IMPACT 0060: THE MULTITALENTED DRESSMAKER AND SLIDES DESIGNER

This letter was written during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as part of Dear Covid-19. Though some of the events and details in this letter may have changed since then, we hope to remember those in our community who stepped up when it mattered most. Continue to keep up with them on their social pages at @grkexien.

Dear COVID-19,

I honestly never thought I’d be here in life. I never imagined that I would marry this amazing man, never thought that we’d be homeowners, never thought I’d be running a business from home. For a moment there, it really felt like I finally had my s**t together.

Running a startup comes with its challenges, like a slow and fairly erratic income stream. This meant that I had time to take on side gigs like coaching boxing and designing decks. Then you came along, and like flies, my security blankets peeled away, layer by layer.

At this point, I had to ask myself some pretty important questions:

1. What is my time worth to me?
2. What is money worth to me?
3. What am I worth outside of my employment?

I’d like to caveat that being able to ask these questions comes from a place of privilege. I am privileged to have a husband who supports me, I am privileged that my family is in good health, and that we have no dependents, no debts, and really nothing much to worry about.

I decided then and there that for the first time in my life, I didn’t need to sell X number of dresses or clock Y number of hours to validate myself. That if I was well and truly unemployed, I could devote my time to helping, in whatever capacity I can. So I started sewing masks to sell for charity.

We recognise that being on lockdown is harder on some others, and that a lot of us are looking forward to things going back to the way it used to be. We also hope that as a society,

Hopefully, a world that learns to be as compassionate as it is competitive, a world that learns to strike a balance between productivity and sustainability,

But we don’t suck as much as you, COVID-19! You’re awful. You’ve forced us all to take a look in the mirror and confront our darkest demons and our brightest lights. Really, you’ve just been a part of a natural sequence of events. But please, stop terrorising us.

See you never.

Grace, Josh and Rufus