Becoming EverProud: A Return to Roots

July 20, 2025
By EverProud Collective

EverProud Collective didn’t begin with a product.
It began with a decision.
A return.
A remembering.

This is the story of leaving home, finding myself, and coming back—not just to the Pacific Northwest, but to a deeper kind of pride. The quiet, grounded kind that whispers you belong.

From Lights and Runways to Trees and Fog

For over a decade, I chased opportunity beneath desert skies.
Las Vegas was everything I thought I needed at the time, fast-moving, full of energy, brimming with career potential. The lights were bright, the pace relentless, and the possibilities endless. It was a city that pushed you to keep moving, keep rising, keep reaching.

And I did.
I built something real there.
I led IT teams through complex projects. I helped small and mid-sized companies grow and evolve. I boarded countless flights, touched down in unfamiliar cities, navigated unfamiliar boardrooms, and delivered results. I became the person people called when they needed solutions - quickly and quietly.

There are few airports in this country I haven’t flown into or out of.
At times, it felt like I was collecting puzzle pieces across the map—building a future I hadn’t fully named, but knew I was chasing.

And in the middle of all that movement, something beautiful happened.
I met my husband. Amid the noise and neon, we found stillness with each other. We built a life surrounded by dusty mountains, starry desert nights, and a kind of togetherness that made everything else make sense.

But over time, the city that once felt like freedom started to feel heavy.
The heat - both literal and emotional, settled into our bones. The endless summers, the constant go-go-go, the airports, the meetings, the distance from nature and community… it began to wear.

We started to talk more about home—not just as a place, but as a feeling.
We craved slowness. Stillness. Connection.
We wanted to walk under trees again. To wake up to fog and silence.
To feel rooted.

And then one day, we stopped dreaming about it,
and we came back.

Why We Came Home

The moment we crossed back into the Northwest, it felt like exhaling after holding my breath for years.

The air was different - cleaner, cooler, laced with pine and promise. That unmistakable scent of rain-soaked soil and evergreen needles hit me like a memory I didn’t know I needed. We rolled the windows down, and it was like the trees themselves were whispering, welcome back.

The fog curled through the branches in a way that felt both haunting and comforting, like the land had been holding space for us all along. And then, as if on cue, the mountain revealed itself - silent, steady, unshaken by time. Towering above everything, not demanding attention, just being. Present. Patient.

I stared at it for a long time, heart full and eyes wide, and I remember thinking,
“What was I doing away from this for so long?”

It wasn’t just nostalgia. It was a deep remembering.
Of who I was before the noise.
Of what mattered before the titles, the miles, the meetings.
Of how it felt to belong—not because I earned it, but because I existed.

Coming home wasn’t a retreat. It was a return to alignment.
To clarity. To peace.
To a place where my breath slowed, my shoulders dropped, and my soul settled.

This wasn’t just where I grew up.
It was where I was always meant to become.

To heal.
To root.
To create.

The Pacific Northwest: Our Home, Our Heartbeat

The Pacific Northwest is more than a place on a map.
It’s more than moss-covered forests and gray skies.
It’s a rhythm. A refuge. A way of being.

It’s how we live.
How we move through the world—with intention, with respect, with quiet strength.

It’s the hush of fog settling between ancient cedars at dawn.
The smell of wet bark and woodsmoke.
The stillness of a forest trail where your footsteps are the only sound.
It’s the kind of calm that isn’t empty—but full. Full of meaning, memory, and breath.

It’s the way the sky and sea seem to conspire, turning everything into muted blue and silver.
The sound of rain on rooftops, not as an interruption, but as a steady companion.
The long light of summer evenings filtered through fir branches - soft, golden, almost holy.
And when the mountain comes out?
It doesn’t need an announcement. It simply arrives.
Present. Towering. Timeless.

Here, beauty isn’t loud. It lingers.
It’s not about spectacle—it’s about presence.
The PNW doesn’t demand your attention. It earns it, slowly.
And in return, it offers a quiet kind of clarity. One that seeps into your bones and stays.

And in this place—so rooted, so still—I’ve learned that pride can be the same way.

Here, pride isn’t always parades or megaphones.
It’s not always bright and blazing.
Sometimes it’s slow.
Sometimes it’s deep.
Sometimes it’s steady and silent, like the tide rolling in at night.

This land taught me that:

• Softness is strength.
• Stillness is sacred.
• You don’t have to be loud to belong.
• You don’t have to be bold to be valid.
• You can be quiet, and brave, and powerful - all at once.
  
  

And that’s what EverProud is all about.

We draw inspiration from this place in every thread and tone we choose.
Our color palettes echo the coastlines, the forests, the fog.
Our values mirror the landscape: honest, grounded, layered.

EverProud was born in this soil.
It’s stitched with the spirit of this land.
Rooted in this truth:
That becoming yourself doesn’t have to be loud to be life-changing.

This is the heart of our Collective.
This is the Northwest.
And this is home.

The Why Behind the Brand

EverProud wasn’t born from a marketing strategy or a seasonal trend.
It was born from a quiet realization that became impossible to ignore:

That identity doesn’t need to be shouted to be valid.
That visibility doesn’t require vulnerability.
That pride can be expressed in layers - bold and bright for some, soft and steady for others.

Not everyone wants to wear their identity like a spotlight.
Some of us want to wear it like a second skin—familiar, comfortable, deeply personal.
Like a jacket that fits just right.
Like home.

EverProud exists for the ones in process.
For those still becoming.
For the ones who speak in soft tones but carry deep truths.
For the ones whose pride doesn’t look like a parade - it looks like presence. Stillness.
A knowing smile. A quiet yes whispered in the mirror.

We built this brand to reflect the full range of what it means to be LGBTQ+—not just the loud, the bold, the out-front… but the nuanced, the evolving, the tender, the complex.

We’re not here to tell people how to show up.
We’re here to create space for them to show up as they are.

That’s why our designs don’t scream—they speak.
In the language of place, and feeling, and subtle strength.

They're rooted in the land that shaped us:

• Deep evergreen tones drawn from the forests we walk

• Foggy grays like the sky just before the rain comes

• Salt-washed blues pulled from tidepools and overcast mornings

• Earthy, grounded textures that feel like bark, stone, and shoreline

• Soft typography and thoughtful phrases—the kind you lean into, not away from
  
  

Each design is created with intention.
Not just to be worn, but to be felt.

We Are Still Becoming

We are still building.
Still listening.
Still learning what it truly means to show up—with purpose, with presence, and with heart.

EverProud wasn’t built overnight - and it was never meant to be finished quickly.
Because growth takes time.
Becoming takes time.
And we believe in honoring every step of that journey—especially the quiet ones.

This brand, this space, this collective—
It was created for the wanderers.
The in-betweeners.
The late bloomers.
The ones who are still learning how to love themselves out loud—or in whispers.

If you’ve ever felt like the loudest rooms weren’t built with you in mind...
If you’ve ever looked around a space and thought, “Where do I fit in?”
If your kind of pride feels more like breath than banner
More like a slow sunrise than a spotlight
More like still water than crashing waves

Then this is for you.

This is for the ones who are carving out their voice, not shouting it.
For the ones who find power in softness.
For the ones who are building their own definitions of pride, love, strength, and self.

You don’t need permission to belong.
You already do.

So take up space—in whatever way feels right for you.
Move at your own pace.
Come home to yourself.

You are seen.
You are safe.
You are enough.

You belong here.
Always have. Always will.

Stay soft.
Stay grounded.
Stay becoming.
Stay EverProud.

With love,
Patrick
Founder, EverProud Collective