When Aira was just three years young, my daughter and I were walking the shoreline in Redondo Beach, California, picking up trash to leave the beach a little cleaner than we found it. Out of nowhere, a single, perfect California Turban Snail shell (big, spiraled, and shimmering) washed up right at her tiny feet.
I knelt down and told her, “The ocean is saying thank you. Mother Earth saw your kind heart and sent you this treasure for helping.” Her eyes went wide. From that moment, she was hooked. Every walk became a treasure hunt for shells, sea glass, and anything the tide gifted us.
She never stopped collecting. And she never stopped creating
Those pieces of sea glass she found as a little girl slowly turned into her first art: smoothed shards shaped into hearts, mermaids, and (her holiday favorite) jolly sea-glass Santa faces that now hang on Christmas trees across the country.
Unplug & Connect was born from that same magic.
We believe every child deserves to feel that same wonder (the kind that happens when you turn off the screens, step outside, and let nature hand you its treasures). We believe kids’ hands belong in dirt, sand, and leaves before they belong on keyboards. And we believe the art they make with what they find is worth celebrating, sharing, and even selling so the world can see childhood creativity exactly as it should be: wild, free, and straight from the heart.
This isn’t just a business. It’s the grown-up version of a three-year-old girl holding her first ocean thank-you gift… and wanting every child to feel that same grateful, joyful spark.
Welcome to Unplug & Connect. Let’s go make some treasure together.
