Book: You Are the Key
If you have ever seen a Hollywood star with a key around their neck, chances are it was handmade by a man or woman transitioning out of homelessness. Everyone from Kristen Bell and Taylor Swift to Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling, have sported the jewelry designed by Caitlin Crosby, who built up The Giving Keys from a merch table at her singing gigs to a business with a mission to end homelessness through employment.
Caitlin was named among Oprah’s SuperSoul100 list of visionaries in 2016, and her jewelry has been featured on The Today Show, Ellen, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and many other media outlets. The Giving Keys jewelry has been carried in over 1,400 stores and they have partnered with Nordstrom, Starbucks, Anthropologie, Magnolia and Free People. The company has employed over 130 people transitioning out of homelessness at their warehouse in Los Angeles.
In You Are the Key: Turning Imperfections into Purpose, Caitlin shares about the early days of the company and everything that led her to start the social enterprise brand, including her time as a actress and singer in a girl band. Endorsed by Joanna Gaines, Maria Shriver, Sarah Jakes Roberts, Sadie Robertson and Rene Russo, You Are the Key is a message of hope for anyone who feels less-than about their work, worth, body or life.
For the first time, Caitlin is also opening up about a very personal health journey that shaped her sense of self for the better part of a decade, in hopes that her story may inspire other women. She vulnerably—and humorously—shares her imperfections and struggles as a woman, a mother, a CEO.
Caitlin grew up in Hollywood where her dad was a TV executive and manager. She writes about feeling constantly in the shadow of her dad’s famous clients. She couldn’t help comparing herself to those seemingly perfect women. She would look in the mirror, see what doctors called her “deformed” body, and wonder if anyone could ever love her let alone the question of if she could ever love herself.
In her 20s, she was cast in a film alongside Brie Larson. After they saw their heads on other models’ bodies on the movie poster, Caitlin and Brie founded LoveYourFlawz, a campaign to help women improve their body image. What the public didn’t see was the woman they saw as a beautiful blonde was actually struggling with a deep, shameful secret and hated her body.
Caitlin wants readers to know they are not alone in their struggles, imperfections or setbacks. To reach their greatest potential, they can take their story, their failures and their flaws to find their purpose and do what only they were made to do in the world.
“We are all in this together,” Caitlin writes to her readers, “You have a purpose, and it’s waiting for you. It’s not too late. There’s more out there for you. You do have what it takes. Your life is waiting for you. The world needs your imperfect.”
Caitlin Crosby
Caitlin Crosby is the founder of The Giving Keys, a jewelry company with the mission of helping its employees transition out of homelessness. She was named among Oprah’s SuperSoul100 list of visionaries in 2016 and featured on The Today Show, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and many other media outlets. Caitlin lives with her husband and their two children in LA, and you can connect with her on Instagram @caitlincrosby and www.thegivingkeys.com.