Is Rooted & Grounded Woke?

2/100 — Not Woke

US

rootedandgrounded.com

Score Summary

Not woke. A Georgia family business making handmade scripture home decor, founded on an explicit Christian mission after the owners relocated for their church. Zero ESG, DEI, Pride, or political activity.

Full Review

Company Overview

Rooted + Grounded is a Christian home decor company run by Blake and Travis McDaniel from Sharpsburg, Georgia. The business began as a hobby, Blake making scripture wall art, and became a company in 2017 when the couple felt called to move from Fort Myers, Florida to Georgia to attend a church they had connected with, selling their Florida home and existing business in the process. During the transition, the long conversations about what to build next produced Rooted + Grounded, whose stated purpose is making home decor that reminds families of biblical truth. Its tagline is 'Words that Remind. Words that Inspire,' and every product category serves that mission.

The catalog is substantial for a small shop: premium framed canvas scripture art, oversized canvas tapestries, framed wooden signs, vintage-style and bookpage art, hymn prints, hand-lettered originals, kids' room pieces, and devotion and scripture card decks. Collections are organized around themes like Be Still, Firm Foundation, and Resurrection Hope. Products are handmade in Georgia, in their Tyrone-area shop, and the company also maintains an Etsy storefront under the name rootedngroundedhome. The blog extends the mission with devotions and behind-the-design stories, such as the SEEK FIRST piece built on Matthew 6:33. This is a family business in the fullest sense: married co-owners, a shared faith, and a product line that exists to keep Christ at the center of the home.

ESG & Sustainability

Rooted + Grounded publishes no ESG report and maintains no sustainability program, which is the natural condition of a workshop business making framed art in Georgia. Its environmental footprint is wood, canvas, frames, and shipping, and its production model is small-batch and made-to-order rather than mass manufacturing. The company makes no climate claims, purchases no offsets, and belongs to no environmental coalitions. Its public communications are about scripture, design, and family life, not planetary accounting.

For values-based consumers, the honest framing is this: the company's 'sustainability' is the old-fashioned kind, durable decor meant to hang on walls for decades rather than trend-cycle knickknacks destined for a landfill by next season. A framed canvas of Psalm 23 is not fast fashion. There is no greenwashing here because there is no green marketing at all, and buyers can weigh the product on its merits as a physical object rather than navigating an impact report full of aspirational language.

DEI Programs

There are no DEI programs at Rooted + Grounded. The company is a married couple, their workshop, and presumably a small support team, with no HR department, no diversity training, and no identity-based initiatives. Its hiring and community footprint is that of a local Georgia small business. The concept of a DEI bureaucracy mapping onto a family scripture-art workshop is frankly absurd, and none exists.

What the company offers instead of diversity programming is a universal product wrapped in explicit Christian identity. Its customers self-select around faith, not demographics, and its messaging is aimed at families who want their walls to preach. In an industry segment, inspirational home decor, that has increasingly drifted toward vague spiritual aesthetics, Rooted + Grounded's openness about its biblical foundation is a form of honesty: buyers know precisely what they are getting. Consumers who want their decor purchases to reflect their faith will find this to be one of the most direct conduits available.

LGBTQ+ Advocacy

Rooted + Grounded engages in no LGBTQ+ advocacy, no Pride participation, and no corporate equality initiatives. It has no HRC Corporate Equality Index score and has never sought one. Its design language is scripture, hymns, and the names of God, and its seasonal collections follow the church calendar, including its Resurrection Hope Easter line, rather than the activist calendar.

The company's public identity is confessional rather than combative: it states what it believes and makes products celebrating it, without campaign-style targeting of anyone else's. For shoppers who have watched every big-box home retailer stock Pride collections while quietly discontinuing explicitly Christian lines, the contrast is the point. This is a business whose entire catalog is the kind of product major retailers now treat as a niche risk. Values-aligned buyers can purchase knowing their money funds a family workshop that shares their faith, with zero revenue routed toward advocacy they oppose.

Political Activity

The company has no PAC, no lobbying presence, and no political contributions on record. It runs no candidate endorsements and no issue campaigns. Its founders' public interviews, such as Blake's Shoutout Atlanta feature, discuss faith, entrepreneurship, and family rather than partisanship. The brand's only ideology on display is Christianity expressed through home decor.

That is a meaningful distinction in the current market. There are companies that use faith as a marketing wrapper and companies that are genuinely structured around it, and Rooted + Grounded is plainly the latter, from its origin story of relocating for a church to its devotion cards and hymn art. Politically unaligned but confessionally clear, it gives consumers something increasingly scarce: a purchase whose meaning is written on the label, so to speak, with no hidden agenda underneath.

Consumer Impact

For faith-focused shoppers, Rooted + Grounded is about as values-aligned as consumer spending gets. Every purchase supports a Georgia family business making products by hand, and every product is an explicit statement of belief meant to center the household on scripture. The range covers gifting needs from weddings to baptisms to Christmas, with the Framed Canvas Scripture Art line as the premium anchor and wooden signs and devotion cards as accessible entry points.

Quality cues are good for a small shop: premium canvases, custom framing, hand-lettered originals, and designs developed with devotional essays explaining the verse behind each piece. Free shipping kicks in at $150, and the Etsy storefront provides a familiar buying channel with reviews. If you believe the objects in your home should point your family toward truth, this company was built by people who agree, and it behaves accordingly in every section we track: no ESG theater, no diversity programming, no activism, just faith made tangible for the wall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rooted & Grounded woke?

Based on our research, Rooted & Grounded has a woke score of 2/100, rated Not Woke on the BuyWokeFree index — based on its ESG, DEI, Pride sponsorship, HRC Corporate Equality Index, political donations, and CEO Action record.

What is Rooted & Grounded's woke score?

Rooted & Grounded has a woke score of 2 out of 100, categorized as Not Woke. This score is based on analysis of ESG initiatives, DEI programs, PRIDE sponsorships, HRC Corporate Equality Index rating, political contributions, and CEO Action for Diversity participation.

How does BuyWokeFree rate Rooted & Grounded?

BuyWokeFree rates Rooted & Grounded across six research dimensions: ESG initiatives, DEI programs, PRIDE sponsorships, HRC Corporate Equality Index rating, political contributions to left-leaning causes, and CEO Action for Diversity participation. Rooted & Grounded's overall woke score is 2/100.

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About

Rooted & Grounded crafts sustainable, high-quality, and custom art collections. They specialize in creating inspirational home decor in the home and living industry, that helps families keep centered.