Sharon Fielding and Karen Thomas are the founders of UK-based handmade crafts marketplace Mightie Makers. Both Karen and Sharon have multiple chronic illnesses and deal with mobility challenges. Knowing how isolating a diagnosis can be, they built Mightie Makers to create a community for people with disabilities.
"I noticed we all shared the same sense of loss, we'd lost friends, many of us had lost jobs - and the biggest thing that hurt deep into my soul was everyone's overwhelming loss of purpose," explains Karen.
"I desperately wanted to make that better. So, we created a community for everyone to showcase their talents in one place and give people a way of creating their own businesses."
Shop owners on the Mightie Makers platform sell all sorts of wares, from jewellery and accessories to homeware and keepsakes. While making money from selling crafts can bring a sense of independence, Mightie Makers' mission statement is about being among like-minded people who understand what you're going through.
"We are all about celebrating the things we can do, when life gives us a ton of things we can't do," says Sharon.
Visit mightiemakers.co.uk
