Meet Mary Ann Tooker and Daisy Bella!

Meet Mary Ann Tooker, founder of Daisy Bella, a clothing company that empowers women to find their confidence in being themselves. Based out of Stamford, CT, all their products are ethically-made, sweat-shop free, eco-friendly, and produced in the USA.

Mary Ann is a seasoned professional in the fashion and cosmetic industries. She worked for G. Fox and BCBG to name a few. When she was in her twenties a mentor cautioned her “I’m not sure you have tough enough skin for the fashion industry.” This stuck with Mary Ann, and set

her on her path to embrace others around her. Mary Ann was one of the sponsors for the internship students at the FIT. She took on students who were overlooked from the big-name companies mostly because of look or shyness. Mary Ann’s mom told her and her sisters to shoot for the stars and shoot for the stars they did! Mary Ann worked tirelessly and hasn’t stopped for a moment!

This past year Mary Ann sponsored two students to attend camp through Girls Inc. She sent the students anonymously. With Daisy Bella’s success, Mary Ann will be doing a whole lot more of that!

10% of Daisy Bella’s profits go to charities helping women and people in need.

While a rose gets so much attention a daisy is often overlooked and is just as beautiful, hence the name Daisy Bella.

Check out Daisy Bella’s t-shirts, sweatshirts and tanks, we love their positive affirmations: “Be The Change”, “You are Enough”, and especially “Be You”, two little words that are enormously powerful Mary Ann explains! If you are looking for comfortable, high quality garments, go to www.daisy-bella.com - a perfect gift for your special mom, sister, aunt and BFFs this Mother’s Day!

Check out our story to see how Daisy Bella’s items are beautifully packaged and a few of our faves!

FCL friends mention LIFESTYLE10 to get 10% off your first order!

Meet Debbi and ConnectFairfield!

Meet Debbi O’Keefe, founder of ConnectFairfield, a whole new connecting platform to connect people and collaborative events in Fairfield. Debbi’s mission is to bring people, businesses, educational institutions and entertainment venues, together for dynamic events. Debbi is no stranger to planning amazing events, she has been an event planner for over 25 years! And she has the incredible energy and drive to network and make great connections!

And if you haven’t seen Debbi around town recently we bet you will soon; be on the lookout for the ConnectFairfield’s Mobile Jeep Billboard. The Billboard will announce lively events being scheduled around town!

If you are new to town be sure to join the Fairfield Newcomers Club! You’ll find events curated with you in mind and designed to better connect you with this wonderful town!

Be sure to sign up for the ConnectFairfield Scavenger Hunt. This community FUN-raiser will take place throughout the entire town of Fairfield using Eventzee, a free mobile app. The challenge begins on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 and ends on March 31, 2021. A portion of the proceeds benefits the St. Baldrick’s Foundation/Team Teddy. For more details go to @connectfairfield!

Being a High Schooler During COVID

by Ryan Delaney

Since I am relatively new to the Fairfield County Lifestyle family and since this is my first personal writing on the blog, I want to introduce myself before I go any further. My name is Ryan, and I am currently a senior at Weston High School. I have lived in Weston my whole life with my two younger brothers: Dylan, who is 15, and Brady who is 13. Today I am writing about my experiences with the COVID pandemic as a high school student.

It is very hard to simplify what I am feeling from this pandemic into words that would make sense to anyone besides myself. The best way I can describe everything is overwhelming. I have so many things I would love to express, but I really don’t know how, so here we go:

I have so much extra responsibility for someone who is still a teenager. Not only will I miss out on the typical junior and senior year traditions, but I also have to be extra cautious about any interactions I have beyond the walls of my house. I have stockpiles of hand sanitizer and masks in my car, plenty of each in my school bag and even a basket full of masks at home.

Plus, as a senior, the first half of my year was overwhelmed by college applications and getting the best grades I could possibly get. I couldn’t visit the majority of my college campuses and all of the information sessions were through zoom. It was very hard to find colleges I even remotely liked because I was unable to get a real feel for the schools.

In terms of my day-to-day schooling, the chaos gets even worse. In all fairness, I know the administration at my school has tried their hardest to make our lives as easy and safe as possible while giving us the most amount of school hours they could, but the schedules they have created have been super confusing. Not only was the school split in half and put into two cohorts, but we have been giving three different schedule variations since the start of school. On top of the uncertainty of the pandemic, we have had to remember which schedule we are on and if we even go to school that day. Everyone gets lost in the schedule and many teachers find it hard to remember who is voluntarily online, online just for the day with their cohort or who is supposed to be in person. Just last week, my friend got confused about which cohort was supposed to be in the school building and accidentally skipped a whole day of school and none of her teachers even noticed.

My at home set-up so I can be comfortable all day online

On top of all these abnormalities, being able to see my friends, who have helped me survive the last few years of school, is a rare occurrence. I have to balance staying safe and also attempting to maintain a social life to help my mental health from going down the drain which is why when I do see my friends we stay outside with masks and layers of blankets to stay warm.

I hope this helps describe a different side of the pandemic then you may be used to and will help you and your kids in the future. My goal here was to raise awareness about the additional stress many teenagers besides myself are going through and potentially bring the message that we all need a little break.

Thank you :)

Ryan