The Sustainable Haven Founder, Elizabeth Kemler

I’m a single, working mother, social entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and (occasional) performer, with a passion for all things cozy. I have sought out and created coziness from as far back as I can remember–spending hours as a child tucked inside my carefully crafted blanket forts with my stuffed animals and sketch book, covering my box-size college dorm rooms with gauzy fabrics and fluffy rugs, filling the nearly uninhabitable NYC apartments of my youth with big floor pillows and jasmine candles. Whatever space I inhabited, it had to be cozified. It had to be a haven.

Beyond home, wherever that was, I've sought out the cafes, parks, and places of natural beauty, that offered that same sense of welcoming warmth. I'd long thought of this drive for comfort as a personality quirk...in my more critical moments, more like self-indulgence. Over time though, I started to realize what it truly was–a survival instinct. Having spent much of my life tackling the dual challenges of depression and anxiety, the quest for cozy has simply been an act of self-care.

As healing as they were though, these outer respites were not enough to keep me grounded and fulfilled, and over the years, I discovered and developed myriad techniques for bringing my mind and body into balance–essentially creating an “inner haven” to match my outer ones. From this, my mental wellness platform, Mindfulness for a Messy Life was born. The perfect complement (IMHO!) to all that The Sustainable Haven offers. 

I continue to seek out and find new ways to soften the hard edges of life, connect more deeply and meaningfully with the present, and give myself a sense of hope and possibility. It is my greatest wish now to share all of this with you.