Sometimes life doesn’t give you a choice. When you’re faced with a physical or emotional challenge, it’s often followed by loneliness and fear. Even though others can empathize, at the end of the day, the march to the other side is you alone.
In the midst of life’s greatest challenges and ones we face daily, we can easily forget who we are and the strength we have deep within us. One Tough Bitch products are something tangible to hold onto. A reminder of your inner power.
We hope you’ll join our community and movement to support and remind women that they have the strength to make it through. Even when we get knocked down, we always have the power -- no matter how long it takes -- to stand back up.
When our founder Shelly Fisher was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, she fought it like a warrior. Quietly with strength. She let her closest friends know after she had surgery by writing them all an email.
Eight years later, when Shelly was told she had a different cancer, she again kept it to herself.
Why? Because she needed time to process the information alone. Working things out in her own mind even though she knew she had a great support system.
One day when she felt down, an empowering mantra went through her head. So she went to a jeweler and had them make her a necklace with three words on it. One Tough Bitch.
Shelly wore that necklace, backwards, so no one could see what it said. Only she knew, and every time she felt that the mountain she had to climb was going to be a treacherous one, she clung to that necklace and found the strength within her to power through.
Because, at the end of the day, Shelly says, when the going gets tough, no matter how many people shower you with love and hope, you’re on your own to fight your battle, whatever that looks like.
She never intended to create a brand around her revelation. But during an interview for the wildly popular Modern Hero Facebook franchise, she spoke for the first time publicly about this necklace that comforted her. After that interview aired on Mother’s Day, Shelly’s phone blew up.
Dozens of friends and colleagues bombarded her with requests for their own necklaces, declaring they too were One Tough Bitch. So many women, having their own stories of a challenge resonated with those three words.
That was the day One Tough Bitch was born.
Interestingly, Shelly had just co-published a book called Breaking Sad, a compilation of stories from people who have suffered immeasurable loss, talking about what to say to someone going through hard times, when you don’t know what to say.
And the more Shelly thought about her idea for One Tough Bitch, the more she realized this could be a great gift for someone who is struggling, when you can’t find the words, and don’t know what to do to be supportive.
So whether YOU are One Tough Bitch, or you want to gift one of our items to someone you love to remind her of how tough she is, this brand’s for you.
Our Manifesto
Pain is a lonely place.
Others can empathize, offer advice, or give you a shoulder to cry on, but at the end of the day, when the door is closed, it’s just you.
Life didn’t give you a choice.
But the strength to endure comes from within you. You’re resilient and powerful enough to get through this.
You dig deep, even when you feel the weakest and most vulnerable. You push through. Over and over again.
We’ve created a symbol of that internal power that is always there, to remind you of your own strength, or to support someone else’s.
For the days that are the biggest challenges, grab it and hold on tight. Feel the reminder.
She knew she could.
