Once upon a time in a faraway land ... HAHA! Our story could probably start like that! But this is the journey of Mel & BossBabe .... hope you enjoy the read!

In June 2016, this sweet girl, fresh out of college applied to be our nanny. We were needing help with all the chaos of running ZZS and Joel being a firefighter, I needed help during the day with those rambunctious boys of ours. Joel ended up interviewing her and then told me that I needed to interview her and hire her if I liked her. I didn't understand what the big deal was ... come to find out, he didn't want to be responsible for hiring the "hot nanny" without me approving first. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Mel joined our family and we didn't skip a beat. She literally became part of our family FAST. The boys absolutely ADORE her. She went on all of our vacations with us, did week-long overnights with the kids while we traveled to markets for ZZS, she even took the kids to their first days of school because we were always in Vegas for market. 

As the months progressed, we got to know each other better. Never in a million years did I think we would become such close friends. I mean, I am 11 years older than her. I could just be her "mentor" and help her learn some of those life skills, right?! She did learn how to cook certain meals when she started, she became the crockpot queen!

The years went by and the kids got older. They ended up moving to a private school which required them to homeschool or do what we call satellite work half the week. So she was staying busy doing that and toting them to all the private lessons and practices during the week. 

Then, we got this grand idea that the kids probably didn't need her much anymore so we started splitting her time at the house with kids and also at the warehouse for ZZS. That's when I realized, WOW, she really gets me. 

In all the years of owning ZZS, there has never been anyone that has worked for us that got my "vision." The look we have, the motto we follow, even what our graphics look like. But one day it happened, it was Mel. She got me. I remember telling Joel how crazy it was, I never thought that I would find someone like that. But, it couldn't be something that lasted forever. 

See, Mel graduated from Arkansas with a degree in child life. Our goal was to be a child life specialist in a hospital and help all the kids. I mean, who was I to stand in her way, right?! She came to us one day and told us that she wanted to go back to college and get her masters but wanted to continue to work for us while she did that until she graduated and moved onto her next big thing. I remember her telling me that and thinking, I only have 18 months left with her. What am I going to do?! 

She continued working at ZZS and slowly transitioned to only ZZS. We ended up hiring another nanny (because the idea of being able to do it on my own, yeah that didn't work out. Those kids of ours were busier now the older they got!) Well, as Mel worked full time at ZZS, she started to realize that she had another passion much like mine. This little boutique world called The ZigZag Stripe. 

By the summer of 2019, she had decided that she wasn't going to continue with grad school and that she wanted to truly be 100% all-in at The ZigZag Stripe. It was music to my ears!!! I told her now we can do the damn thing. Let's turn ZZS into something it's never been before! 

  

I know, we sound like a love story. But I guess real friendship kinda is. I can't wait to see through the years her family and kids .... it's going to be so much fun. 

Until next time ... 

Leslie // BossBabe