Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #70 - Every Purchase Makes a Difference: Breaking Up with Amazon and The Preppy Mess Story
Carrie Shea founded The Preppy Mess with a simple yet powerful idea—your everyday purchases can drive meaningful change. During COVID-19, she realized that navigating a busy life as a mother of two didn’t mean sacrificing ethical consumerism. Her Instagram-based shop curates sustainable alternatives to toxic household products, making conscious shopping both accessible and realistic. Acknowledging the convenience of major retailers like Amazon, Carrie encourages small steps toward sustainability, celebrating progress over perfection.
Her mission is deeply personal. When her first daughter survived a life-threatening condition against all odds, Carrie's priorities shifted, shaping both her parenting and business philosophy. She believes kindness should be the foundation of change, inspiring others to take intentional steps toward ethical shopping. Whether swapping out a single product or embracing a more sustainable lifestyle, her approach is about making a difference without unrealistic expectations. Follow @thepreppymess on Instagram to explore brands that align with your values while keeping life practical.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yvonne Godfrey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today, we have the privilege to have Keri Shea in our virtual studio, and she is the owner of the Preppy Mess. I am looking forward to learning more about the Preppy Mess, and I'm sure you are as well. So at this time, keri, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I am doing quite well. Thank you for asking.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, wonderful. So, keri, can you please tell our listeners about your company?
Speaker 3:It's a little challenging to explain it just because I don't think there's a lot of preppy messes out there, but I decided at one point as a woman mom, human, wife, everything else that I needed to give people access to good companies with a little bit more convenience. And I discovered this just because I have been at a loss to find a real path to support all the different things that are happening in my world, and I realized that, as a shopper, I have a huge impact. Right, our dollar counts, so the preppy mess is. It's based on social media, so my primary spot for the preppy mess is Instagram. I have a shop on there that allows people to access what I would refer to as ethical brands. So I'm what I'm trying to do is provide them with convenient access to more conscious shopping.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, conscious shopping is excellent. How did you get into this business, keri Well?
Speaker 3:the struggle was really right. I'm going through COVID, I'm watching all the things that are happening in my world. I'm feeling like I should be at protests with signs and saying you know where are we headed with all of this and um, but at the same time, I'm. I do have two young kids, I do have three dogs, I do have a husband who routinely might need some assistance. So, um, I was trying to figure out for myself how do I find my voice, and that's when I really discovered my power as a buyer for our family. We spend a lot of money every month on all these little items that have become part of our routine, and I was bringing a lot of brands into my household that I was trusting and I, after doing a little bit of research, quite quickly figured out that the brand loyalty there was not reciprocal, and I was bringing all these toxins into my home and I was also becoming very aware that they were not taking any steps to preventing the plastic and everything else from entering our earth. So that's really where it was born.
Speaker 3:The Preppy Mess was born from my struggle with that, and I decided that I was going to really start paying attention to where our dollar went and, as you can imagine, I was very passionate about this.
Speaker 3:I started sharing it with all of my girlfriends and encouraging them and basically probably guilting them and shaming them about their water bottle use, and they told me that I needed to find another avenue, another way to do this beyond them, and that's when the Preppy Mask was really born. It originally started out as a mom project, right Like a hobby that I love doing, and it's grown from there. I get feedback all the time about how I am helping people and I just want to keep doing it. I want to keep researching and keep finding those companies that maybe aren't on our radar. Right Like, thankfully, the, the eco-friendly, sustainable marketplace is blowing up. Thrifting is blowing up, but there's a lot of small entrepreneurs out there that are using their ingenuity to introduce products into this economy that really warrant some closer looks, so I like to try to find those and bring them to the forefront.
Speaker 2:Beautiful.
Speaker 3:We tend to trust the big brands because we're familiar with the name and they should be doing more, but oftentimes they cut corners would really be focusing on sustainability, but what I've figured out is that I'm actually focusing more on convenience, because it becomes a culture of convenience. We want everything immediately right there for us. So Amazon comes up pretty regularly in these discussions and I always say I'm not an anti-Amazoner, I'm an Amazon realist. So I realize that it has a place in the marketplace and I realize that it has a place in our lives, but I don't think that we need to rely on it as heavily as we do. I think we've become Amazon addicted and I'm trying to help those that are interested in breaking Beautiful.
Speaker 2:It starts with someone to get the message out.
Speaker 3:I'm just trying to do my part. I, I, uh, I really enjoy it and I do it for my own family, so I hope that it helps to empower others Well said Well said.
Speaker 2:So what are some myths or misconceptions that you have experienced along the way?
Speaker 3:conceptions. Well, I think number one and I think it's the biggest one that stops people from even attempting like sustainable living or anything like that, is this idea that we have to do everything perfectly right, that it has to be all or nothing. And I'm named my company is named the Puppy Mess for a reason, and that's because I am imperfect. You know, I am trying to celebrate myself in that that title right, that that taking baby steps towards these goals is the goal. It really striving for perfection is unrealistic.
Speaker 3:I joke all the time that I find perfection exhausting and I really hope that that translates to people on the other end that I am trying to find options for them that ultimately, can bring them a little bit of joy in these transitions. It's not an all or nothing option. Maybe you change out your dish soap, Maybe you find a way to not rely on Ziploc bags as much. Maybe you figure out that your athletic brand is full of plastics and is rubbing up against your skin and you want to make that simple change to just more of a plant-based option. I truly believe that any step is the right step and I hope that people can maybe give themselves a little bit of room to not try to be as perfect, One step at a time.
Speaker 2:You can't do it all at one time.
Speaker 3:Although we try, it's absurd.
Speaker 2:That's yeah, that's life, though that's typical. So, outside of work, carrie, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Ah, that is a good question. Well, I do have two kids, three dogs and a husband. I have a phenomenal network of women around me, so I'm lucky that that provides plenty of stimuli. We are a family that skis, we gosh. We do a lot of things just sports, athletics, quality time with my friends. I'm very much into audiobooks lately, so that's been my favorite thing, but I've been hearing a lot that I have to listen to more podcasts, apparently, so that's on my list as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome, okay, so let's change gears. Carrie, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger than you were before?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So this issue, I guess, or situation, arose when I was pregnant with our first child. She was diagnosed in utero with a life-threatening condition and was given a very small chance of survival, and we at the time I worked at Boston Children's Hospital, so it was very much kismet that I was able to reach out to the right doctors in that moment. It was a very empowering moment for me, but she ended up being delivered. She was the first child at Boston Children's Hospital to survive with this condition and she spent three months in the hospital in the NICU, has two very rare conditions that we still live with every day with her medication. I really should say she lives with every day. We live to support her.
Speaker 3:But I think what that did for me is and it's much like any traumatic situation that we go through it helps you reprioritize right. It helps you see how much we complicate our own lives and for me that has changed my outlook as a parent, as a human. I now try to grasp onto that, those moments, not as a negative but as a positive. I try to use them to remind me and guide me that you know life is very precious and valuable and I just want to be out there being a good part of it.
Speaker 2:So yes, it's amazing the things that come across different people's plate that they're able to handle, and unless you tell others what you're going through, people would look at you and envy you or wish that they can emulate you, be like you, whatever the case may be. But you know they don't know what you're going through.
Speaker 3:They really don't and and we I'm trying to help my children understand that as well that we have, you know, our own struggles within our household. But everybody has their hurdles. They come at a different point in their lives but you're almost assured that you're going to run into these hurdles and it's, I mean, our big motto. I feel like the constant mom, but I'm always like just start with kindness, like just start there, and hopefully they're listening.
Speaker 2:Kindness goes a long way, we can hope. My mama used to tell me kindness will take you all over the world Anyhow, carrie. How can so please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about the preppy mess?
Speaker 3:That I'm here, that I exist. I'm right here in your backyard that I'm here, that I exist. I'm right here in your backyard. I am always looking for feedback from anybody that's following me, but I just want to really be a resource for people. But maybe before you go to Amazon, you give my shop a look and see if you can't find a brand that's worth reconsidering or considering Sounds great and at the same time, you're shopping local, you're supporting local.
Speaker 3:I am shopping local. I definitely try to find a happy balance between national, actually international, even international, national and local, Just so my audience does have that convenience factor so. But I am a huge advocate of local.
Speaker 2:So how can our listeners learn more about the preppy mess?
Speaker 3:You just need to follow me at the preppy mess on Instagram.
Speaker 2:I'm right, there Sounds great. Well, carrie, I really appreciate you being on the show with us today. We wish you and your business all the best moving forward. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate it. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNorthshorecom. That's GNPNorthshorecom, or call 857-703-9406.