Monica Kelsey smiling, wearing pink glasses and a white and gray sweatshirt, standing against a plain gray background.

Monica Kelsey.

Veteran. Medic. Firefighter. Founder. Speaker.
Cancer Survivor.

She has spent her life showing up in rooms most people never enter — and building things no one thought were possible.

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HER STORY

Both Feet In, Every Time.

Monica Kelsey was adopted at birth. Years later, she learned she had been abandoned as an infant. Most people would have let that define them. Monica let it drive her.

She served in the U.S. military. She became a medic. She became a firefighter. And in 2016, she founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes — the largest Safe Haven organization in American history — because she knew firsthand what it meant to be a baby with nowhere safe to go.

Since then, she hasn't stopped. Boxes installed at fire stations, hospitals, and safe havens across the country. A 24-hour national hotline staffed by licensed counselors. Legislation pushed in states that weren't moving fast enough. Babies saved. Families reached.

In June 2025, she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma. Treatment forced her to slow down. Monica does not slow down well — so she used the time to research everything she was putting on her face. That research became a product line. The product line became Haven Lane.

She also hosts a podcast. She speaks at baby box openings and events across the country. She is a featured speaker — on Safe Haven, on resilience, on choices, on what happens when you build something because you knew it needed to exist.

Monica Kelsey with wavy hair, wearing sunglasses and a navy jacket with a firefighter emblem, standing at a podium with a fire station in the background.
A close-up of a log with a textured bark surface
Five teenagers in blue uniform shirts and dark pants posing and smiling inside a school cubicle area.
A man in a White Sox hockey jersey and Monica Kelsey in formal attire are sitting next to a person dressed in a red, black, and yellow animal costume, with a background of stadium seating filled with spectators.
Monica Kelsey wearing a helmet and tan firefighting gear, standing outside at night with firefighters in the background, some holding fire hoses.
Monica Kelsey in firefighting gear inside a fire station, smiling with her hand on her hip, surrounded by firefighting equipment and a red fire truck in the background.
Two firefighters in full gear smiling and standing side by side in a parking lot.
Logo for Safe Haven Baby Boxes, featuring a white footprint inside a black circle with the company's name in white text next to it.
Monica Kelsey and another woman kneeling beside a stone marker engraved "He knows your name, Baby Amelia," planting a small tree. They are smiling, and behind them is a sign for a Baby Box Drop Off location.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes is the largest Safe Haven organization in American history.

Monica founded it in 2016 — born from her own experience as an adoptee who learned she had been abandoned as an infant. The mission is simple: give parents in crisis a safe, anonymous way to surrender a newborn. Every box is climate-controlled and electronically monitored. Every surrender triggers an immediate response. Every baby receives care within minutes.

Boxes installed across the country. A 24-hour national hotline. And it keeps going.

Largest Safe Haven organization in American history

24-hour national hotline

Climate-controlled & electronically monitored

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INTRODUCING

Stylized black text reading 'HAVEN LANE' with a vertical line separating the words.
Collection of natural skincare and body products, including lavender body butter, jasmine rose wax melts, vanilla lotion, cucumber sea salt sugar scrub, milk and collagen facial soap, and haven lane beef tallow sandalwood cream, arranged on stone slabs with flowers and greenery.

During her cancer treatment in 2025, Monica started researching what she was putting on her face. She didn't like what she found. So she started making her own.

Suet beef tallow. Ostrich oil. Essential oils. Small batches. No synthetic fragrance. No fillers. The same standard she wanted for herself — and now she sells it.

It started with face lotion. Now there's lip balm, tattoo balm, candles, wax melts, and more coming. That's how Monica works.

Haven Lane is her product line. And if you know her at all, you know this is just the beginning.

TALLOW • LOTION • BODY BUTTER • SOAP • WAX MELTS