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By Mandy Haggerson

For the Clemmons Courier

When you spend your childhood encouraged to use your imagination and explore the surroundings around you, it’s no wonder you know the sky is the limit. Kadie Veille and her three sisters spent many days in Clemmons roaming the woods in the neighborhood that is now known as Fair Oaks.

“At that time, my sisters rode horses, and they kept them in a barn over there. Aside from visiting the horses, we would set up pretend offices and make believe we were lawyers. When we learned that the Blumenthal Jewish home was up for sale, we used our ‘office’ to come up with a PowerPoint presentation for our parents to purchase it. Our vision was to turn it into an equine hotel with a parking lot that also had a skating rink,” said Veille. 

While Veille’s initial entrepreneurial dreams did not come into fruition, it did not stop her from considering others with her sisters.

“We always had some business idea in the works, and if we weren’t thinking about those next steps, we were doing something active like making up dances or exploring the woods,” revealed Veille. “I enjoyed dancing so much; I gave cheerleading a try and did that competitively at Carolina Spirit Athletics. I went onto cheer at West Forsyth High School, too. I had tried other sports like basketball, and my dad who’s a big athlete coached me. I pretty much tried any sport he wanted to coach but cheer was what stuck most with me.” 

When Veille was a senior in high school she had explored several options for college in North Carolina.

“When I toured the University of North Carolina at Wilmington it felt like the right place for me. I was also intrigued with marine biology until I realized that the sciences were not my favorite. I switched gears and majored in political science and Spanish,” said Veille. “In one of my classes, I had a retired Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer teach contract and international law. I was captivated and decided that I would spend a year abroad in Spain teaching English and traveling. I planned to go to law school when I returned.”

When Veille returned to the United States she realized that Spanish was a huge passion of hers. She also realized that was she was interested in the contracts portion of law and decided to forgo law school.

“My father has been a builder, and it dawned on me that as much as I was intrigued by the contract piece of law, I would really enjoy real estate because that was a huge aspect of it. Especially since I enjoy interior design. It seemed like the perfect marriage of the two passions,” mentioned Veille. “Speaking with my dad allowed me to view that opportunity through a different lens.” 

Veille also made another life changing decision and married her hometown boyfriend, Patrique, in 2016.

“He grew up in Winston-Salem, although we didn’t meet until the summer going into our senior year of college. One of his best friends growing up was my roommate in college for three of my four years,” said Veille. 

The Veilles also knew that they wanted to expand their family, and welcomed son, Lucien, who is now in third grade and daughter, Adriana, in kindergarten. Like many new parents, sleep is a premium. When Veille started to have shoulder pains while trying to get a good night sleep she realized that there was a lack of options out on the market.

“My husband was in the mattress industry in sourcing and product engineering, and we started exploring ways to alleviate some of the pain I was experiencing. We were fortunate that we had valuable resources to bounce ideas off of, and between that and having conversations with my girlfriends in similar situations, we began making prototypes,” said Veille. 

Initially, the intent of designing the pillow was for Veille specifically. However, once Veille made the pillow and realized how well it worked, she was excited to share it with others.

“After spending years of tossing and turning with makeshift pillows, this revolutionary pillow changed my overall health and well-being because I was able to sleep comfortably again. We were able to solve a problem that was not just unique to me, it was affecting many other women that were side sleepers,” said Veille.  

Thus, the Boop Pillow began to take on a life of its own.

“The name comes from the concept of sharing ideas with your girlfriends to help them improve their lives. Just like many best friends will affectionately ‘boop’ each other on the nose, we thought this would be a cute way to honor that and the enjoyment of sharing information when you’re excited to bring a solution to someone you care about,” said Veille. “It is a firm pillow in a bowtie shape to provide the support needed to get a good night’s rest by conforming to the curves of a woman’s body. We have even designed a silk pillowcase that tightly goes over it for maximum comfort which is sold separately. We made sure to use the highest grades for the products to ensure comfort and durability. It was fun to tap into my entrepreneurial roots and designer skills, and also to work with my husband who has such experience in the industry. We are currently selling our Boop Pillows online at booppillow.com and we have had a lot of interest already. I have been encouraged by the feedback that we have received from customers.”

Veille feels that her career choices have led her and her husband to this point. They also relish and cherish their time with their children.

“We love baking together, during COVID-19 we started making fresh bread and that has not changed. Whether we are hiking, taking walks at Graylyn or Reynolda, we love spending time together as a family. Especially during the holidays, we are reminded that is what is most important,” said Veille.