YOLO Spotlight - Staci Johnson of Sunflower Gift Company (formerly Foster and Create)!
Welcome back to Yolo Spotlight! Continuing our focus on women business owners to celebrate Women’s History Month.
If you have ever needed a personalized gift you may have gone to Staci Johnson of Foster and Create. Staci specializes in just about everything you would need for a unique gift. Tumblers? Check. T-shirts? Check. Coasters, towels, blankets? Check, check, check!
Having operated under the name Foster and Create, Staci is in the process of rebranding to Sunflower Gift Company on Etsy because of her love of sunflowers and summer. She has built up a huge following and says she loves receiving the most unusual presents like a heat press and, soon, a laser, that will help her create even more magical items.
Staci started her thriving business by making the family matching T-shirts for a Disneyland vacation. Then she got the heat press as a gift and she was off and running. She almost closed up shop last year because between the pandemic, a death in the family and her husband being away quite a bit life got a little complicated, but in September she found a renewed passion for her work and began the rebuilding and rebranding process.
FUN FACT #1:
Staci is originally from Wichita, KS and stayed busy with the drill team, ROTC, and dancing. She was a social butterfly, but also a bit of an introvert. She always knew she wanted to go back east to college and graduated with a degree in Business Administration and accounting, giving her a leg up in knowing the ins and outs of owning a small business. The family is considering retiring to Wichita at some point in the future so the girls can know all of their cousins and other family.
FUN FACT #2:
Speaking of the girls, Staci has two lovely daughters, plus two Great Danes, and one cute mutt, as well as a husband in the military. After she gets all of them taken care of in the morning, she settles in to make calls, answer emails, take meetings, work on designs and ship orders. (Just a few things!) Good thing Staci enjoys a challenge and loves staying busy.
FUN FACT #3:
When she does have some down time, Staci likes to read fantasy books and also enjoys the classics. She has fun with video games, especially Final Fantasy. Staci loves that she has formed a large tightknit online community from the game. They have fun and support each other. The family connects over movies that they can enjoy together. In five years, Staci would love to see her business earning six figures and make it a real family business when her husband retires. Then she would love to travel all over the world and see all the places her husband has been during his deployments.
WHAT ARE SOME COOL THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SUNFLOWER GIFT COMPANY?
1. Many small businesses survive because of the education/experiences of the owner. Besides her college degree, Staci has been a foster mom, firefighter, hotel front desk assistant, and worked at Boeing as a financial analyst. Her mother pointed out that, while she majored and worked in very analytical fields, she has a major creative streak. Staci took that observation to heart and embraced her creative side.
2. Getting a laser will greatly open up the gifts she can make so she expand her inventory of items to sell. She loves making the tumblers, but they can be time consuming. One tumbler can take up to a week because there are many layers involved in each one and each layer has to cure before the next one can be applied.
3. Staci would love to be known as someone who helps you celebrate your big moments with fun, personalized gifts. She enjoys customizing items for people to help them remember their milestone events like weddings, anniversaries, and births. One of her new items are milestone blankets for babies. What a great thing to celebrate! She loves being able to be a small part of such happy occasions.
You can find Staci’s fun items for sale on Etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Sunflowergiftcompany.
Staci is excited about a new year and a new brand name. She hopes to be debuting a new website soon that represents her and her wares much better. She loves to bounce ideas around with other people, so if you have been thinking about sending someone a personalized gift, let her know. She is happy to add something new to her repertoire!
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