In January, I was sick with influenza A. The kind of week where everything feels slower, heavier, slightly foggy. I was in bed, half-working through my phone, when an email came in mentioning Vogue.
My first reaction wasn’t excitement. It was suspicion.
I remember staring at the screen thinking, This has to be spam. Maybe it was the fever. Maybe it was self-doubt doing what it does best — convincing you that big things happen to other people. Not to you. I almost ignored it.

What moved me most wasn’t the title. It was the reminder that sometimes opportunities arrive quietly — and sometimes we’re the only ones standing in their way.
If there’s something this experience taught me, it’s this: don’t let self-doubt answer your emails.
Phil’s Granola was built slowly, intentionally, often privately. And seeing it recognized in a space like Vogue felt surreal — not because it made the brand bigger, but because it made that January version of me realize she was further along than she thought.