A note from our founder

I didn't start Isla Foundry because I had a brilliant ecommerce idea.

I started it because I was trying to find a way to stay.

For years, I thought I was trying to build businesses.

Looking back, I think I was really trying to build a home. Since I was young, the thing I wanted most was somewhere to belong and people to love.

Before the Philippines

The Philippines had been appearing quietly in my life for years — through childhood friendships, old thoughts about missionary work, and connections I never expected to matter later.

When I was around twelve, I remember wondering why people seemed to hurt each other so much and wishing I could change something about it. Pain usually became energy for me: another idea, another attempt to build something, another way forward. Years later, during another difficult period in my life, I considered missionary work. The Philippines entered the picture then too.

Then I met MJ

One conversation changed the direction of my life.

We skipped the usual small talk. We told each other real things almost immediately — our failures, our hopes, what had hurt, and what we still wanted from life.

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Neither of us quite understood why the other person was interested. We came from different cultures but carried surprisingly similar emotional histories. I had spent years wondering what a genuine connection would feel like. Then suddenly I did not have to wonder.

For probably the first time in my adult life, somebody became more important than the business. I bought the plane ticket.

What I found

I came to meet the woman I loved. I found an entire life.

From the moment I arrived, I was treated like family. I learned a different rhythm of care, responsibility, generosity, and love — and I started to understand what home could feel like.

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Mary Jane would take care of me in ways that initially made my American brain uncomfortable because I thought I should be doing everything myself. We were both learning how the other person expresses love.

Then my old life started falling apart.

The business I depended on collapsed. Part of that was circumstance. Part of it was my responsibility. There are decisions I wish I had handled with more discipline.

The business I had built didn't survive the journey. The reason I made the journey did.

The family I spent most of my life searching for was finally right here with me.

Isla Foundry

The question changed from “How do I go back?” to “How do I build a life that lets me stay?”

I started paying closer attention to what was around me: Inabel, abaca, woven bags, natural materials, family businesses, and products that American customers rarely encounter. I did not want to ask how cheaply I could buy them. I wanted to know what happened if we found people who understood what they were worth.