Missions to Movements
Missions to Movements is the nonprofit marketing and fundraising podcast that helps you grow recurring donors, scale monthly giving programs, and build digital campaigns that convert.
Hosted by Dana Snyder—speaker, strategist, and founder of Positive Equation—this show is packed with actionable nonprofit growth strategies, social media tips, and fundraising best practices.
Each week, you’ll hear how organizations are increasing donor retention, building thought leadership, and using digital fundraising to drive real impact. If you want to learn how to attract monthly donors, master nonprofit marketing, and transform your mission into a movement, this podcast is for you.
Missions to Movements
How Small Words Spark Big Movements with Adriana Carrig, Little Words Project
At my third annual Monthly Giving Summit, you’ll hear from someone who understands how repeat engagement, community and generosity actually get built into the DNA of a brand, raising over one million dollars along the way!
Adriana Carrig, Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Little Words Project, is joining me to break down how she bootstrapped growth and focused on trust, transparency, and showing up consistently, which resulted in 14 retail storefronts, partnerships with Target and Disney, and repeat purchases.
If you’re building or refining a monthly giving program, you’ll also love hearing how Adriana attracted 500 subscribers almost immediately into her Word of the Month subscription program.
Resources & Links
Connect with Adriana on LinkedIn and learn more about Little Words Project, Little Words Big Impact, and their Word of the Month subscription.
If you want to make your own Word of the Year bracelet, check out the 2026 Word of the Year Bead Kit.
LettrLabs is the proud presenter of Missions to Movements.
LettrLabs helps nonprofits build lasting donor relationships through real, handwritten mail that’s fully automated - turning moments of intent into meaningful connection. From thank-yous to impact updates, they help you cut through with mail donors actually open, remember, and trust.
Register now for the FREE Monthly Giving Summit on February 25-26th, the only virtual event where nonprofits unite to master monthly giving, attract committed believers, and fund the future with confidence.
The Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind: A high-touch Mini Mastermind + optional in-person retreat (May 6-8) for nonprofit leaders that have an existing monthly giving program and ready to take it to the next level with 1:1 and peer support. Apply now!
Let's Connect!
- Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!
- My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to bu...
Today's episode is a special one because I am introducing you to Drumroll, one of our keynote speakers for the third annual monthly giving summit, and someone who understands at a deep level how words turn into belief. And belief turns into long-term commitment. And as the theme of this year's Monthly Giving Summit, the Believer Blueprint, I wanted to have none other than Adriana Carey. She's the founder and chief brand officer of Little Words Project, a brand that has started as a deeply personal response to bullying and has grown into a multimillion dollar movement centered on kindness, identity, and belonging. You have seen these little words project bracelets everywhere, from in Nordstrom and Target to the wrists of Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Alicia Keyes, Lance Bass. But what makes Adriana especially relevant for nonprofit leaders is this. She didn't just build a product, she built repeat engagement, community, and generosity into the DNA of her brand. Through the Little Words Project, Little Words Big Impact Program, the community has raised over a million dollars for causes they care about. At this year's Monthly Giving Summit, Adriana will unpack how the words we choose when we invite someone in, when we thank them, and even when we talk to ourselves really shape identity, loyalty, and sustained support over time. So if you're building a monthly giving program and wondering how to move supporters from I like this organization to this is part of who I am, this conversation and her upcoming keynote are for you. So listen in, and I hope to see you at the Monthly Giving Summit February 25th and 26th, RSVP at monthlygiving summit.com or click the link in the show notes. Let's go meet your keynote speaker.
SPEAKER_01:How could I take this concept of people were wearing them and they were passing them along in the sorority? And then they would go on their travels and they would take pictures again, beginning of Instagram. So they were taking pictures, holding their bracelets up in different places. And I at that time was like, wouldn't it be cool if you had a code that you could hashtag when you're photographing your bracelet, and then you could click that hashtag and see all the places your bracelet has been. And that's kind of how I initially came up with the concept of the code, the unique identifier on each piece.
SPEAKER_03:Today on the show is none other than someone I'm very excited to, if you can hear it, make some of my own custom bracelets with, as you know, missions to movements listeners. I've been talking about my words of the year and how they truly power and inspire me all year long. And this year, and Adriana, you don't know this, but they are whimsy is one.
SPEAKER_04:Ooh.
SPEAKER_03:Playing with curiosity and wonder and just like childlike joy in everything I do. And then a unique one is Verder, which came to me through this like word of the year tool that I built with AI, and it's all about like lush organic growth and greenness. It's typically like a gardening term. And but it's all about what I love about it, it's organic growth and just like rejuvenation. I was like, yeah, that feels good.
SPEAKER_01:That's really good. Wait, I literally just picked up my phone to text my product leads that we need to do whimsy for one of our upcoming word of the month subscriptions. Isn't that good? Very good. And Werder is very fun too. I love the idea of building with your AI tool a like word of the year creator. That's so fun and so just smart. I love using chat to just make my life easier.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I built a whole tool. I built a whole vibe AI word of the year, and I sent it out to like this group. So I've got all the feedback about your words of the year. So now I have the person talking to you right now that is gonna be headlining the monthly giving summit to actually put those words into a physical practice. So you are the wordsmith and the power of words. Little words project. I am so honored and excited. And you teased a little bit about a subscription just a second ago, which we're gonna talk about the power of. Will you give the listeners a little bit of background story on how Little Words Project entered your life?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh, yes. Oh boy. Well, it entered my life way before it entered everyone else's. I grew up from a very young age dealing with bullying. I was really just on the receiving end of it for as long as I can remember. I think I have an instance every year since legitimate like kindergarten that I can remember something occurring or someone saying something or making me feel othered or less than. And that really continued all the way through college. It reached its peak in high school, and I was targeted, you know, in a bit of a hate crime and awful. Yeah, it was pretty awful and it just compounded and got worse and worse. And it wasn't until college when I was like, this is my chance. I'm gonna break out and, you know, have a new experience. I went to the College of New Jersey, which was a great school, but it was small. And I ended up finding myself in similar situations because I joined a sorority at the time, which, you know, you would think, oh, why would this girl who's had trouble in the past with other girls end up joining a sisterhood, if you will? But it actually was a sisterhood, and it was the first time I experienced what true kindness amongst women looks like. And that said, though, you know, it really triggered other people who weren't in our sisterhood. And I became a little bit of the face of the brand. I was the head of recruitment. So it just became like I was such an easy target there too. And what it occurred to me then was, you know, there's this problem happening that's not just specific to children. It's not just specific to girls either. But we as people need to learn how to be kind to one another. And man, more now than ever. More now than ever. Yeah. And, you know, when I was growing up, my mom used to say, you know, people who are not kind to others are usually not kind to themselves. And it's because they're unhappy with themselves or, you know, whatever it might be. And it occurred to me that there's a way to fix that if we could dig deep and figure it out, right? So I wanted to bring something to the world that could help eradicate or just at least infringe on the negativity that I experienced growing up. And it wasn't until joining that sorority and having that true sisterhood occur that I realized, you know, wow, it really is amazing what happens when people just support one another and lift one another up rather than put them down. So enter the little word. At the time I was making them, you know, but growing up, I made them for myself, just with words of affirmation and positivity that could get me through my own challenges, you know. But then when I went to college, I started making them for the sorority and I put a mission behind it, which was cast them on, share them at chapter meetings. Like, let's just keep the love circulating amongst us because there's so much noise from without. We gotta stay tight. I called them at the time Warm Fuzzies, which is hysterical. Usually the USPTO, when I looked up Warm Fuzzy Project after the fact, it was already taken. Warm Fuzzies are already taken, or we would be at the Warm Fuzzy Project right now. And it was my husband now, boyfriend then, and he's now even our CEO. He's the one who named it Little Words. He's like, What about just little words?
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, hubby. Yay, hubby. We love a supportive king. But yeah, so you know, it from that point on, it was always in my world, and I it became such an identifiable symbol of sisterhood and kindness. And, you know, we were obviously a connected chapter because of the bracelets that we wore. And then when I graduated, they were still trading them and passing them. And about a year after graduation, 2013, is when I was like, you know what? I think I want to take this to the masses. And being the supportive sisterhood they were, you know, this was their thing, right? And you know, when you're in a sorority and you've got this thing that is like quintessentially yours, you've just, I don't know, it's important to them. But anyway, long story short, I reached out to the entire chapter at the time and I was like, would you guys mind if I brought this to the world? And they were like, this is your thing, like, go for it. And again, that support, that sisterhood. And when I launched, it was November of 2013. I had at the time Facebook was like all the rage, Instagram was starting. And I had, you know, this group of 60 women who shared the link widely, and it went all over Facebook. And I was profitable in month one.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:So and this was on a$5,000 investment. So not that amazing to be profitable, but pretty cool to off-rip, first launch. We got so many people to buy into what we were selling, what I was selling. Me, I say we, you know, fake it till you make it, but it was me, my dad, and my mom, and my boyfriend.
SPEAKER_03:But I think that's so relatable to like everyone listening that it might be on like the smaller end of things where it's just like, oh, yeah, it's just us, and we're just figuring it out. Okay, there were those 60 people that were the believers from the beginning that really got the word out. What do you think bought them in?
SPEAKER_01:That was the sorority. That was the girls who knew what the heart of this thing was, right? And that's what I was able to lean on. This thing was built on sisterhood and by sisterhood, right? So this concept of sisterhood, which has expanded to include everybody. I mean, it does sisterhood doesn't have to be exclusively for women, at least how we speak to it. It's really community that we now have because we have men, we have all identifying types of people who join our community and they're welcome with us. And that's what we want people to understand. So I think from the very beginning, people bought in on community and they wanted to be connected to something and attached to something. And this was pre the advent of all of this disconnection that has happened to IRL because we're all on our phones. This was like kind of at the beginning of all that, right? And we have just always been this like kind of foundational community that people could go back to for safety and connection and human kindness and tips and tools to treat yourself kinder. And that's exactly what I wanted to build by starting this brand.
SPEAKER_03:Which is incredible. And I think the other part of it that keeps the connection going is can you talk about when it became trackable?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. So the tracking component is actually when I realized like that was the aha, like get up out of bed in the middle of the night, whip out your phone and type your note. Like that is what I did back when I first started this. I was thinking about essentially how could I take this concept of people were wearing them and they were passing them along in the sorority. And then they would go on their travels and they would take pictures again, beginning of Instagram. So they were taking pictures, holding their bracelets up in different places. And I at that time was like, wouldn't it be cool if all thinking through the Instagram portal specifically, because it was so new, and there was hashtagging. I was like, wouldn't it be cool if you had a code that you could hashtag when you're photographing your bracelet, and then you could click that hashtag and see all the places your bracelet has been. And that's kind of how I initially came up with the concept of the code, the unique identifier on each piece. And so for those who don't know, what we ended up doing was every single bracelet that now is sold by little words has a unique identifiable code. The whole bracelet becomes a one-of-one as a result. So what you do with that code is you go ahead onto our website, you enter it in to our connection page, you put in your story, why you chose that word, how it's helped you. And then one day when you meet someone who needs that bit of inspiration more, doesn't mean that you don't need it anymore, because we always still need our bracelets, right? But they need it just a little more. And you're in the spirit of giving, right? You pass it on to them, encourage them to connect the bracelet, and then you can actually start to see how your single act of kindness affects people down the line. So to your answer your question, when I had that aha moment, that that would be an incredible element, it would be the differentiator, the X factor, if you will, of how I could make this friendship bracelet look work, right? Yeah. That was the moment of, okay, this could be a business.
SPEAKER_03:Which I think is such a next level thought to really curating a true community. And here, I think a lot of organizations say that they're building community, but it can be very difficult to actually do it. Okay, so you were in 2013, you were just launching it. Now we're in 2026. Could you have imagined? Give us a little bit of like where are you now? Like, I've seen you do collaborations with Disney and like all sorts of you have how many storefronts now? 14. 14 storefronts all across the United States. Look it up. But it feels like there's such a intimacy too. It's like big, but keeps people small, right? And it's like that's a very unique thing to do. And I think that so goes along the lens of building monthly giving communities. And I want to talk about like the subscription you tease too. It's like, how do you build a community that can feel like it's scaling so much, but make them feel like they can connect?
SPEAKER_01:That's such a great question. I love that you picked up on that feeling of like it is national. We are all over the country in various cities from Austin to Nashville to Boston to I'm waiting for our Atlanta shop to pop up. Minnesota. I know I get a lot of requests for Atlanta. I need to find the right spot in Atlanta because it's like interesting detail. Yeah, let me let me know where you think we should go. Though we are in a pause here. We're like now we're in our, like, okay, get it right, right? Like make sure we we grew, we we kind of ran before we could walk a little bit, which I think attributes to that feeling that you have of like, well, but they're still small. And it's because, you know, what we wanted was for these IRL stores, we wanted them to be hubs for that community and that connection. And that is really where the desire to launch retail came from. We only opened our first stores in 2021. So we were around for a very long time before we opened our first retail location. As it relates to how we've kept it feeling so small, I mean, I think it's just genuine practicing what we preach. Like we really try to walk the walk. And I think the customer can see through BS. Like that's what we, you know, like you said, there's a lot of brands who, you know, they try to infuse community after the fact, and it just doesn't work for some. And for some, that's not what you're there for. Like, I don't need to have a connection to my tissues, you know what I mean? But could you maybe? Yeah, it's like right. But like I want to have that connection to, I want to find a space where I can feel seen and heard. And I feel so many people feel that same way, especially women, especially mothers, especially, you know, people who are looking for that additional little dose of human connection that has been at the forefront of our band from the very beginning. And I would say the thing that always surprises me is when I we look back at post-purchase surveys or we just kind of dig into the details a little bit. Nine times out of 10, our customer found out about us via word of mouth. It's the people who connect with us first. This is why I truly believe that this whole thing was built on that, those first 60 women, the 60 girls who posted that link in support of me because I had shown them genuine kindness, genuine sisterhood, genuine connection, truly just leading with kindness.
SPEAKER_03:So, how do you find that first 50, that first, yeah, and then multiplier?
SPEAKER_01:You start with you, you start with every action, every connection, every time you talk to someone. One of the things that, no, not to pat my own back here, but it's truly one of my favorite compliments. And it is sometimes when I meet people, they tell me that I make them feel like they're the only people in the room. My connection with them is the only thing that matters. And I go deep to a fault. My husband sometimes is like Adriana. Really? Like, whatever, I'm gonna book. A lot of people are kind of taken aback by how deep I will go. Like, I'll answer my DMs, I'm becoming friends with my customers. I have people giving me Christmas gifts and like vice versa.
SPEAKER_03:Like, we are in that's how we connected was Instagram DMs. I do want to also say to this point about keeping it small, is and I think this is important for any leaders on the call who are scared to show themselves is you are in the brand. And you are real in the brand. It's not like this picturesque version of I'm in always a studio, like it's the messy, it's in the middle of it. It's showing like the packages being put together. It's like, oh my gosh, we're out of this thing. It's kids' stuff.
SPEAKER_01:It's we did it wrong. It's we got this wrong. We're gonna be late, we're not gonna make it in time. This, we just launched our Valentine's Day collection today, you guys, and it is not going to land in my retail stores until next week. And it's one of these, it's like, ah, we tried. I'm so sorry. It everything just got, we're just honest. And I think that's what you're about to say, Dana, is it's transparency, it's candor, it's just being yourself totally unapologetically and letting people like people really dig that, you know, people really want to see you be who you are and they want to feel like they're a part of it. So I think really does it goes back to that first 60 who they sent out the links, and those people all their eyes turned, like, okay, who's this? Now they're all watching. So let's say it's 120 and then it goes to 240, and I can't do math on fire. So it just keeps it built from that. And because it was built off of organic honesty and kindness and connection and truth, I think it started to really just like rapid fire, but it stayed small in that we didn't, you know, throw a million dollars at marketing over the years. We didn't, you know, do a flashy big entry into the market. Even though I started this brand during the economic boom of investing in businesses and people having billion dollar valuations and like the Glossier entrance and all that stuff, even though we started on the scene at the same time, I was very adamant that I wanted to bootstrap it. I wanted to slowly but surely build because that build is what created the community. So I don't think you get enough stories about that about people who bootstrap and people who didn't just go the sexy route. And if you didn't get featured in Forbes, you know, off the bat, if you didn't get on 30 under 30, which I never did. Me either, girl, me either. Yeah, like you didn't succeed. Like, no, and you can build to a place where you have retail locations and partnerships with people like Target and Disney Parks and all these wonderful things by simply staying the course and beating the drum and showing up every day, even if your hair is a mess and you are packing boxes on your hands and knees, and you are the founder and CEO, which I was for 11 years, right? I just gave that title to my husband. Just show up, be yourself, let people see what you're doing, and the rest really does kind of follow. So good. And that's the blessing that I've I've been able to live.
SPEAKER_03:So good. There's so much that we're gonna unpack at the summit when you're keen. Note is there. It's coming up so soon, everybody. So make sure to sign up February 25th, 26th. She's gonna be there the morning or the afternoon of the 26th. Two things I want to ask you about is one, I want to talk about the subscription focus of the business and how important that is from a recurring revenue standpoint, because that's obviously the emphasis of the summit. And then I want to go into what you do on the cause side because I think that's really important and how organizations can work with you. From just a subscription model and revenue, having sustainable revenue. Can you talk about what does that look like for little words and why is that an important part of the business?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Honestly, Dana, I wish that I had started subscription earlier. We just launched it this past December, our first ever.
SPEAKER_03:I saw it and I was like, oh, this is such good timing.
SPEAKER_01:Go timing. I, you know, for a long time wanted it. And as is the case with any startup culture brand, like you gotta walk before you run, but you sometimes have to try and test and iterate, and then you can really launch something. So we kind of do a quick try and test and then launch. Where I'm a big peel off the band-aid and let's just like see how it lands and then iterate from there. And if you are honest with your community, they welcome that, right? They're not just like, oh, this is crap. How did you more so like there's a glitch here? You guys need to get on that. And I'm like, period, you're so right. Let me fix that. Like they be it becomes really like our brand.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, underline, highlight that, everybody. It doesn't have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_01:It does not have to be perfect, does not have to be perfect. If I waited for things to be perfect, we would literally never launch anything ever. And that's from the day one, it was just like, okay, we're gonna try. The brand in the in day one was so different than now. Like we didn't even Of course, we didn't have like the custom day, like we had custom days, we didn't have full customization. Now customization is 50% of my business. And there was a point in time where like you had to wait for like the two custom days a year that we would do custom. So it's just a totally different model. But point being, when we launched our subscription model, we knew that we were gonna have to iterate on it and figure out as we went and so on and so forth. And the customer is so connected. And the people, you know, I had a lot of imposter syndrome around it. I still, in my brain, I am at the table in my parents' basement still, you know. Yeah, I can't myself compute some of what we've achieved and I know the why. I just also can't comprehend it sometimes, you know? And I think it's good, it keeps you humble. I think that's reality for so many people. Yeah. So many of us are like, what, you know, especially women. We have a hard time accepting what we've accomplished, right? In a sense, and maybe not all, but I certainly do. And it led to me being like, no one's gonna want to spend their hard-earned$20 a month to get a bracelet. Like, you know, you can barely feel good about spending$10 a month on a Hulu subscription, right? Like you're like, can I afford that? You know, I don't know. This economy, I just I couldn't wrap my head around it. And then my husband was who also was the big proponent of moving into retail, a person who believes in me maybe more than I believe in myself. And like there's not many people that can say that, right? Like, I truly believe in myself first, and I think that's a big unlock for anyone who wants to do something, you have to believe in yourself first before anyone else will believe in you. But if you're lucky enough to have those few like screamers from the rooftop, like, I agree, I believe in her more than she does. Like, my husband is that for me. And he was the one who said we should go retail, and he's the one who said, Let's get a subscription model. And you know, now here we are. And it so it's so important for recurring revenue. It's so important for understanding your customer and letting them inform future planning and creation. So is that a new do you pick a new bracelet every month or do they? Yeah. So the way the program works is every month it's$20 a month for the white beaded word bracelet that is an exclusive style, exclusive word only available to this group. And one other thing we've learned about our customers, they're big collectors. So now our tags, any of our new collect, like word of the month, word of the year, anything that we do that has this exclusive experience around it, they have a custom tag, an exclusive tag. So this one says word of the month. And so it's this really great way to just be able to kind of aggregate all of your inspiration and all the things you love. So it's cute. So every month, new white beaded word letter bracelet or a gold bracelet for$30 a month. So you can choose which one you get. You can expect at the first of the month you're gonna get billed for the next bracelet. You get it shipped about a week later, and you get to work live through that month with the word that we've designated as our word of that month. And it's just, it's been so far, a month and a half. I just did What is January? January is lock-in.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_01:Lock in as a group, and February is gonna be next chapter, okay, which I'm very excited about. And just like, you know, you just turn the page and it's this next chapter, and getting excited about each month. I don't know, it's it's really lovely. You get a custom mailer when you receive it, and the amount of customers that signed up from the start, I was so shocked. We have 500 subscribers. We initially realized it's probably gonna be like 100, 120, 500 people, and with all the kinks that they were willing to navigate, they're like, I don't even care. I'm just gonna buy it. I don't understand fully, but I'm gonna buy it.
SPEAKER_03:The belief was there.
SPEAKER_01:It's the belief was there.
SPEAKER_03:The testament was there. That's huge. I think this just goes into the power of it's curated for a specific audience. You're delivering something unique to them. They're probably gonna feel like a part of a separate even community themselves as this builds and grows out.
SPEAKER_01:And they get access to more things for being a part of that community. There's merch drops, there's exclusive styles that only they have access to outside of those monthly bracelets. So it's just this really great thing.
SPEAKER_03:It's very similar. And what you can possibly create for a monthly giving. Like I just joined Surfrider Foundation's monthly giving program, and they're offering me like this really cool t-shirt. And then you're gonna get, we get like first information on new things they're working on in water conservation. And so I was like, I'm excited to wear my new swag and rep their logo and be like a brand ambassador and say that I am a monthly supporter. Same thing with the other six that I give to on a monthly cadence. So you've always had cause and give back components kind of built into little words. This might be outdated, but I know it's over a million dollars that's been raised for causes. What did you learn about really inviting people into generosity? I know there's bracelets on the site that give back. There's probably wholesale opportunities where orgs could create their own. Like, why was that important to you? And what has the ripple effect of that really been?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh, it's been important to me since day one, since the very first month. I was doing it back in the day, every single bracelet gave back to a certain percentage of a cause. So when I first launched, I didn't even work with the nonprofits because I had no idea what I was doing. I'm like 23. I'm like, oh, I can just use their logo in their name, and it's fine. I literally took it was kind campaign, which I'm not sure if you're familiar, but it's a previous yeah, that supports, you know, stopping bullying amongst girls. And it was really perfect for me at the time because it was like why I started this brand. And so I kicked off my first month ever, November, a percentage of all sales went back to kind campaign. Then the next month it was a new nonprofit. And the next month, a new nonprofit. I did that for a year and a half, a new nonprofit every single month that I found. I then started to reach out to them and then got them to work with me and it became more kosher as it went on. It doesn't have to be perfect, you just start somewhere. It was whimsy. It was whimsy. I was just like, I this is fine, right? Like, just go for it. And so it's been at the core of who we are from the very beginning. And then as month over month it became a little insane to navigate, we actually ended up coming up with this concept of little words, big impact, which is our nonprofit arm, where essentially we work with anywhere from five to 10 nonprofits a year, where every single month we have a new bracelet that launches that corresponds to that nonprofit, more curated around a collection rather than the entire site. It started to get exorbitant. We couldn't figure out kind of all of the details that needed to be navigated there. But it's so special because you can then go purchase a bracelet. We're launching American Red Cross, which by the time this comes, it'll it'll be live. But that's so exciting, right? So there's a bracelet that says resilience, and that bracelet is giving back$5 from every bracelet sold is going back to the American Red Cross. And then we work with them in different ways throughout the year to activate essentially that collaboration. And this has just been, you know, when you say inviting people into generosity, we have found that our customer is like ravenous for it. Anytime we do something that is connected to a give back, they are there, ready to support. Because you get to not only give back, but you get to wear a token of your generosity. And I think that's what's so beautiful about the little word is that every single one tells a story. And how beautiful a story that this one gave back. This one helped this community, this one helped that one. And we really try to broad stroke the communities we serve and ensure that we are finding ourselves in all the different spaces so that the customer can find themselves in us.
SPEAKER_03:So good.
SPEAKER_01:One other thing I'll say that has been really helpful for us, and if there's anyone else who has a similar model, is we have something called create for a cause. This is kind of an if you know, you know, under the radar situation where what we do, and it shouldn't be under the radar, it's just we don't have a robust enough team. Like we don't have a robust enough team to service like the droves of requests we have for this. But it's essentially every quarter we launch a new collection of bracelets that are co-created with the everyday person. So like Dana could reach out to us and say, it's really important, you know, I just, God forbid, you know, I lost someone special to me to cancer. I want to fundraise, essentially, for this nonprofit in honor of this person. And I want the bracelet to say Steven Strong, right? And so what you then would do is create with us a c a bracelet that says exactly that. We'd put it up on our site and provide you with the link to share it out with you. Oh, I love that. Five dollars from every one of those bracelets goes back to that nonprofit. And we're in the process of going from 25% to$5. So I'm kind of figuring out the can you do wholesale?
SPEAKER_03:Like, could I come to you, let's just say for MGS for the summit or like Missions to Movements, the podcast, and create a bracelet and then sell it at home. Yeah. Okay. Okay. We create a bracelet, we could sell it at like she's like, I'm about to pitch you like Yeah, I don't know if listeners are paying attention to this, but think about your organizations and what you could send. Either you buy it and you just send it as a gift to your monthly donors for being a part of your program, or they have the ability, which I've really been loving, is they can opt in to receive it and they get this as being part of your program, or it's like at the one-year anniversary, or after they've donated, after they've, I don't know, they reach$500 of lifetime impact.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And then you purchasing from us and putting it on like a portal of sorts, you then can give back from that initial purchase. So you can tell your community members, and in selecting this bracelet, you've contributed to the give back of this cause, right? So it really is, and I'll tell you that one of the most incredible uh customer acquisition opportunities we have is this create for a cause because it brings in this new crop of customers who are so passionate about the cause because it's really attached to someone they've lost or someone they've go back to your original catalyst, really.
SPEAKER_03:And it's allowing them to now do it for you.
SPEAKER_01:The catalyst is community and people seeing themselves feel a part of something. That is the most integral part of our brand and why we are who we are and why we've achieved the success we've achieved off the back of a$25 word bracelet. Like at the end of the day, yeah, the level of revenue, the level of success that the brand has had. Like, I don't even attribute it to my success, right? Because it's really from day one, it had a life of its own. And I'm just lucky and honored to be able to be at the helm of it.
SPEAKER_03:So good. As we wrap, and look, so much more to come from her keynote. I'm ecstatic to hear. Yeah. For the nonprofit listeners that are here right now, who are trying to build sustained support, who are trying to build community, not just one-time moments. And what I love, even before you had this subscription product, you said they like to collect. So I would imagine the lifetime value of someone that comes to Little Words doesn't buy just one, they buy however many. I wonder what your average is would be interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Literally, hundreds is probably the average. I get pictures like daily from customers sending me their entire wardrobe covered in displays. Like these people are buying displays to display their bracelets. I'm like, this is so cute. It's so cool. They collect 100%. And they're cute to collect. I mean, look at this.
SPEAKER_03:They are gorgeous. Wait, what are you wearing? What does it say?
SPEAKER_01:I have Big Heart, which is a retail exclusive launching early next week that I custom design myself, which is exciting. I've got Sunshine on. I'm like really obsessed with rivalry right now. So I'm in my like Sunshine's a word that from them. I'm also I'm wearing touchgrass because I have to like remind myself to not be so obsessed with the TV show. So good. Touch grass. Don't touch grass. You are not in this show. You do not need to be thinking about it morning, noon, and night. And then find the joy because it is so important to find the joy, the little moments of joy in life. But yeah, this is my current stack. I switch it out all the time. And so do our customers. They wake up, they're thinking about what they need that day, they select mine, my bead kit.
SPEAKER_03:They're getting built.
SPEAKER_01:Is it makes three? I think. No, more than no, that makes three. It makes three. And Dana, I also want a quick shameless plug, but as you were talking about creating a tool for your community to find their word of the year, we have a word of the year bead kit that inside is a you can make one, but it has a tag that says my word of the year 2026. So you have your own bracelet. When you finish your bracelet, it'll say 2026 word of the year. So you know, like forever, you can keep that. And it's like, this is my 2026 one. This was my 2027.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01:So if anyone out there is interested, check out the site for that word of the year beat kit because it's really, it's beautiful, it's neutral, and you can make your word of the year.
SPEAKER_03:My mind is now spitting about how you can make like every year feel like they're a part of it from the monthly donor perspective. Okay, we're gonna leave that for the summit. So wait, what's one like it could be a mindset shift or it can be like a message shift that you are most excited for them to leave with after they hear you speak at the summit?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh, that's great. Well, what I speak about really is my backstory and the why of it all and how it informed why this brand came to life, and then also how I have navigated some of the more significant challenges that I've experienced since starting the brand. So I go through my top five words that have gotten me through my life to date, frankly, the top five words that matter to me. And it's kind of borrowed from my book that goes through those little anecdotes as well, through those words. So I hope they'll walk away, one with more clarity of what they're what words they need to lean on to navigate life's difficulties. The power of words is really incredible in the mindset shift that occurs when you focus on one type of word or affirmation phrase. So I hope they walk away feeling more inspired to keep navigating whatever they're going through and know that they can get through, right? Because if I can get through my stuff and your neighbor can get through their stuff, and you got through your own stuff in your life, you know you can keep going and continue to make it through whatever it is that you encounter. So yeah, I hope that they walk away feeling inspired and that they they got this, you know, whatever that might be.
SPEAKER_03:Love it. It's the perfect way to start the new year. Okay, little words project, either get your bead kits, get your word, you can get the subscription. We'll have all of the information.
SPEAKER_01:2026 word of the year as determined by Little Words Project. Like if we were Pantone, right? Like we're the word brand. So our 2026 word of the year is unafraid. It also comes with the tag that says 2026 word of the year official. And that is what I'm heading into this year with myself. Like just this knowledge. Whatever happens, I'm unafraid because I've got my armor, I've got my girls, I've got my community, I've got my people.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I've got this. So yeah, if there's any interest in leaning into our word, that's what that is. And I had to, of course, again, Shameless plug has to be.
SPEAKER_03:Unafraid. So good. And the book, like all the good things we're gonna go through. Adriana, thank you so much for coming on here today and for just doing like building what you've built. I know it is no small feat, and I know you have little ones too, and so it is a whole other level of being a monopreneur.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness. Yep. I touched on that a little bit in my keynote and the journey that those kids have put me through already. But yeah, it's certainly no joke. No small feat at all. Thank you, though.
SPEAKER_03:Amazing. Thank you so much for being here, and we'll see you in just a few weeks.
SPEAKER_02:See you soon. Thanks. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Missions to Movement. If you enjoyed our conversation and found it helpful, I would love for you to take a moment to leave a review wherever you're listening. Your feedback helps us reach more change makers like you and continue bringing impactful stories and strategies to the show. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button too, so you'll never miss an episode. And until next time, keep turning your mission into a movement.
