When Kim Whiteford’s company was acquired in April for the third time, she lost her job. But instead of becoming the latest victim of a poor economy, Whiteford took charge of her future.

On July 23, just three months after being laid off, Whiteford, who has lived in Pasadena for 30 years, opened Crav’n Ravens on Fort Smallwood Road.

“After a month of searching for a job I just decided, ‘You know what? I am going to just do what I love and love what I do,’” Whiteford said. “I spent my life making money for other people, so I am going to do what I want to do and here I am.”

Well, what Whiteford wanted to do was share her passion for Ravens football with everyone, and she certainly did that with Crav’n Ravens.

The store features everything a Ravens fan could want including clothing, pictures, bedspreads, bar furniture and all kinds of accessories. Crav’n Ravens also hosts autograph signings with different players. Over the past season, they had a different player come to the store each week to sign autographs.

The autograph signing, coupled with the store's unique items, has made Crav’n Ravens successful, allowing Whiteford to expand into a second floor for the store. 

“My goal was to open the second floor in April of [2012] but within 45 days of being here I had to expand to the second floor,” Whiteford said. “And I opened during the lockout and was even busy during that. It has been awesome.”

Apart from supplying Ravens fans with all the gear they could ever need, Whiteford has a special passion for women football fans. An entire section of the store's second floor is being called Women Cave, and will be completely devoted to everything a girl could need to be a fan.

“I really like having things a female fan would want,” Whiteford said. “We are doing bachelorette themed Ravens stuff, like for bachelorette parties. And we are partnering up with some other people in the community to do weddings and floral arrangements. Just different things for the female fans, that’s my focus as well.”

Upon walking into Crav’n Ravens, customers can’t help but notice Whiteford’s spirit and passion.

“I grew up with eight brothers so I was always very sports-oriented. Ravens football was always a passion of mine,” she said. “However, my favorite part is the people. My customers are awesome.”