Meet Jeff and Carlina Bjork and Shashona Burke | Partners/Owners of OCN Culture

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeff and Carlina Bjork and Shashona Burke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, Carlina and Shashona, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
OCN Culture started in 2016 as a “side hustle” between best friends. Honestly our thought process was to start something that that would be fun to do together- a project that would allow us to be creative and make cool things, but to also have fun and connect with community. Yes, we had a pipe dream of “blowing this thing up,” but we also had full time jobs, mortgages, and kids to manage. So we kept it light hearted and created some hats, tshirts, and sweatshirts with just our logo printed on them. We had informal “meetings” over beers and bbq’s to make necessary decisions. We bought a commercial tent and sold our “merch” at street fairs and surf contests in Northern California. People liked what we were doing, so we approached some retail shops and wholesaled our products there too. It wasn’t until 2020 (in the middle of the pandemic) that we opened our first brick and mortar shop in Point Reyes, CA. and realized we’d need to make some decisions to send us on a more serious trajectory. We outgrew the space in Point Reyes and in March of 2023 opened our current shop in downtown San Anselmo (Marin County), CA.
 

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
OCN Culture is a lifestyle brand, headquartered in Marin County, CA. We create simplistic, thoughtful, and socially responsibly made products which are inspired by wave sliding culture and our collaborations with artists and creatives who embody Aloha. The products that we create (so far) are wetsuits, apparel, hats, and beanies. Mostly all of our apparel are 100% organic cotton, some hemp blends, and made here in CA. Our retail shop also carries other brands that we feel fit our ocean-centric vibe.Carlina Bjork

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.
Marin County is a very unique place. It offers the most amazing trails, food, and shopping. If we had friends visiting for a week, on day one we’d love to show them our shop in downtown San Anselmo! We’d want to show them our sustainable apparel, hats, beanies, wetsuits, and surfboards shaped by legends in Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. We also offer curated soaps, candles, and self care products created by Marin and Hawaii locals. Everything that we carry has a unique story behind it. If our friends wanted to take a little of Marin or Hawaii back home with them – then OCN Culture is a must see.

Then we’d take a stroll downtown to visit our friends at Longway for a cup of coffee and pastries, and to Still to snag one of their vintage home goods pieces and/or a Hampui hat. If our visiting friend has dogs, then we must also visit Dogville to grab some gourmet treats and a take a look at the Owner’s latest window display (which is always humorous and crafty).

Next – we’d definitely do a day trip out to Hog Island in Marshall, CA (West Marin). The drive out alone is worth it, where we may see white elk, coyotes, deer, and bob cats against the back drop of redwoods and creeks. And once you get to Hog Island, you feel that you’ve been transported back in time. Hog Island farms the best oysters around, and they serve them chilled with their “Hog Wash,” salads and charcutier boards – all while enjoying your lunch on picnic-like tables steps away from the bay where the oysters are grown.

On the way back, we’d take a turn towards Inverness and go all the way to North Beach. We’d take our 1971 Chevy Balboa van and back it up so we can open the back doors and enjoy a beverage while watching the enormous waves, and the epic sunset.

Really, we don’t think we’d even leave Marin. We love it so! And like we said, there’s so much to explore, so our days would be all about small business shopping (we believe is the best kind), being in nature, and eating our farm to table food offerings.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
What we are most proud of is the relationships we’ve built along the way. It’s not just about what we create to wear. The heart of what we really do is about the people! People who have helped us, who we’ve helped, what we learn from each other, and our community who have been so supportive. We’ve really leaned into that and have used it as our driving force. For instance, we love to host art shows at our shop for friends in our community, to support them and to show case their talents (which is also an opportunity to bring people together to hang, listen to good music, and to be social). Another example is our Team Riders who are all unique and talented humans – we show case them and support them in any ways we can, in and out of the water. That’s what we’re most proud of, is our collective of insanely talented, creative, intelligent and good humans who we call our community. We pinch ourselves every day when we think of how lucky we are to be in their orbit!

Website: www.ocnculture.com

Instagram: @ocnculture

Linkedin: @ocnculture

Facebook: @ocnculture

Yelp: OCN Culture