Words by Megan Smith
“glassybaby are useful in many ways. But their real use is lifting bad moods and loneliness. Their warm and colored light flickers like we do in everyday life. glassybaby serve as a metaphor to symbolize hope and are humble in spirit, but not in beauty. Whatever your mood, a glassybaby can keep your home inviting and full of spirit.”
MERICOS HECTOR RHODES
(Lee Rhodes’ 12 year old son)
Forgoing the power suit for a pair of dark jeans, white T-shirt and black blazer, Lee Rhodes walks up to the podium of the convention center ballroom and stands in front of a sea of executive women to speak. She sets her notes down in front of her, looks up, brimming a huge smile and bright red lips, and begins with a simple yet cheery “Hello” to the crowd below. She has not come to share her story of surviving cancer three times, although she has. And she hasn’t come to tell the story of her growing multimillion dollar company, although she has that, too. Lee Rhodes has come to cast vision to a captivated audience. When she speaks, it’s with the swiftness and passion of a woman confident in the decisions she has made and the message she is delivering. She is, without a doubt, a woman on a mission.
The mission? To offer healing to cancer patients one glassybaby at a time.
In 1998, with three small children underfoot, Lee was battling a rare form of lung cancer for the third time. Hoping to distract her husband’s worries, she signed him up for a glassblowing class near their home in Seattle, Washington. Blowing glass bubbles and opening them to create a vessel is considered glassblowing 101. Week after week these odd shaped, colorfully hued glass cups began arriving home and accumulating on the kitchen counter. One night at dinner Lee dropped a tea light into the opening and struck a match to the candle’s wick. The room went quiet. Pin drop kind of quiet.
The lighting of the candle had instantly transformed the ambience of the room. The kitchen’s walls and table underneath instantly filled with the warmth of the soft hue encircling the candle’s flame. In that moment, Lee’s healing began. In that moment, the hope of a family began to rise; beauty had won the battle over the ugliness of terminal illness. In that moment, Lee’s life was set on a trajectory she never could have dreamed possible. In that moment, glassybaby was born.
Throughout the next five years, glassybaby grew into a full-fledged business and beyond the production capacity of her husband’s weekly glassblowing class. Lee, who was declared cancer-free in 2001, devoted her days to delivering raw materials to glassblowing shops around the area where 12 artisans were commissioned to handcraft glassybaby’s signature design. She would retrace her steps, pick up the finished designs, drive them home and unload them into her garage where she’d sell them to neighbors, friends and burgeoning glassybaby devotees. For Lee, this business endeavor, her first, wasn’t full of fear or self-doubt because for her it just made sense. “These magical beacons speak to the emotion in everyone, especially those in the chemo room. I wanted to create a business that builds community and gives hope, and glassybaby does that.” The business’ early financial success gave Lee the means to not only gift glassybabys to those braving cancer but the opportunity to begin donating to organizations that provide often forgotten cancer support. “We are always looking to give to new charities helping cancer patients around the country. We like charities that help with the costs that are not covered by health insurance but as essential for the healing process, like groceries, bus fare, childcare and electric bills.”
As with creating any delicately handcrafted item, glassybaby’s vessels, which have been made in over 400 colors, are labor intensive, requiring the work of four glassblowers and 24 hours to create. Each glassybaby is comprised of three layers of glass, with the rich hue, a condensed colored glass imported from Europe, being sandwiched between two clear casings. The thick bottom is also clear, allowing light to radiate through to the surface below. They are designed with sturdiness and timelessness to be passed down through generations. “You can feel the beautiful color and the weight of truly handmade American craft in each one. I had a visceral reaction to lighting that first one and I still get that same feeling to this day,” Lee shares. The company stands behind its sizable $44 price point. “I couldn’t sell a candle votive at our price without the vision and charity behind it,” says Lee. “But our customers feel great knowing over $4 of that purchase goes straight to a cancer patient in need.” Because glassybaby donates 10% from sales, not profit (even when the company lost money in its early days), the devotion to the benevolent mission never wavered. “Our customers love not only the beauty of a glassybaby, but each purchase is often attached to a person, a memory, a milestone or a cause. Purchasing a glassybaby is a very personal experience.”
Without a doubt, they have a powerful impact and in 2005 its beauty, meaning, mission and functionality turned the head of its first titan of industry, a media mogul that would put glassybaby on the map worldwide. After receiving one as a birthday gift, Martha Stewart was smitten and came calling. On the first episode of The Martha Stewart Show, Lee Rhodes was invited as one of Martha’s guests. “Martha’s favorite color, bedford brown, is named after the foundation we give back to that helps seniors. She liked the color so much that she was planning to paint her living room the same hue.”
After the exposure that segment drew, glassybaby was full steam ahead in terms of both growth and charitable giving. The company’s growth allowed expansion into a new, larger location. Despite the unanticipated surge in sales and growth, Lee was (and is) determined to employ locally and handcraft in America. The following year, glassybaby’s second media mogul reached out and Amazon’s founder Jeffrey Bezos became glassybaby’s first investor. “Jeff had visited our shop and asked his personal investment advisor to reach out to us about buying part of the company. Originally, I didn’t return the calls, but eventually we met. He drove to the studio and we had an hour and a half meeting. He asked to buy 20% and I agreed. Jeff is very hands-off and allows me to continue giving a lot of money to charities. He believes that glassybaby will eventually be a hundred million dollar a year company that competes with the flower industry.”
When asked if she thinks she was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, Lee admits that she actually doesn’t consider herself much of a businesswoman at all. “I was content being a stay-at-home mom. I really wasn’t looking for fulfillment in any other way. But when I lit that first glass votive, I immediately became driven with a vision.” And Lee undoubtedly is a visionary. When she speaks, it is with a level of depth, passion and devotion that eludes most CEOs. “Glassybaby isn’t about me. If it was, I would have a ton of self-doubt and fear. But since it’s not, I can operate the business with joy.” Her tightly bonded glassybaby team shares this same passion and attitude. “At first I tried to do much of it on my own, but it was traumatic. Once I did start hiring people, I brought on people that were opposite of my personality because I thought that’s what would be best to fill the needs we had. But what I found over time is actually that hiring people similar to me works best. It really makes all the difference having a great team.” And glassybaby’s team nowadays is extensive. With over 70 glassblowers now creating 500 hand blown “vessels of hope” a day, essential components like strategy, production and development are being met and allowing glassybaby to forge ahead into new markets at a rapid pace. “glassybaby has grown as much as 50 percent a year since 2009. Last year the company grew about 30 percent. Every single business expert told me that this company and business model would not work, yet we continue to grow and give back to charities.”
Because Lee has the gift of both perspective and gratification, even talking about the growing pains of business has a level of whimsy and ease, “We’re still in grade school and, believe me, we forget our lunch box all the time.”
Diagnosed cancer-free in 2001, Lee, who recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, lives life to the fullest. She operates her company from her soul, not from textbook knowledge or a business degree. “I don’t have my MBA and I’m not gifted at business and I can’t change that. But I get to live behind a brand of an experience I had once.” That experience is what she gives to thousands each day, because at the end of the day, glassybaby unites. It connects the homemaking media tycoon to a woman in Nebraska with breast cancer who is clinging to her last days. It connects the founder of the world’s largest online retailer to a young child playing video games from his room at Children’s Hospital. It connects sisters, mothers, fathers, co-workers and friends at the truest essence of who we are as a human race. It speaks to each one of us and reminds us to live each moment in the moment, with beauty, light, warmth and hope for the future.
Lee, who found hope in the midst of tragedy in the most unlikely of objects, never could have imagined her moment of clarity and purpose in life would provide over one million dollars to cancer patients worldwide. But it has. “I don’t think about the Lamborghini or the vacation home in the islands. That’s not what drives me. We still have a lot more to do and a lot more to give. This is why glassybaby exists.”
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