The Founder

Hi! I'M MARISSA

You are not too much. You never were.

I created It's Okay to Feel because I know what it costs to keep pretending you're fine. This brand exists for the person who is exhausted from holding it all in, and ready to stop. Everything we build here started from one core truth: your feelings are not the problem. They are the most real thing about you. And you deserve a place where that is not just tolerated but actually honored.

MY STORY

For most of my life, I thought being easy to be around was the same as being loved.

I had been told so many times that I was too sensitive, that my feelings were too much, that I started to believe the solution was just to feel less. So I got good at it and I made myself smaller and more palatable and I watched people respond well to that version of me. What I didn't see until much later was that those relationships were hollow. Nobody actually knew me. They knew the version of me that never made anyone uncomfortable.

It took losing some of those relationships, and finding new ones with people who actually wanted all of me, to understand what I had been doing to myself. Suppressing your feelings doesn't keep things peaceful, it just keeps you invisible.

I've built other businesses before this one. Some worked for a while, some didn't, and none of them felt like this. It's Okay To Feel is the first thing I've built that I would do even if it never made me a dollar. We make clothing with artists who believe in emotional expression and we're building a free app to connect people with licensed therapists at no cost, because your ability to access mental health support shouldn't depend on your bank account. The app is live as a mobile web app right now, with a full launch coming. This is my life's work and I mean that.

FOR YOU

You don't have to be deep into your healing journey to belong here.

You just have to be willing to feel something. That's the whole entry requirement.

I spent so long thinking that if I just pushed my feelings down far enough they would eventually go away. They don't. They just find other ways out. The most peaceful I have ever felt in my life came after I stopped fighting what was already true inside me and just let it be there.

That's what I want for you. Not a perfectly healed version of yourself, just a little more room to be honest about how you actually feel.

If you've made it this far, use code "bethechange" at checkout for a lil somethin. And thank you for being here. You're the reason this exists.

With love,

Marissa

P.S. Want to follow the journey behind the brand? I share it all at @marissadare on TikTok.

Help Me Make Therapy Free For All

View all