Little Rad Reps: Wesley

Today on the blog, we are featuring one of our very first brand reps, Wesley, and his rad mom Brianne. You'll learn about how Wesley's diagnosis at 2-months-old led to brand repping, what makes his infectious smile show, and what his moms hope for him to achieve someday.

Enjoy this rad blog, about a really rad family. 

What is Wesley's favorite outside thing to do?

First of all, LOVE this question! Wes is already a nature lover, like his moms. Our house is surrounded by woods so we're always talking to him about the trees and pointing out the local wildlife (chipmunks, deer, birds, etc.) when they pass by. We also have a splash pad and mini pool set up in our backyard and Wes loves just splashing around.

What is his favorite food?

Wes's "favorite" food seems to be constantly changing, haha. Right now he's super into bananas!

What would you like to see him be when he grows up? 

Denise (my wife) would probably say a professional athlete, haha.  

While that would be pretty cool, I think I would just like to see him be happy, healthy, and kind.  As he grows up, I hope to encourage him to pursue his dreams, whatever they may be, and I want him to feel like he can achieve anything. I also hope he'll be the kind of person that spreads good and helps other people believe in their dreams. 

(UM, we are melting over this answer!!) 

What's one way you'd like to see him impact the world?

I believe the world would be a better place if people were kinder and more empathetic. So if Wes grows up to be kind and caring towards people, animals, and the Earth, then I think his impact, however big or small, will be a positive one. 

What's his favorite book?

We've read a number of books to/with him over the past eleven months but I'm not sure any qualify as a favorite yet, haha. 

What's your favorite thing from LRT?

We love all of our LRT gear but I will have to go with the "Be Bold" tee because it's the first one we ever got (although we really need to size up)!

 

 

Welsey has two of the raddest mamas on the planet. Learn more about his mom Brianne, below. 

 

What made you want to get into repping?

We stumbled into it completely by accident! 

The backstory is, like most parents (I presume), we took to heart when everyone kept telling us how adorable our child was and how he could be a model or the Gerber baby. Then, at 2 months old, Wes was diagnosed with Torticollis; he was heavily favoring his right side and had difficulty turning his neck to the left. Not one to pass up a good movie reference/parallel, I began telling everyone Wes had "Derek Zoolander Syndrome" because he couldn't turn left (he just wasn't an ambi-turner).

As we sought treatment, we (jokingly!) decided that because of the Zoolander parallel, Wes was destined to be a male (baby) model and we should create an Instagram account for him so he could be "discovered" (but also our relatives and friends kept asking for more photos/updates so we figured setting up an IG they could all follow would be a great way to give them their Wes photo/life update fix all at once).  

So we created an account for Wes and started posting updates with hashtags like "babymodel" and "babyfashion" just for fun. Next thing we know, IG is recommending small shops and baby/toddler brand rep posts in our feed, in explore, etc. We thought it looked fun and love supporting local businesses, so we started following some shops and reps, purchased A LOT of clothes (it was right around Black Friday), and decided to give repping a try!

How do you show leadership in your day-to-day?

I try to be an example for Wes whenever I can: in how I treat myself, the people I interact with, animals, our home, etc. Even though he won't remember the first year of his life when he's older, I think the impressions we leave upon our children stay with them so I try to "lead by example" as much as possible.

I also sometimes sing and dance around the house like a weirdo, so I'm hoping what he takes from that is he should always "dance like no one's watching" (i.e., always be himself) :)