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Chicago Woman Launches Because Love, Customizable Gifts For Cancer Patients

In honor of her late friend, entrepreneur Arona Martin is creating unique gifts for cancer patients. See how it pairs art and therapy.

CHICAGO — Arona Martin, founder of Because Love, pours her heart into high-quality, giftable products to show support to cancer patients and loved ones going through cancer treatment. The Chicago based startup sells customizable blankets and journals to make the process of offering emotional support easier.

Entrepreneur and longtime Chicago resident Arona Martin is offering people a new way to show love and support to those going through cancer treatment. Having conversations about cancer can be very difficult and Martin has set out to help make communicating one’s support easier. Through Because Love, Martin has recently released two giftable, premium products that both the giftor and recipient can personally customize. While Martin was witnessing the cancer treatment experience and untimely loss of her dear friend Jessica, Martin utilized her art therapy background to design a beautiful, customizable Love Heals Journal and Big Hug Lap Blanket to remind Jessica and others that they are cherished.

Martin is on a mission to celebrate the supporters, those who give their time, emotion and full love to those around them dealing with cancer recovery. She said sometimes one doesn’t know what to say, and both gifts can send that personalized message of support when they need it the most. The Love Heals Journal is fully customizable, with stylized pages including journal prompts, gold paper clip tassels, small envelopes (for retail therapy), a bookmark and blank pages to fill with thoughts, drawings and more. The Big Hug Lap Blanket is equally as thoughtful and is given to wrap up and stay warm knowing they are loved and always on someone’s mind. The blanket includes six customizable message tags with jewel and grommet closures that can be signed with individual messages.

Chicago Woman Launches Because Love, Customizable Gifts For Cancer Patients - Lioness Magazine
Arona (right) created Because Love in honor of her late friend Jessica (left).

Martin started her career working in TV and film with recognized names like Lifetime, Viacom and Nickelodeon. With experience that ranges from feature films and celebrity styling to full-scale events for Subaru, HBO and the City of Las Vegas, her artistic vision continues to expand. She and/or her ideas have been featured in Life and Style, Seventeen Magazine and the NBC Morning Show. A former student of Art Therapy, Arona’s knowledge of the power of creative healing provides a solid foundation for the content of the book and its exercises. She is recognized as a trendsetter in the event planning industry, and is now raising the bar for comforting those going through life-altering challenges.

“This project came directly out of my heart for a very dear friend, who at age 31 years old, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer,” Martin said. “Not knowing what else to do, and using my art therapy background, I bought a blank journal and filled it with all the love, sass, and glitter I could find – writing prompts, doodling prompts, get your anger out prompts, prompts to throw a crayon temper tantrum (on the page) – whatever would help her get through the battle of her life. She loved it and often told me how much it helped her with all that she was going through day to day.”

Because Love is Martin’s second business venture and she remains busier than ever running a successful event production company OAE (Oh, Arona Experiences) with events all over the U.S. Prior to starting OAE, Martin worked at Chicago hotspot CROBAR for more than 10 years with her late friend Jessica and became a big sister to her. They shared a passion for Chicago, philanthropy, travel and enjoying the beauty in life. Jessica’s legacy was the initial inspiration to create these meaningful gifts that could deliver the message of support and break the tradition of flowers, chocolates and other typical gifts.

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