In the 12 years she has been in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction, Village of Flower Hill resident Kerri Kahn had never come across heartfelt gifts for friends who reached sobriety milestones.
That is, until she decided to start making them.
Kahn is the founder of 24ave, a line of T-shirts, jewelry and accessories that can be custom designed to include the date of one’s sobriety, a sponsor’s name and the common inspirational phrases and acronyms practiced in recovery programs.
“I want to redefine sobriety for the 21st century. That’s what I want this company to do,” she said. “I want people to know. I don’t want people [in recovery] to live in the shadows and be afraid. I want to show them I got to have a do-over with my life.”
The idea first came to Kahn, who prior to succumbing to her addictions designed women’s accessories, four years ago, she said, but she didn’t have an opportunity to bring her creations to life until experiencing two chance encounters late last year.
The first took place when Kahn walked into Uptown Artworks in Port Washington to find a one-year sobriety gift for a friend and, with the help of the store’s owner, Lori Blum, customized a tray with phrases common of recovery programs.
“We talked about the 12 and 12 – the 12 traditions and 12 steps we follow in recovery – and ODAAT, ‘one day at a time,” Kahn said. “I made up this gift for my friend and I loved it and everyone loved it. From there, [Blum] became my business partner.”
Added Blum, a Kings Point resident: “I’m actually a social worker by training, so I definitely am emphatic to any kind of suffering or people’s problems, so I understood it. I thought it was a great niche population. I also did some research and found there’s nothing really like it out there and I love designing new projects. I was excited to be on board.”
The second happened while Kahn was leading a recovery meeting and was approached by Albertson resident Francine Aulicino, who had just completed addiction treatment at the Betty Ford Center, about becoming her sponsor.
“The more I talked to [Aulicino], I learned she had a social media background,” Kahn said. “Here I have a woman who can make gift items and a girl who asked me to be her sponsor with a huge social media background. The light bulb went off in my head.”
Over the next eight months, the trio designed their product line, website and social media pages.
The company launched earlier this year. Trunk shows displaying the company’s line are scheduled for Dec. 4 at Uptown Artworks.
“We’ve had a lot of activity on Facebook. We’ve gotten orders. People seem to love the products,” Blum said. “We’ve had some very nice customer feedback already, so I believe we’re just going to grow and grow. Fingers crossed, right?”
As the company expands, Kahn said more products will be added.
“This may sound a bit hokey, but I think this is a gift from above,” Kahn said. “I never had the right time and the right people, and all the puzzle pieces have kind of come together. I won’t forget that.”
“It’s taken a lot of work to put this together, and every single thing that we’ve done has been very deliberate,” she said. “I don’t regret being a drug addict and an alcoholic, because it’s enabled me to do this. It’s like taking whatever was left of me and putting it together with the new me. There’s no telling what we’re going to do now.”
