Hey y'all! My name is Madyson and I am so happy you have found your way to my brand SERPNT! The purpose of this post is to put a face to the brand because I for one enjoy things in life more when they become personable.
So, here is a little about me and why I decided to create my own brand!
I have lived in Western North Carolina my entire life and wouldn't trade my home for anything in the world. Growing up in a small town has of course had its ups and downs, but it has also shaped me into a person that I am happy to be. I was raised to say "yes ma'am, no ma'am", to not take the little things for granted, and to always remember that you may not always know what someone has gone through or is going through. These key factors and many more are the reason I choose to educate myself on things I may not fully understand instead of ignoring or disliking them.
When my brother, Ian, and I were about 7 and 8, we were moving bricks around our house when we saw a tiny little tail slither down the stack. Being overly curious kids, we obviously moved the bricks until we saw that it was a baby snake, patterned with deep red and tan scales. Ian picked it up by the tail and we ran over to our dad who was mowing the lawn. Ian and I hadn't even said a word to each other but we both were thinking the same thing, we wanted to keep it. When my dad saw what Ian was holding, he told him to put it down because we didn't know if it was poisonous or not. Ian knew if he put it down it would slither off, so he didn't. Once dad was able to get a closer look, he realized it wasn't what he feared it was, a copperhead. The baby snake, who we creatively ended up naming Sam, was an Eastern Milk Snake.
Surprisingly, we were able to talk our parents into letting us keep him! The first time my dad went to the pet store to get some pinkies, (which are frozen baby mice) he asked how long they thought Sam would survice in captivity. They told my dad 6 months if we were lucky and took all the proper precautions and everything. I know now he wanted to ask that so he could be realistic with my brother and I about it and prepare us for him not surviving for very long. Well, 6 months passed, then a year, then five. We had Sam as a beloved 4 feet long pet for almost 14 years. I would walk around with him just chilling around my shoulders and slithering up and down my arms. Sam never once struck at any of us and was always just so calm and mellow.
As an adult and knowing what I know now, if I found Sam today, he would stay right where I found him. Not because I wouldn't want another pet snake, but because I now know that removing wild snakes from their natural habitats creates voids in the ecosystems they live in which can cause rodent and pest populations to rise. Living in Western North Carolina, I have came across numerous amounts of snakes, and unfortunately seen numerous killed for no reason. When I first started tinkering with this whole idea of creating a clothing brand, I wasn't super serious about it and just thought it'd be a fun hobby. The day I decided I wanted to take it seriously was when my partner and I were driving down a busy road and saw a black snake curled up in the middle of the road. We pulled over as every other car continued zooming by because I knew I had to at least try to get it out of the road. Every time a car passed, I had to look away because I just knew it was about to get hit. As I am waiting on a break in the traffic, a man who had seen what I was trying to do came to assist. Once we got out in the road the snake was striking and hissing at us, but we both knew it wasn't because it wanted to hurt us, it was just absolutely terrified. We were able to move him to the side of the road without incident and as soon as the snake felt the grass, it slithered away. I was very appreciative of the man who helped and what he said after we saved the snake will always stick with me. He said, "If he had gotten hit, it would've ruined my entire day, probably week." It would have ruined mine too, but the two of us, total strangers, worked together to save a creature that everyone else just kept flying by, not caring if it was hit or not.
That is the entire message that I hope SERPNT becomes the carrier pigeon for. When you wear SERPNT, you are spreading an ideology that unfortunately has slowly become more and more obsolete in the world. Just because you don't understand something or fear it, doesn't mean it doesn't belong or deserve to have the chance to continue to thrive. Furthermore, the message of SERPNT, though it is focused on protecting snakes, can go far beyond this one beautiful creature and be utilized in any aspect of life and thought.
I hope SERPNT inspires you as it has me because my awareness and frame of mind on everything has changed almost solely due to changing my perspective. Evolve into a better you.