Award-Winning Thrifter. Former Cult Kid. Same Person.

Goodwill called and the girl who received criticism for her cult fashion cried in full neon

They Called Me. Me.

Goodwill called me.

Not an email, a tag and not a “congrats!” buried under twenty other notifications. A real, actual phone call from Goodwill Alberta, to tell me that I - Breanna Brown, former cult kid turned maximalist chaos gremlin, have officially been named an award-winning thrifter.

I have won the Fashionable Finds category in the 2025 Goodwill Hall of Fame!!

Do you know what that means? It means someone, somewhere, read my story, MY story, and thought, “Yes. This. Her.” They saw past the clothes and into the layers: the grief, the grit, the healing stitched together with bold patterns and thrifted lace.

When I answered the phone, I thought it was a telemarketer. Well, truth be told, I was peeing when the call came in and I ignored it thinking it was someone trying to sell me a cruise or Jesus. But instead, on the voicemail, it was a kind voice saying, “Hi, Breanna? It’s Megan from Goodwill Hall of Fame and you probably want to take this call…..”

And I broke.

I laughed, cried and probably scared my dog. I looked around my bedroom, the one with checkerboard walls and neon chaos, and realized, this is what rebuilding a life looks like.

If you grew up in a world where mirrors were monitored, where your body was a battleground, and clothes were chosen to keep you “humble and modest, then you understand. You understand what it means to turn fashion into resistance, finding freedom in a 99-cent scarf. To wear red lipstick and short sleeves like they’re armor.

This award isn’t about being “stylish.” It’s about being seen.

I’ve always known there was something sacred in secondhand. Every dress, every pair of heels, every ugly-beautiful sweater is a reclamation, a refusal to disappear. A way to say, I exist. Loudly. Beautifully. Authentically.

And now Goodwill agrees.

So yes, that’s me in the reel, screaming so loud I look unhinged - because I am unhinged, in the best, most delicious way. I’ve taken myself off the hinges and rebuilt a door that opens to joy.

Thank you, Goodwill. For the call and for seeing me!

I look forward to the award ceremony in August.

I didn’t cry at my baptism. I didn’t cry when I left the cult. I didn’t even cry in labour.

But I cried when Goodwill called, because for the first time in a long time, I felt chosen for something good.

To the misfits, the former cult kids, the ones who’ve never quite fit, this is your sign. Being yourself isn’t just brave, it’s magnetic, necessary, and sometimes, it gets you a phone call that changes everything.