Meet Kerri & Krista Brown & Ginsberg | Co-Owners KZ Cozy

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kerri & Krista Brown & Ginsberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kerri & Krista, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The whole concept began during Covid. We were both at home with 3 kids each, multiples pets & most days felt like a circus.

We initially had this idea for an insulated Cozy to prevent iced coffee from dripping and keeping it colder longer. At the same time, we brainstormed and also came up with sewing matching dog bandanas.

So we purchased sewing machines to begin. We literally had no idea what we were doing. No one tells you that sewing machines don’t always cooperate. Months of struggling to find the right templates, the right technique. No idea how to take proper pictures, set up a website. We had absolutely no backgrounds in any of these topics. We just found a way and we kept going.

Neither of us knew anything about sewing, we could barely see a button onto a shirt.
Through months of trial and lots of error, we taught ourselves how to sew. Lots of tears and machines not cooperating, as well as the stop and start of projects due to taking care of our children at home.

We wanted the freedom to create something of our own & share our creations with others. Its nice to be a small part of our customers’ day, whether its a special picture of their dog, or helping them to enjoy their coffee a little longer.

The name KZ Cozy came from our youngest daughters, Keira & Zoey. They met through gymnastics class & have an adorable friendship. Which in turn helped us also form our own special friendship turned business partners. We are very grateful for this entire experience & are looking forward to continuing to grow both personally & professionally.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We have created a love for designing, creating & sewing. With all of the chaos surrounding our lives, it gives us something that is just ours & we can be proud of our accomplishments big & small.

We are most proud of how far we’ve come in a short two years. What sets us apart are a few things. We are very dedicated to our customers. Our products are made to order & our turned around time is very short. Customers can expect their orders within the week.

We offer personalization on most items, which creates a sense of uniqueness & a special experience for our customers.

None of starting a small business is ever easy. We have the production side, which involves cutting, pinning, sewing, flipping, ironing. Its very labor intensive. The photography side, in trying to be creative with no photography background can be exhausting. Maintaining a website & social media, there is just so much more to learn.

Lessons along the way is to suppress the self-doubt and just keep going. Keep creating, Continue to be innovative. We want to be an inspiration to our children & model what hard work really means, so they can take that into their own adult lives.

We would like the world to know that we are not only dedicated to our own business, but a portion of our proceeds are given back to local animal shelters such as Eleventh Hour Rescue in Mount Olive, New Jersey and Project Kind in Rockaway, New Jersey.

We want to be able to give back & help our local communities in any way that we can, We hope that through our business, we can bring awareness, help & hope to these non-profit organizations.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If our best friend’s were visiting, we would definitely take them Rosie’s Italian Restaurant in Randolph, New Jersey. The food and ambiance are outstanding, it is a very warm & inviting atmosphere.

Columbia Trail in Long Valley, New Jersey is a beautiful 8 mile trail, that is perfect for walking, running, hiking & biking. It has a peaceful river that runs along side of it, as well as multiple horse farms on either side of the trail.

For coffee, we would definitely take them to The Coffee Potter in Long Valley, which is a unique coffee shop that is family owned. The Coffee Potter is an adorable spot in the center of town & a friendly space for all.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would like to recognize the women-owned small businesses we’ve met along this journey. They have inspired us to keep going, keep creating, and most importantly, keep being who we are. What we stand for. What we are trying to create. These small businesses have helped us to recognize that we are unstoppable, and can do anything we put are mind to. We would just like them to know how inspirational they are to us. We also hope that we can be an inspiration to someone in their small business. The beauty of our own small business is that it’s our own. We can create what we want, we can try new things, we can pivot in other directions. We want those people with a small idea to know that they should just go for it. There is no ceiling. Take any “no’s” and rejections as a push forward to better opportunities, not a step backwards. This is the wisdom we’ve gained in a short time from other small businesses, and we hope this article inspires others to find their own path in small business & just keep going.

Website: www.kzcozy.com

Instagram: @KZCozy

Twitter: @KZCozy1

Facebook: @KZCozyDesigns

Youtube: KZCozy @kzcozy494

Other: www.etsy.com/shop/KZCozy