Never Just One Thing: Raine on Building a Life That Holds It All
Raine has never really been just one thing.
By day, she is an educator in a local institute of higher learning . By night, she is the founder and leather maker behind House of ABR. And somewhere in between, she is also a wife, daughter and mum to a five-year-old.
“One minute I’m leading a team, the next I’m designing a bag or negotiating with a five-year-old,” she laughs. “Three very different worlds, and somehow, the five-year-old is always the toughest boss!”
It really sounds like a lot of different identities to hold at once.
Who Says You Have to Choose?
Raine has spent more than 16 years in education, started out with teaching business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Then, in 2014, she started House of ABR.
There wasn’t a dramatic moment of inspiration or perfectly planned founder story. She simply loved leather, design and making things that felt like her. With no background in fashion, she learnt by making mistakes, changing things, trying again and occasionally putting the brand on pause when life became too busy.
So why keep both? Her answer is very Raine:
“Because who says I have to choose?”
Education brings purpose to her life, gives her the opportunity to nurture people, watch them grow and hopefully make a difference in their lives.
ABR fulfils something entirely different.
“It’s my creative playground,” she says. “A little world where I get to make my own rules.”
Growing Up Without Becoming Too Grown Up
House of ABR has changed alongside Raine.
There were years when she poured almost everything into it, and others when she barely had time to give it much attention at all. That journey taught her something she now carries beyond the brand:
Growth does not always mean doing more or becoming bigger.
Sometimes, growth is simply becoming clearer about what you actually want and being comfortable enough to do it your own way.
“And it’s perfectly fine to change your mind along the way,” she adds.
Today, ABR represents more than beautiful leather pieces.
For Raine, it has become a form of self-definition: The freedom to be serious about work and still love silly things. To be feminine and strong. Ambitious and exhausted. Completely put together one day and slightly chaotic the next.
Basically, contradictory. And she fully embraces it.
Asked which contradiction describes her best, Raine points to her love of all things black, edgy and effortlessly cool. Then comes the plot twist.
“I can be all serious and no-nonsense, but I’m a huge CRYBABY fan! Put a cute little CRYBABY in front of me and suddenly I’m a little girl again,” she says. “So much for my cool-girl image!”
Her conclusion? “I guess I’m just a softie disguised in black leather.”
Organised Chaos Is Still Organisation… Sort Of
With work, ABR, motherhood and everything else competing for attention, Raine would love to say she has mastered the perfect system.
The reality? Organised chaos.
She likes plans. She makes lists. She likes knowing what is coming next.
Life, unfortunately, does not always consult the schedule. Especially when there is a five-year-old involved. Some days everything works beautifully. Other days, success simply means everyone has eaten and made it through the day.
“I have my meltdown days too,” Raine admits. "And my daughter is sometimes the one comforting and occasionally lecturing me."
“I guess I’ve found my successor. And she’s only five!”
Behind the humour is something Raine is still learning: being present can matter just as much as being productive.
Motherhood has changed the way she thinks about time, success and what deserves her attention. She is still ambitious, but achievement is no longer the only measure of whether a day, or a life, has been well spent.
The Voices She Still Carries With Her
There is another part of Raine’s identity that remains especially close to her. She is still very much a daughter.
Her parents are no longer around, but the things they taught her continue to shape the way she works, makes decisions and raises her own daughter.
Her mum would tell her: “As long as you’ve done your best, that’s enough. The results don’t matter.”
Her dad had a different reminder: “Never compete with others. Your only competitor is who you were yesterday.”
One lesson taught her to be kinder to herself. The other taught her to keep growing.
“My parents may no longer be around, but I love knowing that a little part of them lives on through me, and now through her too.”
She still hears them in the way she makes decisions. She sees them in how she raises her daughter. And on days when her own confidence feels slightly less certain, she still carries the confidence they once had in her.
Self-Care, Minus the Grand Gesture
At this stage of life, Raine thinks that taking care of herself is less about elaborate routines, and more about small moments that give her some space back.
A long walk. A good meal. A little shopping.
Or the ultimate luxury: An entire hour where nobody needs anything from her.
"I’ve learnt that self-care doesn’t always have to be something grand. Sometimes it’s giving myself permission to do absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about it."
Her Company of Wellness go-to follows the same uncomplicated philosophy.
Raine’s favourite has always been Clean D Drink, the one she reaches for when she feels bloated or when her digestive system is, in her words, “not quite moving along”.
It may not be the most glamorous wellness topic, but Raine is not particularly interested in pretending otherwise. “A happy tummy is a happy me!” she says. “And trust me, I take my toilet business very seriously!”
Very on-brand for someone who has never felt the need to make every part of life look perfectly polished.
Making Room for All of It
Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Raine’s story is that she has never felt the need to choose just one version of herself.
She can be an educator who needs to create, a founder who does not believe everything has to keep getting bigger, a mother who sometimes gets comforted by her five-year-old, a woman in black leather who melts over something cute, and a daughter who still carries her parents with her.
Some parts may be louder at different times, but they all belong. And maybe that is what growing into yourself really looks like. Not narrowing yourself down, but building a life spacious enough to hold all the different versions of you.
