Hey, everyone!

We've been hinting at our new project for weeks, and we started quicker as soon as we announced our Crystallized EP release for July 1st. Did anyone anticipate that our new project would not only be more vegan food, more music, more home design, more wellness tips, but all of it in one place?

S U R P R I S E !

For all of the new readers and visitors out there, I think an introduction is in order, not to mention a little background on why we said goodbye to BlissBranch and hello to our dream blog.

Collin grew up touring on the road with his family (the bands Eisley and Merriment); the youngest of six, his music was his full-time education and junk food was his main hobby. Trading in textbooks for any instrument he could find, fueled by processed sugar, he developed his very own unique musical taste, heavily inspired by Radiohead and Bjork.

I (Karsyn) grew up in the public school system, singing choir concerts and taking guitar lessons; though I sang at every school event and occasional musical, I was overweight and had severely low self-esteem, never believing I could be a performer. After struggling with my weight and relationship with food for years, I eventually sought professional help around the time I met Collin. At the age of 18, we met and we were married 16 months later. Early on, we knew we wanted to make music together.

W H Y W E S T A R T E D A N E W B L O G

In addition to our musical projects, we also began a vintage shop and lifestyle blog together in the summer of 2014, called BlissBranch . Though we were passionate about the message, it was hard to be all inclusive with the both of us, our music, our lifestyle, and maintain some sort of vintage and handmade shop. We toyed with art, beauty products, and other wholesale fashion, but eventually decided selling products wasn't our number one passion. Being a writer since birth, I've loved being a blogger, and I've tried to find which avenue of blogging we could pursue together. Wildernessa is a new space for us to fully dive into all of our passions in an all-encompassing lifestyle blog exposing our world to you! With this new blog, there are no rules or limitations to what we can and will share, with our focus always being on creating and exploring. (**You can still find our BlissBranch blog posts here**)

W E L L N E S S

As I was finishing up my health coaching program with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2015, we made an ethical decision to become vegans. You know those vegan memes? Yeah, they're pretty true for us (I literally feel like I tell everyone I meet that I'm vegan and I love the animals and environment). Having been a vegetarian on and off since I was around ten, I exposed Collin to meatless living early into our marriage, and we quickly became zealots for an all organic lifestyle. Becoming vegan was not only widely based on our love for animals, but also undeniably important for preserving our environment. We made so many shifts in our household since, and have gone from being just recyclers to being a zero waste household, for example. Needless to say, taking care of our bodies and the environment is a huge passion and priority for us and impacts us daily, and it's something we love sharing on the blog and with others. Whether it be through recipes, coaching packages, or demo videos, we want to bring you into our vegan kitchen as often as possible!

M U S I C

Collin knew I had played several shows in our hometown of Tyler, Texas before we began dating, and it was no secret that his whole world was playing and touring with bands. Our relationship was buzzing with creative energy as we toured with his previous band Merriment while opening for Sucre; returning home, we began working on our first musical project FORTUNES in December 2014. We played several shows back in our hometown, but as we moved to Nashville to pursue music and blogging, we found ourselves being consumed in our part-time restaurant jobs we needed to pay our bills. Collin also found his groove quickly with producing opportunities, string tracking for other bands, and licensing deals for trailers and TV. We knew we were in a transitional phase with our band and our sound was changing. Mostly digital with the organic twist of a live orchestra and occasional acoustic guitar, our signature sound took form and we knew a name change was absolutely crucial! We felt like Wildernessa not only fully embodied our unique musical vibe, but also our close-to-nature lifestyle as well.

O U R H O M E

Having moved to Nashville with a small group of (totally awesome!) friends, we've definitely found ourselves turning to the blog in times of loneliness. The adaptation period of moving across country is rather isolating occasionally, and we've found a new true passion in making our plentiful rental houses into homes. Temporary changes, quick fixes, and budget DIYs are our specialty, and we're obsessed with sharing our favorite companies and collabs on the blog --- this was another huge motivator for making a couple-based lifestyle blog!

g e t i n t o u ch

Are you a band or a brand looking to get involved with us in one of the following ways?:

Instagram/Snapchat promotional rates
blog feature rates
vegan/wellness services
songwriting services
string work/production services

Something else? Shoot us an email at wldrnessa@gmail.com

Welcome to Wildernessa