How It All Started
MEET TJ + DIANA WHITE
TJ White was born and raised in Kansas. After graduating high school, he joined the Army, where he went through Basic, Airborne and RIP training. “I went to 2nd Ranger Battalion in Ft. Lewis and spent about six years there, deploying seven times,” he shares. “After I got out in 2012, I started security contracting and eventually traveled the world when I wasn’t working. I would spend months researching parts of the world I wanted to go to and plan my trips. Central America became one of my favorite places to go for a quick getaway.”
It was during one of these quick getaways to Costa Rica to visit a friend that he met Diana. The two would end up dating long distance, traveling back and forth and “meeting in the middle” on occasion for a month or two. “Eventually, on a whim, we decided to come to Sandpoint for a short three-week vacation in the mountains,” TJ recalls. “I want to say it was the Long Bridge [that drew us in], but at the end of the three weeks it was everything! The views, the food, the activities, the outdoors and also the amazing people! We both agreed that this is where we wanted to live; where we wanted our roots to run and our family to grow up.”
THE BIRTH OF WOOBY HOODY
The couple rented a house before they left; Diana flew back to Costa Rica and TJ went back to work for about two months. The next time the two would see each other would be to drive a trailer from Kansas up to North Idaho to start their new life together. They’ve called Sandpoint home since 2018.
TJ and Diana exchanged vows in a private ceremony on Schweitzer in December 2018. They had their official wedding in Costa Rica in June 2019. “This was the big celebration of our lives that we could share with our family and friends,” Diana smiles.
A few short months later, the couple would find out they were going to be parents. Two weeks later, at their first ultrasound, the couple received more exciting news—they were having twin boys!
During this time, the couple had embarked on another journey together—a new business!
They began working on Wooby Hoody—a company that provides warm, light-weighted hoodies and sleeping bags for people who love adventure and the outdoors—in 2018, officially launching the business in 2019.
LEAD LIFE'S ADVENTURES WITH WOOBY HOODY
The inspiration behind the business was TJ’s time in the Army. “When I was in the Army, we were issued poncho liners or ‘Woobys.’ It was like your blanket as a kid that you never went anywhere without, and I never left without mine. All the deployments, contracting, and traveling around when I wasn’t working, I always had this incredibly light and warm blanket with me. It saved me many times too. I’ve used it in the field countless times, but just traveling around I realized the value of it. It went to Patagonia with me on a six-day hiking trip. I used it on the beaches of Belize and Costa Rica. I even slept in a little glass-enclosed bus stop in Alaska with it and my backpack as a pillow.”
TJ envisioned the comfort and warmth of his wooby as a jacket. “I started researching … and the rest is history.” In addition to their jackets and sleeping bags, you can find T-shirts, PVC and embroidered patches, and accessories.
Hearing from their customers and seeing all the adventure their products have been on is what TJ and Diana find most rewarding, attributing the success of Wooby Hoody to them. “We wouldn’t be here without their support and success stories,” Diana says.
“This also helps our charitable contributions,” TJ shares. “We have been donating monthly to a charity of our choice—whichever one is speaking the loudest to us at the time.”
The Whites are grateful to be a part of this special community. “It has been such an incredible time. Running our own business. Raising two boys. I cannot imagine a better place to raise a family. There is such a sense of community here, and the longer we are here the more we love everything Sandpoint and North Idaho have to offer.”
TJ and Diana believe that life should be full of spectacular adventures. Make Wooby Hoody a part of yours
