Meet Sara Schaepe | Owner & Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara Schaepe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
After time away due to maternity leave, I was able to re-evaluate what the future of this shop would mean and look like. While preparing for my baby to come, I cleaned out my closet and had a hard time getting rid of clothes when I knew every memory and moment attached to that piece of clothing. Once my baby arrived, while rocking my new baby at 3 AM, I thought how my 3 AM nights will look different now. Then the direction hit me. Combining both those thoughts — core memories tied to our clothing and nostalgic moments while we’re in them — and The 3 AM Co. was born.

The idea and driving focus behind The 3 AM Co. is everyone has a great story from 3 am — whether it’s being up and rocking your baby to sleep, sitting around the campfire having heart to hearts with your besties, late nights at your favorite bar, or driving through the night on your road trip.

Our collections are centered around the moments in our lives when we know in that moment they are special — those first football games, girl’s nights watching The Bachelor, spontaneous road trips, baking cookies during Christmas. We try really hard to connect moments to the items we create. While our tees can be worn all day every day, we hope to be intentional about the collection we’re creating.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Currently, I’m most excited about our big even coming up in July called Bestie Fest. We partner with a local winery to host the event (who we have partnered with several times in the past few years — Glacial Till Vineyard, shout out Lisa my event planning bestie!!).

We did our first Bestie Fest in February as a Galentine’s Day event. I had the idea of just a fun dance party with your friends. We had NO idea how it would go. We honestly thought 50 people would buy tickets, and we were excited for that possibility. We sold 300 tickets in four days! We definitely had some bumps in the event, but we took those and learned from them. For the summer, Lisa and I both sat down and said, “What if we went even bigger?”

Our event in July is a culmination of many brainstorming sessions of us wanting to put on a festival style event. We’re starting relatively small in terms of festival vibes, but MUCH bigger than we’ve ever done before. It’s taking a lot of teamwork, dreaming big, not being afraid, and going for it. We have a lot of anticipating building around it, which makes me so excited and nervous. I’m hopeful that with Lisa by my side that we’ll pull of a really stellar event!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely take my girls to the Bierhaus where me and my besties already love to hang out. It’s a german inspired bar and has THE BEST pretzels and sausages. They just opened a rooftop, too, so obviously we’re hanging out there for most of the night!

Other notable mentions: Barred Owl Rooftop Bar, Kate Martin (maybe the best espresso martini I’ve ever had?), Hiro Sushi, Glacial Till, karaoke in a small town outside of our city!

I cannot let anyone come to Lincoln without them experiencing Reactor Coffee. Unfortunately for my bank account, they are my neighbors, so I get to experience all the time. Their vibes are immaculate and the baristas truly are so amazing!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I absolutely, and truly, could not do what I do without the support of my husband, friends, and family. My husband has spent many nights listening to my ideas, encouraging me, pushing me forward, and reminding me how capable I am. He has believed in me from the very beginning. He picks up slack when I need to work late or be gone for the weekend for events, and never complains.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how hard my friends and family help me. Taking time out of their schedules and lives to work events with me, cheering me on, being the biggest and best hype team around.

Thank you to you all 🙂

Website: https://the3amco.com

Instagram: @the3amco

Facebook: @the3amco

Image Credits
Molly Sheppard – @itsmollysheppard

Katie Wiebelhaus – @katiemariephotographyne