Hi welcome to belly!

When my husband and I decided to take a leap and try our hands at building an independent product studio from scratch, we knew it would be hard, but I don’t think we were ready for the rollercoaster ride that is bootstrapped entrepreneurship.

Our first product Workbench (which we still believe in) grew to a stable amount of users. But after months of us trying everything we could think of to get more businesses on the platform, we realized that we’d hit a creative wall.

Belly was meant to be a fun little rest stop to get the creative juices flowing again before jumping back into the world of B2B cold calls and in-person sales visits. We love cooking from home and all the positive financial and wellness benefits that that has had in our lives; especially as early career kiddos living in expensive Vancouver.

So the design direction was simple, how do I take this activity that we do everyday (planning and making what we eat) and give it an aesthetic that makes me smile. After building and sharing the V1 of Belly to some close friends, we realized something - we were having fun again!

We started IT’S US STUDIO because we love making things and we love seeing the things we’ve made bring joy those who engage with them. Seeing friends share recipes with others in their lives, make meal plans, and send us encouraging text messages about how much they’ve loved using Belly reminded us of why we started our studio in the first place.

There’s a lot for us to learn, but my vision is to see Belly become the best tool for anyone like me who wants to live and feel their best through calm and inspiring meal planning.

xo, Kenz (& E)