Meet Taylor Rule | Madouk Collection Owner & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Rule and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The thought process behind Madouk is kind of a funny story.

Jess (co-founder) and I were actually living in Morocco for a completely different company that was centered around high end travel curation and wellness retreats. Prior to that, we had graduated college and immediately moved to Thailand to teach English (against the will of most people we knew). We had no idea what was going to come out of it, but we knew we needed to give ourselves the chance.

You see, there are people who spend their lives with the expectation that success translates to happiness, and then there are people who innately understand that success comes with finding something that makes us happy and figuring out a way to transform it into our lives.

After teaching English in a rural town outside Bangkok for over 8 months, we ended up living in Phuket and working at a wellness and detox center, mainly in customer relations and branding/marketing behind the center. Ultimately, we got recruited to work part time for this travel curation and wellness retreat company and then moved to Morocco for a full time position.

That’s when things got weird. You have to imagine, two 23-year olds move to a small town in Morocco where they know no one, and cannot understand the language. We lived with our boss, and ended up working 16 – 18 hour days, 7 days a week. There really was nothing else to do besides work, and we loved it but there was also no boundary between personal and professional life. It ended up being a very toxic situation and essentially the only reprieve we would get is immersing ourselves into the local culture. It’s funny because people always say to us “That’s so amazing of you to be helping the artisans over there”, when in reality they actually saved us during a very dark period of our lives.

Our time in Morocco gave us the opportunity to learn the value of human to human connection and the need to support individuals both for the benefit of ourselves and our environment. Typically when traveling, you don’t get the chance to truly connect with the local community. We were lucky to be able to make lasting and authentic personal relationships with some of the local artisans there, meeting their families and sharing meals over little to no communication. The language barrier meant nothing, there was a sense of feeling home with these people.

It also became apparent to us how the unbalanced system of foreign exporters coming to Morocco to buy low and sell high affected the artisans who put in the hard work and time, yet never received any of the profit. Again, it’s easy to overlook and yes many people say it happens everywhere. But when you are living in a very small town and become familiar with the people and the way of life, it starts to affect you differently. It becomes more personal.

The industry we were working in at the time gave us the insight of how our generation is shifting to a more conscious and sustainable lifestyle, preferring products and practices that are more personal and ethically sourced over mass manufactured goods.

Timing is everything. We essentially had to quit our jobs as it was taking too much of a toll on our mental, emotional and physical health. We were being overworked, underpaid and simply taken advantage of.

We were faced with a decision.

Return back to California from Morocco and start over after being away from home for 2 years; or use the hardship of our experiences to our advantage in order to make a difference that actually mattered to us in our hearts.

There was no choice. It was very clear.

That’s where the meaning of Madouk is derived from. It is an Arabic term used to describe an individual who is toughened by life and alludes to a person who has had a round of life experience and is qualified for any task they set their mind too.

Our business is based out of our own experiences.

Madouk was born out of a desire to empower the artisans who touched our lives, honor their ancient craft that was becoming endangered with the rise of mass machine made goods, and bring unique beauty into the world with pieces that have a story.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Why Madouk exists

Our mission as a brand is to create a positive impact on the world by connecting conscious consumers with meaningful, ethically sourced, and handmade home décor products that empower artisans and promote sustainability.

We envision a world where consumers make informed choices that contribute to the well-being of both people and the planet, fostering a global community that values craftsmanship, fair trade, and environmental responsibility.

Madouk believes in the power of design to transform spaces and lives. By curating unique, handcrafted products that draw from natural surroundings and directly benefit the artisans who create them, we connect people with stories, cultures, and values that enrich their lives and promote positive change.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Anyone who has the desire to travel, I encourage you to do so. As fearlessly as you can, because when you travel you step outside of your own perception.

Like I said before, experience is the ultimate teacher. New experiences in foreign places with completely different cultures outside our own grasp of safety and familiarity is a fast track to appreciating human connection. It’s something that can’t be put into words because it is an innate feeling of pure ecstasy. There are times were you want to absolutely scream and give up and go home back to the comfort of your daily life. And through those moments you discover a part of yourself you never knew before, the part of you that keeps going despite all the obstacles.

You gain a new perception and an idea of what it is that truly makes you happy.

I met Jess living in Italy, and we decided to take a chance on life by moving to Asia and again moving to Africa. All of those experiences led us to where we are today.

My greatest piece of advice for anyone is that it’s better to try and fail at something than to not try and have to live with the haunting question of “what if” the rest of your life.

There is nothing worse than regret. And we have so little time on this Earth that there is no room for regret if you want to find happiness.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have had many teachers, many mentors, many haters. They have all served a very critical lesson in teaching me that experience is the best teacher and motivation one could use to essentially create the life they want.

I have friends who are wellness & lifestyle coaches, I am blessed to be surrounded by people who are incredibly powerful healers, I have a family who has instilled in me a strong foundation of integrity and will power.

There are tools and teachers everywhere, it’s about our willingness to accept the uncertainty of life and use it as an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and how intrinsically connected everything is in our lives.

Website: https://www.madoukcollection.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madouk_collection/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-rule-288095a3/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madoukcollection

Due to the circumstances around the tragic earthquake in Morocco we have set up a Gofund me to directly support the artisans.

Image Credits
Tim Hardy Chad Mellon