Cheer and Hope Spread Through Happy First

Long before it was a company, “Happy First” was a simple greeting conceived by a woman named Debbie Vinyard. It was her way of celebrating: the first day of every month, the first big milestones in life, the first moments of living each day. As a Hodgkin’s Disease survivor, she relied on happiness as both ally and antidote throughout her fight against cancer.

“I have always loved fashion,” says Debbie Vinyard, owner of Happy First boutique. “I used to spend hours doodling and drawing clothes. I grew up mostly in Dallas (originally from New York). I had a neighbor who had a showroom at Dallas apparel mart so in high school I would help her with her showroom and just loved the whole Dallas market atmosphere. I went to the University of Oklahoma pursuing fashion illustration, but somehow ended up in accounting! (We had a really cute accounting 1 teacher that made it really fun to learn if you can believe that). I was good at numbers and math and changed majors for more money. In fashion classes I felt like we had to draw a certain way and it wasn’t as creative as I wanted. Now I always say to people ‘find your passion and pursue it’-I think I forgot this for awhile thinking I wouldn’t make as much money. I think a lot of people in their life aren’t really doing what they want to do because they are afraid to take a chance. Our logo – the egg, represents breaking out of your shell (I believe everyone has creativity of some sort inside and need to burst out of their shell!) and it also represents new beginnings. (We can always start anew, after cancer, a breakup, whatever-every day is a new day).”

“I met my husband, Randy at OU-he is my best friend and biggest supporter. We got married after college and have been married 25 years! After college I did the big 8 accounting thing-worked for Arthur Young for 4 years. It was great experience, I now can do my own books, but it was not for me. After that I went into private industry-worked in the corporate tax dept of the Williams Companies. Great people to work with, still not my passion. We were in our late 20′s, no kids yet, and we decided to partner with some friends and opened up a retail aerobic clothing store-called Bodygear- located next to a Jazzercise in Tulsa, OK. I still kept my full time accounting job, worked weekends and did the books. Our friends quit their jobs and worked it full time. It was a great learning experience. After almost 2 years, we pulled out, our friends wanted to expand into another store and we didn’t want to put more money into it. We left on great terms though.”

“After I had my first son I worked part time at Williams for about a year. Then I decided to be a stay at home mom. My second son was born 3 1/2 years later. When he was just 6 weeks old I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma (I had felt a lump on my neck). The doctors were optimistic from the start-said that Hodgkins was now very curable. I went through 6 weeks of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation. I was glad my kids were so little because I was so busy with them I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I felt like I was going through it for a reason. I felt like God had a plan for me. My faith was really strengthened through all of this. I saw how many blessings I had around me-my family and friends were always there for me. My diagnosis and treatment were in 1995.”

“Fast forward to about 2005. I had been doing creative things on the side like partnering on a booth at a decorator mall (we sold home decor items),embroidery (personalizing baby bibs, etc) and designing notecards. Then one day we were with my sister and brother-in-law and I was telling them I wanted to do some greeting cards that said “Happy first”-like Happy October First, Happy November First, just celebrating the first of the month. It was something I had been saying for a long time on the first of the month and I wanted to spread encouragement and cheer and hope. My brother-in-law owns an ad agency, Firehouse www.firehouseagency.com in Dallas, TX and said he thought I was onto something. We got with his awesome creative team and Happy First was born. We came up with our egg logo, trademarked it, and started out as an online site (launched may 2007).We started out with tee shirts and hoodies. Then I realized that people needed to hear my message and see my clothing in person. So I started going to the apparel and gift markets to reach the spas and boutiques and also the fall festivals (like the Junior League shows, local Christmas bazaars) to reach people. People love how my clothes fit and feel and they love the message and cause. Then we expanded into a baby and a spa (yoga or fitness) line. Last month we added candles and sterling silver jewelry.”

“My hope is that people will seize the day and be grateful for their life and do something with their life. I think everyone would be happier if they did what they loved to do! Sometimes it takes a while to find that and to take the risk. Life is so exciting! I wanted to give back to leukemia and lymphoma research-because if not for the research, I wouldn’t be alive today. So that is our cause. After we started the planning of Happy First, my dad was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, also in the leukemia and lymphoma family. He passed away 19 months later in September 2007. His diagnosis reaffirmed that this is my cause!”

“I spread the word with my monthly email list. Every first of the month they get an ecard and somewhat of a newsletter. People can pass the ecard on to friends and family for free. We also have some other fun free ecards on the site and free downloadable wallpaper. ( http://www.happyfirst.com/love.html )I am starting to focus on spreading the word through social media- we have a facebook page- happy first and twitter- happyfirst . I am working on getting a blog going-I want people to write in and participate and share their stories. I love hearing of people’s victories, hopes and dreams and want people to share and encourage one another.”