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Shhh Silk is a sleep, wellness and beauty brand focusing on improving people's lives through the power of sleep and self-care.
Our purpose:
Our humble beginning.
In June 2015, in New York City, an old beloved white silk pillowcase got lost in a hotel's laundry round. From that moment, a world-famous sleep, wellness and beauty brand was born. We just didn't know it yet.
Something lost, something found.
When a room service maid accidentally removed our Founder Olivia's beloved white silk pillowcase from her hotel room in New York City, she was devastated. She'd had the same silk pillowcase since her twenties (recommended by her hairdresser) to help with her thin, knotty and malting hair. She had no idea where to go to replace it.
Turns out in 2015, there was nowhere.
So Olivia took a bold risk, quit her job, backed herself and built an internationally acclaimed sleep, wellness and beauty brand that offered the world the most exquisite machine washable pure mulberry silk pillowcases (with a world-first hidden zipper this time). And without realising Olivia soon after went on to build an entire online destination to come back to over and over again featuring complimentary beauty and wellness products.
Sleep, wellness, and beauty are who we are.
Since 2015, Shhh Silk a family owned (3 generations, Olivia, her 67yo mother Margaret, and her 20yo daughter Georgia) and run Australian brand has become the preferred silk pillowcase brand for anyone wanting a peaceful and quality night's sleep. For all of us who want to wake up in the morning with healthier hydrated skin, healthier-looking hair, and the natural glow and confidence that only a good night's sleep can bring.
Aside from our in-house product development and careful curation of high-quality pure silk, beauty, and wellness products, we are also proud of the fact that we've helped customers in over 65 countries fall in love with their sleep routine and commit to self-care.
Our gratitude doesn't stop there, as well as growing a community of super loyal customers we are incredibly grateful that many celebrities over the years including Kim Kardashian West, Khloé Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez, Tom Brady, and wife Gisele Bündchen have not only been spotted using our silk pillowcases, silk sleep masks or wearing our silk pajamas, however some of our celebrity friends regularly request our products for themselves, family and friends.
Doing good is in our DNA.
It's no secret that as a brand we are proud advocates of sleep, wellness and beauty, however, behind the scenes, our brand is about so much more than that. Since the inception of Shhh Silk in 2015 we've donated, paid it forward, gifted, volunteered and everything in between. (See our Giving back page).
We have also partnered with i=Change where $1 from every online purchase goes to life-changing charities globally. We're not done, not even close, Doing good is in our DNA. Stay tuned for regular updates on our random acts of kindness.
Lastly thank you to you, our customers & the loyal community who enable us to be able to create positive change.
With love & gratitude, Olivia & the Shhh Silk family.
About Our Founder.
Meet Olivia Carr, Founder of Shhh Silk, Olivia has always been a dreamer but by balancing that spirit with a lifetime of entrepreneurial attitude, she has been able to turn her imaginings into a successful reality. And dedicates her spare time to empowering and helping others to live out their dreams too.
Let’s get to know Olivia from the beginning.
She remembers her family’s shift from life in Cambridge, England, where she was born in 1981, to an outer-suburban new housing estate in Carrum Downs, Melbourne, as a defining moment.
What followed was a childhood of simple freedom and discovery, complete with tadpole fishing, exploring local sand dunes, lots of Vegemite - and as the years went by an overwhelming desire to create a bigger, better, even more beautiful life for herself in the future.
Olivia is still an ideas girl and the sales skills that see Shhh Silk continue to evolve and expand were honed through years of small business innovation.
First, there was the door-to-door, home-made perfume venture when Olivia was just 6 years old, marketing the sweetly scented virtues of water and fresh flower petals in recycled juice containers. Whether it was the sway of her English accent, or the opportunist nature of a 6-year-old girl charging $3 a bottle, Olivia’s enthusiastic efforts were rewarded by her neighbors and, when she looks back on the experience now, she remembers the sense of empowerment that bringing joy to others through her home made products instilled in her - a feeling she still thrives on today.
She was in year 11 when she convinced her parents to let her leave school after her Debutante Ball - on the promise that she would get a job and have a purpose.
Olivia has never been afraid of hard work and when, at age 18, the self-confessed risk-taker decided to turn her passion for performing in front of family and friends into a potential career, her talent saw her relocate to Queensland to accept a place at TAFTA (the Australian Film & Television Academy), as well as a placement at summer school with the prestigious acting institution, NIDA where the likes of Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman studied.
But then, the unimaginable and unplanned happened. At 19 years of age, Olivia discovered she was pregnant. And that meant no more NIDA or the dream of making it as an actress in Los Angeles...
‘I remember my sister holding me in her arms as I cried. “I picked up the phone and said, ‘Mum, I have something to tell you’. She said, ‘you’re pregnant’. I hung up the phone and didn’t take any calls from my parents for weeks.’
When her sense of disbelief had subsided, Olivia picked up the phone again and found a message of unconditional love, the promise that both her and her baby would be supported - and a loving invitation to come back home.
Olivia wanted to create a life that was wildly fabulous, abundant, healthy, purposeful and bursting with love, and with a determination to make life as a single mother work, she moved into a rental property with her sister and her brother-in-law and secured a part-time job just one month after giving birth to her daughter, Georgia.
As the mother of two amazing children today - Olivia also has a son, Hudson - she reflects back on that challenging time with the belief now that she was suffering post-natal depression and was not just simply ‘struggling’ with life as a young, inexperienced mother. ‘Mental health issues were not something people spoke about back then,’ she says. ‘I resonate with women who talk bravely about their battles with mental health and anxiety. I wish someone had known to ask me three simple words: 'ARE YOU OK?’
Even now with the success of Shhh Silk, Olivia still finds it difficult to relive certain memories - especially the decisions she knows were driven by self-doubt and fear. ‘Over the years, I’ve learnt how to strengthen my ‘self-belief muscle’ and stay true to myself,’ she says of her more positive outlook today.
But at age 20, with a screaming newborn baby and debt collectors banging on the door, waiting to repossess her car, Olivia understands feeling afraid. ‘I was scared. I would walk into the supermarket, penniless, and need to buy my baby nappies and formula. I still have slight shame having to admit this, but at times I had to shoplift just to survive,’ she says.
Olivia’s life turned around when an old friend and employer came to her house one evening when Georgia was two years old and took the giant pile of overdue bills and legal letters that were now mounting up to organise payment plans for overdue fines - and, importantly, created a budget for her to follow. ‘I’ll never forget his kindness, support and friendship - he was selflessly committed to making sure I was safe and empowered to make a change.’ And making change was exactly what Olivia did.
I'll read ALL the time – and then I take specific actions from the book and turn them into action steps to achieve by a timed date,’ she says. Podcasts are her favourite and finding inspiration in the lives of incredible human beings, impacts on every aspect of her life as a business person, friend , mentor and mother.
When it comes to the story behind Shhh Silk, Olivia cites her big idea-style thinking and genuine passion to help others as critical to launching - and growing - the successful brand.
‘My business partner (at the time) and I solely funded Shhh Silk and invested all of our own capital, from any means we could - including selling property,’ she says. ‘I am always learning and, regardless of what happens, I am a richer person for the knowledge.’
Success in business demands so much, starting with knowing your purpose and the heart and soul of your brand, exceptional problem-solving skills, combined with strategic thinking that generates meaningful outcomes.
‘I encourage all of my staff to be brave, back themselves and take their individual talents and turn them into their own businesses,’ says Olivia. It’s an impressive approach to leadership that has seen Olivia direct Shhh Silk towards a profitable path, while still nurturing a welcoming family like company culture.
In her home life, daily mentoring as a role-model to her children has helped them grow into what Olivia describes as ‘the most incredible humans I know’.
“We are a confident, friendly and passionate team who each want nothing more than to give back to the world in which we all reside. How we will do that is by continuing to lead from the heart, continue to grow and keep doing meaningful things for others in the community – that’s what motivates us. Doing good is in our DNA. I realise we are on our own path and that path looks very different to anyone else’s path,’ says Olivia, whose ambitious growth strategies are a strong foundation for what she knows one day will be a global explosion. “I’ve never wanted to be the biggest brand, but I’ve always known we would be the best at what we did. And the best to me as a Founder and leader in my space looks like both inspiring and supporting others to pursue their dreams no matter where they are in their life right now, and to give back to others, pay it forward like so many did for me when I needed it most.”
“ I don’t just sell pillowcases, I sell dreams”. - Olivia Carr