Nearly 10 years ago, Brackish was launched with an iconic bow tie designed to show the most important people in Co-Founder Ben’s life just how much they meant to him on his wedding day. While the brand has continued to grow and evolve over time, the mentality that our designs are crafted to celebrate and honor the important people in our lives has never wavered.
For Ben Ross and Jeff Plotner, some of the most important friendships they’ve built go back nearly 20 years, beginning while at Wofford College. It was during this time that our founders met an incredibly special woman named Chelsea Oswald. Over the years, Chelsea has become an integral part of the Brackish family, which is why we are honored to tell her story and lend our support to her continued fight with cancer. During the month of October, we will be donating a portion of our sales from our newest hoop earring collection to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Chelsea Oswald (left) and Courtney Plotner (right)
In September of 2020 Chelsea was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Being a pediatric psychologist and mother of three young daughters, Chelsea faced the frightening diagnosis head on and with a fire in her heart to fight hard against this terrible disease. After beginning traditional chemotherapy treatment, a friend and fellow Wofford alumna in Houston encouraged her to meet with MD Anderson’s Dr. Debasish Tripathy, whose cutting-edge research was seeing strong results through targeted hormonal-based therapy. While the idea of ceasing chemo was a scary one, upon meeting the team, Chelsea felt an immediate sense of relief. Being surrounded by an extremely knowledgeable and supportive community was comforting for Chelsea, as she knew she would be treated as an individual with customized care based on her needs.
As you may know, all of our pieces are named after something or someone that is important to us as a brand. When finalizing the names for our new hoop collection, we knew that our mauve, royal and moss peacock design best-captured Chelsea’s positive, upbeat, and joyous approach to life. We honor Chelsea with this design.
Throughout the entire month of October, in honor of both Chelsea and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will be donating a portion of all sales from our brand-new hoop collection to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. We hope that you will love these new and innovative designs, and take pride in wearing a piece that is crafted with purpose and love.
