Connecting Local, Global Communities in Holliston

Holliston's specializes in Fair Trade, sustainably produced goods from around the world in addition to offering classes and workshops.

How many years have you been in business? How did you get started? We are in our fourth year of business, third year in our current location. My background is alternative healing modalities including massage therapy, life coaching, energy anatomy, and Kundalini yoga as of recently. I wanted a place in the community to offer services to people looking to improve their lives in some way. In the fall of 2007 while attending the Topsfield fair, as we have done for years, I met a family selling Beads of Hope for a village in Uganda and I decided I would open a store to sell items that directly help people improve their lives. So the duality we provide is to sell items from around the world to connect our local community to our global community, as well as help people rediscover the art of living through personal services; hence the birth of Lost Art of Life. We started out in the back of our plaza, only open three days a week and have built it from there.

Do you live in Holliston? Yes, my children and I have lived in Holliston for 8 years now. 

What do you like best about owning/running this business? The thing I like best about owning/running this business is the people who walk through the door. I love people – different energies, histories, rich experiences of life – I feel so fortunate everyday to interact with the people who come in. It’s never about making a sale, it’s always about facilitating interconnectedness. Drop by for a visit and you’ll see what I mean.

Are you on Facebook/Twitter? We are on Facebook, but I don’t support Twitter. We have lived in a society that for too long has rated intelligence as the speed at which we can pull information from a bank of knowledge; in other words communication has become about quantity and it’s losing it’s quality. We don’t give each other the time or space to think about our responses, just look at how many people get in trouble for Tweeting before thinking about what they are really saying.

Any advice for someone new to the business? Advice for someone looking to start their own business would be make sure it’s something you’re passionate about. On those days when it gets hard, you need to be able to come back to the feeling of why you started in the first place, it’s just part of keeping a balance. Make sure too that the demand of the job fits your lifestyle in so you are taking care of your personal and professional self, if one becomes imbalanced so will the other.

What do your customers like best about your business? Our customers are fabulous. We get comments about how great our products and prices are. Some people feel a connection to an area of the globe or a community we represent, but most people just smile and state how good they feel walking in the door.

Anything else you'd like us to know? Our website is www.lostartoflife.com which also features and up-to-date calendar of workshops and events.