[This post originally appeared on Humans of Terrace, a photography project featuring “the faces, cultures, activities, and personalities of the humans (and dogs) that make up our town and area.”]
This is Danielle. Her story is one of two different worlds; one with sun and the other with snow.
It’s also about community and what it’s like to find home.
Originally from Australia, Danielle has chapters of her story in Vancouver, Mexico, Vietnam and Macau. Knowing all this about her past, the million dollar question is: how did she end up in Terrace?
During her stay in Vancouver in 2015, Danielle met a boy named Joe. Eventually their friendship took a turn for the romantic and after they were married, they moved back to Joe’s hometown, Queen Charlotte City. And then in 2018, they began to officially call Terrace home.
It wasn’t long before Danielle noticed a gap in the market and realized the community was in need of a high quality baby and toddler store. And in November of 2020, Little Gumnut and Co. was born.
Immaculately kept and stocked with high quality goods, Little Gumnut exclusively carries Australian and Canadian brands. Highlighting these two countries is not a coincidence; it’s telling the story of the duality that exists in Danielle’s life. She feels connected to the community here in Terrace and is grateful for an ever widening social circle, but at her core, she deeply misses Australia.
She imagined raising her two kids, Sonny and Tas, at the beach, learning to surf and growing up under the sun. Although this longing lives within her, Danielle has turned this energy into a passion for creating community.
Little Gumnut has become a sort of sacred, safe place for new parents and to anyone who has spent any time with Danielle, this won’t be surprising. Being around Danielle feels comforting and she makes everyone feel at ease, which is a marked difference from the online battle ground of motherhood that often feels judgmental and competitive.
She hopes to expand the large room behind the store to create a drop-in community space for mothers to just let their guard down. With Little Gumnut being a marriage between her entrepreneurIal vision and her passion for supporting mothers, it makes sense this part of her life story is a chapter so many are drawn too.