Say 'Hello!' to Katie Evans

Katie Evans is a graphic designer, an illustrator, and all round charmer. Luckily for us, her work is just as charming as she is. Combining corporate success with true pencil to paper artistry, Katie holds integrity and an admirable passion for her craft. Positioned at ‘kate spade new york,’ her designs and illustrations embellish all kinds of clothing and accessories. Her almost iconic work for the label presents her own personal quirkiness, yet still retains the elegance of the global brand, while her personal work playfully illustrates the world around her. She adds current trends and a fashionable edge to timeless style, and all of this synergy extends beyond her professional work, into exciting blogs and an Etsy store. Living and working in NYC, she lives and breathes the liveliness shown in her work, the same energy you get just by talking to her.

How would you describe your work and style? My work is lighthearted and colorful with a bit of sass. I like to draw silly things and make ordinary objects exciting. I’m attracted to bold colors (lots of them!) and graphic prints. I enjoy mixing patterns and getting a little kitschy in my accessories.

How would you describe your creative process? I start by researching and pulling inspiration relating to the assignment. This is one of my favorite parts of the process because I get to spend time looking for beautiful imagery, sexy typefaces, innovative packaging etc. After that I do a lot of hand-sketching to work my ideas out on paper. Sometimes I have to get through the bad to get to the good ones, and sometimes I get a happy accident that evolved from something totally random. Then, I pick my favorites and present them to the client. We’ll brainstorm together and evolve a couple of the favorites, and then I’ll further the develop the ideas until we pick one to move forward with.

Where does your inspiration come from? I love going through vintage fashion and travel magazines from the 60s. They are full of interesting campaigns and editorials. The copywriting is very entertaining, and the graphic design style from that era is one of my favourites. Another source of inspiration is the people around me - at work, on the streets, sitting next to me at a bar. It’s everywhere if you know how to look for it.

Who has been most influential in your creative life? My parents were the ones who encouraged me to enter the poster drawing contests in elementary school. That is one of my first memories of being an artist. They supported me through middle and high school art auditions, and then again through college applications. My parents taught me about working hard and giving something your all to get to where you want to be, and make things happen for yourself. I’m also creatively influenced by my coworkers at Kate Spade New York. I work with such a talented team of designers, directors, and writers. There are so many different skill sets and personalities, and when you put us all together we’re a dream team. That may sound corny, but it’s so true.

If you could peek into the studio of any artist (dead or alive), who would would you choose? Charley Harper! I’m obsessed with how he captured the essences of his subjects with the fewest possible elements. His animals are incredibly beautiful and made of simple shapes and textures. I’ve always admired his style.

What is a day in your office like? A day at ‘kate spade new york’ is crazy and full of excitement. One of my favorite things about working there is that I get to wear a lot of hats. My days are never the same, and I am always being challenged in different ways. I could go from meeting with our fashion accessories team to plan a new season’s tech products, to brainstorming an ad campaign. It’s always changing and keeping me on my toes.

How do you get out of your creative ruts? If I’m struggling to work out my ideas, I take a walk. Looking at the computer all day can be hard and exhausting. Being able to break away and walk around the block helps me recharge. Sometimes that walk leads me to the park where I people-watch, and sometimes it leads me to the ice cream parlor down the street.

When you’re not working - what are you doing? My fiance, John, and I moved into our first place together last summer. We’re slowly making our apartment feel like us, and finding furniture that we can both agree on. I also like to bake in my pint-sized kitchen. I enjoy the mixing and stirring and then anxiously waiting for it to be finished. John proposed this past November and we are knee-deep in wedding business, but we’re enjoying planning the biggest part of our lives.

Tell us about your your Tumblr and Etsy store - how did these things come about and how do they differ from your professional work? My Tumblr is a gallery of illustrated moments in my life. I started it because I wanted to develop my illustration style more fully, and I needed a new channel that would give me the opportunity to experiment. I get illustration work at Kate Spade New York, and in my freelance jobs, but I wanted to take it even further. It’s a place for me to try new styles and get a little more playful than I usually do. My Etsy shop came after Tumblr. I found myself with all of these fun illustrations that people were enjoying and I wanted to give them a chance to like it in a different way. It spans from stationery to custom illustrations.

What does it feel like to see your creations on clothing accessories and in windows all around the world? It’s hard to describe, but it’s one of the coolest feelings in the world. My favorite moments are when I pass someone on the street with something I designed. Knowing that girl felt a connection with something I did, loved it, and had to buy it, makes me feel so happy. I am very proud of what I do, and when I see other people excited about it too, it makes it even better.

What are your plans for the future? One of my goals for this year was to set more time aside to work on fun personal projects. I think it’s important to give yourself that time to explore something new that makes you happy. I am also working on planning my wedding. I’ll be designing everything paper related, transforming the space, and possibly dipping my toes into floral arranging. We’re trying not to get caught up in it and just enjoy it all.

Do you have any advice for budding artists? Put yourself out there as much as possible. Get on all the social media platforms and keep your website current. If the right person notices it, it will make a big difference in your career path. I would encourage new artists to experiment and find a style that feels unique and true to themselves. Doing something you love will only make you a stronger artist. It will show in your work, and other people will be able to see it too.

Published in the May 2012 issue of Zooey Magazine

Interviewed by Francesca Nicol Photographed by Bryant Eslava

En Route to Kindness

I’ve always been curious as to why there is no elementary class on the subject of kindness. The idea of benevolence is one of the most fundamental aspects to treating people fairly and growing up properly. While there may be classroom rules that center around respect, bullying still runs vehemently in many individuals. According to the nationally recognized organization ‘To Write Love on Her Arms,’ about 121 million people suffer from depression worldwide.

Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson are two women who seek to educate students on the constant girl-against-girl crimes that are performed almost unremittingly. They two launched a non-profit organization entitled the ‘Kind Campaign’ in 2009.

Zooey Magazine: Lauren and Molly, can you guys describe for us what the Kind Campaign is all about? Lauren and Molly: Kind Campaign is a non-profit organization, movement and documentary that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.” We are just two normal girls who wanted to make a difference by creating a kinder community of females. Through our documentary, Finding Kind, our assembly program, our web site’s interactive features and applications, and our newly launched Kind Club Curriculum, we are able to give girls a voice and educate massive amounts of girls and parents about how to handle and cope with girl-against-girl bullying. The two of us travel with our school program throughout the entire school year. It’s amazing to see how girls connect with us during the assembly. Being young allows students to see us as peers and really opens them up to honest conversation. It’s incredible to be able to let girls know that they are not alone, that they will get through those tough times and that they each have the ability to change the world with their friends.

ZM: There are other anti-bullying movements out there today (Trevor Project, It Gets Better, Love is Louder, etc) but yours specifically seeks to reach girls. What ultimately compelled you to begin this movement? Lauren: First off, let me just say how thrilled we are to see so many groups and organizations finally taking a stand to bring awareness to this often overlooked social dilemma. We have had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the people from various anti-bullying groups and it’s really encouraging to see how passionate people are about making this world a kinder place. Kind Campaign is unique because our program focuses on girl-against-girl ‘crime.’ Girl world can be a very cruel place. It always concerned me to see how uncommon it can be for females to find good friends. There is such a sense of competition built within the female culture, which often results in broken relationships. It’s something every girl goes through. I went through a really hard time in middle school with a group of girls. My experience got so severe that in seventh grade, I tried to take my life as a result of the social pressures I faced every day. Ever since that time in my life, I have been deeply passionate about creating a platform for girls to harness their voice and speak out about this unfortunate universal experience. While attending Pepperdine film school, I became inspired by the documentary format and decided that was exactly how I wanted to expose and share this story. I spoke with Molly about this and learned that she also had an experience from high school that really connected her to the documentary. We immediately started shooting local interviews. Seeing how vulnerable and open women and girls were about their experiences inspired us to take it another step further, and that is when Kind Campaign was born. Since September 2009, we have gone on 3 national tours, have spoken in over 350 schools, have screening Finding Kind in hundreds of schools and venues and have reached hundreds of thousands of girls.

ZM: How has the Kind Campaign grown since 2009 when you first started it? Molly: Wow. From the very beginning, we’ve been running to catch up with the growth of Kind Campaign, which is such a wonderful blessing. Really, we are constantly learning and growing. Since we began we released Finding Kind, traveled on three national tours as well as traveling internationally into Canada, launched Kind Clubs, and re-designed and re-launched our website which is an amazing resource. Lauren: I am so proud that Kind campaign has now become a movement on the forefront of the bullying issue across our country. When we travel, complete strangers know about the campaign, the work we are doing and the film. It’s become so much bigger than us.

ZM: How was filming Finding Kind and what would you consider the best part of the whole process to be (from pre-production to filming to post-production)? Lauren: Filming Finding Kind was truly a life changing experience for me. I am really proud of the fact that I am able to hold a finished DVD of my first attempt at a feature film. Directing, writing, and producing the film was quite a learning process but was such a blast. Waking up on the road each morning and envisioning the shots I wanted to get was such a cool, creative process. There were so many unexpected moments and strangers that we met on the road trip that added such a unique feel to the film. For me, the most challenging and rewarding part of the filmmaking process was post-production. I worked with Vegard Sorby (We love you Vee!) every day and night for 10 months to get this doc finished by back to school 2010. Going into the edit with almost 200 hours of footage and narrowing that down to 75 minutes was such a fun challenge. I found story boarding and doodling and listening to We Own the Sky by M83 very helpful in trying to figure out exactly the story I wanted to tell. Molly: It was such an adventure! We started pre-production immediately after graduation from Pepperdine, so I spent that entire summer making cold calls to thousands of schools across the country and to companies to try and find sponsorships to fund the road trip and production. I think it’s a testament to how serious this issue is that schools opened their doors to two young girls that said that they could help. Being on the road and filming was extremely exhausting, but so worth it. Every day we met kind and generous people who shared their stories and words of encouragement, which is one of my favorite parts of the production process.

ZM: How can girls around the country get involved? Molly: There are so many ways to get involved with Kind Campaign. One of the biggest ways to get involved whether you are a student or a parent is by hosting a screening of Finding Kind, bringing Lauren and me to your area for an assembly, or by starting a Kind Club within your school or community. IndieFlix, Finding Kind’s distribution company, makes this process super easy and you can find all of the information at www.kindcampaign.com and www.findingkind.com. By spreading Kind Campaign’s message of kindness and hope, this will help others going through their own experiences to know that they are not alone. Another great way to get involved is by taking the Kind Pledge or giving someone a Kind Apology or Kind Card or sharing your story on the Truth Wall and really utilizing all of the interactive features that the website has to offer. Also, by sporting Kind Campaign gear, our T-shirts and wristbands, you are supporting Kind Campaign while spreading the message of KINDness.

ZM: What is Kind Magazine? Lauren: Kind Magazine is an online publication we created that allows women and girls to share their stories with females all over the world. While it’s visually trendy and sleek, the magazine content is relevant, raw, and emotional. Anyone can submit their story to be reviewed and included in our newest editions of the magazine. All you have to do is email your story tokindmag@kindcampaign.com. All the issues are featured on www.kindcampaign.com. We have found that allowing girls to write about their experiences really creates a lot of healing and understanding.

ZM: How do you utilize social media for your movement? Molly: This has been a really great learning experience. When we first started out the world of Twitter was still relatively new, so we’ve been trying to keep up with the trends within social media. But, it’s because of social media that we’ve been able to spread our message on an international level. Through our Facebook and Twitter page, we are able to keep people updated while we are on the road and post videos to YouTube from the film and from our travels. Also, it’s a great way to really plug people into the movement, but also connect them with each other. It’s been really cool to see this community of KIND develop organically through social media. People that we’ve met and become friends with during our travels in different cities have now connected with each other. It’s really amazing to see these girls and women who have never met one another in person, support each other online and refer to each other as their KIND Family.

ZM: Is there anything you guys hope to accomplish in the near future or for the long run? Maybe another film to track your endeavors? Lauren: Right now we are continuing to travel all over America with our assembly program and film. We are super excited about our new initiative, Kind Clubs, so we are focusing on getting that implemented into as many schools as possible. We have discussed another documentary, a follow-up to Finding Kind. We are really excited about the potential to share a new story. So much has happened since we finished that film and it would be so great to get behind the camera again.

ZM: What has been the most satisfying part of this whole experience? Lauren and Molly: Seeing positive change occur within friendships, relationships and schools nationwide. That’s what really keeps us doing what we’re doing. It’s hearing the girls stories when they come up to us following the assemblies and share with us how much the film and the assembly program impacted and changed their lives. It’s seeing girls hand out Kind Apologies to one another and mend friendships right before our eyes. And it’s hearing girls and women talk about Kind Campaign inspiring them to pursue their dreams, whatever they may be.

Interviewed by Michelle Chang Photographed by Diana King

Published in the February/March 2012 Issue of Zooey

Success is Fulfillment: One Mother Redefines Business Management

The business industry is constantly changing, and from what we see for women, it is for the better. Amber Schaub is the definition of a go-getter. A mother of two, Schaub now runs her own children’s fashion brand (entitled “RuffleButts”) that has surpassed a million dollars in revenue as of 2012. She is attempting to redefine how companies are run and we certainly approve of it.

Tell us, what exactly inspired RuffleButts? Why did you name the brand RuffleButts? In retrospect, I firmly believe that “RuffleButts” was my destiny, but was directly inspired by a lack of fulfillment in my career, a desire for ethics in business, and a drive to do things the ‘right way.’ When out looking for the ruffled diaper covers of my childhood memories, I was shocked by the disappearance of this childhood wardrobe staple. My ‘light-bulb’ moment came in a parking lot outside Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I picked up my cell and called my mom, “Mom, I think I know what I’m supposed to do.” Days later I trademarked the name “RuffleButts.” The name was the easy part...it’s what my mom always called my ruffled diaper covers as a child, I thought that was the official name for most of my life.

You were in real estate before transitioning RuffleButts. What does RuffleButts offer that real estate doesn’t? For me, fulfillment, simple as that. Although I [had] success in the real estate industry, I was frustrated by the ethics (or lack thereof), disgusted by the customer service (it was the hay-day for the industry at the time, and everyone seemed to take customers for granted), and simply missing a piece of me. I think real estate can be great, [but] it just wasn’t my destiny. I yearned to affect people on a greater scale, and funny enough, ruffled baby booties allow me to do that.

Have you ever had experience in running your own business before? How exactly did you learn the in’s and out’s of starting your own company? I was 27 when I started RuffleButts, so if you discount my experience in running a babysitting club in middle school, I was a newbie at the CEO thing. I had always dreamed of starting a business, even tossed around a few ‘business plans’ through college, but I was never really ready to take the plunge. Looking back, RuffleButts came at just the right time for me. Learning the in’s and out’s, well that question is truly ongoing. I have learned a ridiculous amount of everything in the past five years, and really have no idea how in the world I did it without any industry or entrepreneurship knowledge whatsoever. With that said, I still have so much to learn, and do so every single day. Here’s the thing, if we all waited till we were experts at whatever we are about to try, most of us would never take the 1st steps. I’m almost grateful that I didn’t realize how lacking in knowledge I truly was at the beginning or I may have sprinted away in fear.

What were the difficulties you faced in launching RuffleButts then later Ruggedbutts (your boys’ line)? What difficulty didn’t I face really? My biggest hurdle in the beginning was production or manufacturing. I had no idea where to start, who to trust, how to negotiate, how to manage the process. I thought it would be as simple as googling ‘children’s apparel manufacturer,’ not so much! Let’s just say, I ended up on the couch of a local therapist less than one year in. I didn’t know how to mentally carry it, and I’m one darn stubborn individual. With the support of my family, and especially my husband, I was determined to make it work. Five years later, two kids later, and the addition of a boys’ brand, we’re still going strong!

Who would you deem your inspiration behind RuffleButts or simply being a female entrepreneur overall? What keeps you so motivated? My faith. I remind myself that faith is trusting what the eyes cannot see. I have no crystal ball, but I know with all the faith in the world that this is what I am meant to do. The fact that I am able to touch others, to affect them in a positive way, brings me more joy than I can explain. From watching my employees blossom, to receiving pictures from a proud grandma, to inspiring other women to go after their own dreams, these are daily gifts that I do not take for granted.

Is there any competition that you have to manage? Sure, what business does not have competition? If no one is copying what you do, then you likely don’t have the greatest idea going! In my opinion, I owe it to my team to stay ahead. If at any point you find yourself following another company and imitating their decisions, it is time to re-evaluate the business plan. In my eyes, it’s like a ship following behind Christopher Columbus. That’s no way to make history! I know we’re not discovering America here, but we are certainly planning to make some history.

What is the demand of RuffleButts like among customers? We are beyond blessed to have the most amazing, encouraging, and loyal customers. I truly don’t know how we got so lucky, but the fact that they spread the word, and support us every step of the way is just incredible to me. Our company has a growth rate of over 2000% in the past three years. The demand and growth has truly been humbling and thrilling, all at once.

What kind of feedback have you received that are noteworthy? The hundreds if not thousands of pictures that we have received directly and on our Facebook page (with over 106,000 fans) are what push us every day. The emails and notes that I receive telling of my direct inspiration on their life, those are the ones that really drive deep for me.

Being a mother of two children, are there some challenges you face in balancing motherhood and work? If so, what are they? What are the perks? I can only speak personally, but this is an enormous challenge. I struggle like every other mom, wondering what more I should or could be doing. Do I spend enough time with them? Am I missing out on big moments in their life? For me, I feel like I am a better mom by following my heart and doing what I do, but I still wonder sometimes if they are paying the price. The time I spend with them is precious and I try my best to be 100% focused when we are together. The perks, well I guess that’s being able to ‘have it all!’

Now, we know RuffleButts is a multi-million dollar making company. What do you think makes the brand so successful? Is it odd to have so many people know how much the company makes? It was a tough decision for us to go public with our sales figures. Honestly not something I wanted to do, but since we are in the running for the Inc5000 list, it was something required in order to qualify. My reasoning is not because I want to hide anything, but because the average person does not understand the relationship between revenue figures and profit figures. I didn’t want our customers, employees, friends, or family to have the perception of us as “millionaires.” I live a life that is not like any “millionaire” that I ever imagined. I didn’t grow up around money, not even close, and I am very much the same person today.

What was life like before RuffleButts? How did the children change your perspective on business and life in general? I am blessed with a uber-smart and hard-working husband Mark, who serves as the company’s COO. Aubrey, our daughter was born about a year after RuffleButts, and Jonas, our son was born just months following the launch of RuggedButts (they told us he was a girl at our 1st ultrasound, so I thought I was going to be model-less for the boys line, so he came as a very fun surprise and with great timing!). Children change everything in every way. I can’t imagine our life without them. They truly humble you and are a daily reminder of what is really important in life.

What is the best thing about running RuffleButts? Everything. Look, I don’t live in lala-land. This job is tough, very tough. I think those big black circles decorating my eyes are now permanent! With that said, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to do what I do. I face a bit of burnout like anyone else. There are some days that I’d rather hang out in bed and watch movies or play with my kids, but the truth is I know how lucky I am to have found my calling. Many people search many years for this and I hope that through my story, even just one other person can discover this joy in their own life.

In an era of budding entrepreneurs, what kind of advice do you have to offer for people who are striving for success in their business or field of work? I guess if someone reading this is already an entrepreneur, they can likely relate. My only advice, as corny as it may sound to some, is to pray when lost and live with heart. We’re only human, and as an entrepreneur, sometimes you feel responsible to have all of the answers. The reality is, we don’t and never will. My other advice is that if you are not going to do it with 110% effort and heart, don’t do it at all.