produce bags? Now that’s a lot of plastic. There is a solution for that I bought couple sets of produce cotton bags that I would bring to the store with me. Now due to COVID there is a law now we are not allowed to do this for the time being. Another change that I made that was huge for me is the use of plastic or foam paper plates at home. I did not like to wash dishes, so I constantly used these, let me tell you what a huge waste is that. I didn’t realize it until I was quarantined with my husband and the trash contained more plastic plates than anything. I decided that needed to change that and use my dinner wear and my mason jars. If you have dishwasher put all your dishes in there, saves you time and lots of water waste as well. Just one load and call it day.
So now I know that many of you have heard the use of straws and how it affects our turtles since all this plastic ends up in the ocean. It does, why not make a small change and stop the use of plastic straws. That was a transition I made as well and honestly, it’s the best thing you can do. If you’re interested in these straws shop here, you will be able to buy our reusable straws. They are not expensive, very affordable and we offer the cutest silicone tips in a variety of colors. Now stop and think about all the plastic that we use on a daily basis and if that plastic isn’t properly recycled like it should be, it ends up in landfills and then in the ocean.
DID YOU KNOW
Typically, plastic takes 1,000 years to break down, now that is a crazy number isn’t it. Water bottles take 450 years to break down as well. If you’re interested in reading more about it check out more facts on household products and their decomposition cycles here. Buying reusable containers for your water instead of water bottles.
Recycle, recycle, recycle, I can’t say that enough sometimes. I recycle but to be honest there were products that I sometimes didn’t because I didn’t want to spend the time washing the can it came in or plastic bottle. Now that I am more conscious, I take the time to wash canned goods or plastic peanut butter jar.
There is another household item that I noticed goes to waste and a lot of it in our home, and that is paper towels. I can’t tell you the amount of paper towels my husband and I use. He was the worst, taking a paper towel and hardly using it just tossing it out after being used for just an instant, it was so annoying and such a waste. If you’re interested In reading more about how wasteful paper-towels can be in your home to this link and get more information, educate yourself.  Now I recently placed an order for reusable and sustainable “paper towels” they come in a roll just like the store the only difference is they are cloth and have a cute design on them and can be washed and reused. For the time being I am using paper towels just not as much instead I have kitchen towels that I use the most. When I am wiping down my counter tops, I use hand towels from my bathroom to stop the amount of waste that goes with using paper towels. It’s all about finding ways to be less wasteful, it sounds hard, but it really isn’t once you slowly make that transition it becomes easier.
I hope these were useful tips that you can incorporate in your ever day life. Consider making a transition, remember this our planet and taking care of It is important because we live on it. Killing it off will not be beneficial to us in any way. Stay safe and wash your hands.
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Hey everyone, hope ya’ll are staying safe and practicing social distance and washing your hands!
Now we all have heard about COVID-19 endlessly, that is all the news and our President are talking about. Now Katherine Aguilar the founder of K Sense Co. has taken upon herself to help those in need in our local community. Now were all in need of help, but let’s think about the people who are currently at greater risk than we are. Currently it's the homeless, they don’t have a home and can’t wash their hands on a regular basis. The homeless don’t have the means to be able to go to the store and buy hand sanitizer like many of us have. (And if you have searched for some in store you know everyone is out of it!)
The whole point of Kommunity Kares is that not only should we be thinking about ourselves but about those around us as well. That also includes the people who don’t have a home and are at high risk of contracting it and spreading it due to their living conditions. As well as the families who are suffering financially during this time, or are undocumented and are too afraid to seek assistance in fear of deportation. K Sense Co. decided why not make our own hand sanitizers following the CDC and WHO guidelines. Now, with every hand sanitizer she sells she is creating care packages for the homeless that also include this important product. Remember they don’t have the resources that many of us have and they need these as much as we do. Â
The hand sanitizers are coming in glass bottles in two size options (4 oz or 16 oz) that you can recycle and once done can refill with K Sense Co. again and again. What a great way to reduce waste and the use of plastic! K Sense Co. is all about reducing waste and creating a better and brighter sustainable future. Let’s be that brighter future lets help our environment and stop the waste. Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste going on, especially now with the number of gloves and face mask that are needed for the healthcare workers in the front lines of this pandemic. Be mindful of waste, think about where it all ends up. If there is a way that you can reduce it then do it, make your own face mask. Or go on K Sense Co. and buy hand sanitizers that come in sustainable packaging and are reusable and refillable.
Being more environmentally conscious is not a hard thing to do, there are different ways you can educate yourself on this matter. The internet is your friend, baby steps. During this time, it is crucial that you really think about what your putting back into our planet. Take care of Mama Earth because this is our home. There is one gal that I found who is all about sustainable living. She has her own blog it’s called Sustainably-Chic. There is another site that I absolutely love and I myself have bought their products from they're called Public Goods, this company is all about sustainable living and guess what? They are super affordable! Living a more sustainable lifestyle shouldn’t have to be expensive.
During this time, it is important to follow CDC guideline on how to protect and take care of yourself. They are always updating that site and making sure everyone is getting the information they need you can visit them at www.cdc.gov.
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Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, and Stay Home as much as possible! We can only get through this #Togetherbutapart!
If you would like to find out how you can get involved or would like to make a donation to assist those most impacted by COVID-19, visit out Kommunity Kares collection here.Â
]]>A way we want to help reduce our footprint is by helping others slightly reduce theirs, there is always strength in numbers and an even bigger impact this way. A great article I read this past week was on the 6 stages of sustainability, we all know the common three, "reduce, reuse, recycle" but I want to introduce you to their other three siblings, repair, rot, and repurpose! Here at K Sense Co. we want to teach our family and friends we can repurpose glass bottles and give them a beautiful new life! Every candle is handmade in my kitchen I hope that these evoke all of your senses and bring a smile to your face knowing you reduced the waste of this planet with every purchase! We want to further reduce our footprint by offering the K Sense Co refill program! This will roll out shortly and will be available locally to start off. SO Stay tuned.
In the mean time we will be bringing our show on the road and selling at a sustainable Sip & Shop event in Somerville Friday from 7-11 pm. Check out our Instagram post for more info. We also still have a few tickets left for our upcoming Candle Making 101 right in time for Valentine's Day! Tickets include full instruction and knowledge on DIY candle making, you get to customize TWO candles with our premium fragrances, custom labels, and other customization. Ticket also includes light refreshments and did I mention it's a BYOB event? How can I have you make Beer bottle candles without some brews? No experience necessary so grab some friends and let's make this a one of a kind night out!Â
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Until next time remember to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (compost), Repair, and Repurpose as much as possible, the planet and our future generations thank you!Â
]]>12/15 in Worcester
12/20 in Boston
]]>The second is The Greenhouse Gift Shop a sustainable holiday marketplace on Friday December 20th from 5-9 pm in Boston!Â
We are super excited to meet new creators, and see familiar faces. Remember to shop small this holiday season and support your local economy.Â
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