Tori Higa is November's Wild WE of the Month.
Tori is the founder of Tori Higa Stationery, a company that creates fun, hip, and unique cards that help people celebrate the joy and excitement in life.

Tori Higa Stationery is a handmade greeting card and stationery company. We incorporate hand cut vintage fabric into card designs, hand embellish stationery with glitter, and also create custom invitations. After two short years we’ve been in business, our cards can be found in about 200 stores and counting.

A few summers ago, my late grandmother-in-law was cleaning out her sewing room. She ended up giving me tons of fabric from the 1960’s. I didn’t know how to sew, but I knew that I couldn’t pass up all of the beautiful vintage fabric. I knew that I would do something with it one day. Sure enough, a year later, I had the idea to incorporate the fabric into a line of greeting cards.

Once I got my line together, I took my samples to a few of my favorite local stationery stores and ended up selling to two of the three of them on the spot. That bit of success encouraged me to expand my line and exhibit at the California Gift Show. After the gift show, the company truly started blossoming. I had a pile of orders to fill, multiple leads, and eventually started working with sales reps to further my sales. As an artist, I was petrified to become a business owner, but I soon found out how rewarding designing and working for myself in a field that I love actually could be.

I designed carpet patterns for Milliken Carpet for about two and a half years. Even though Milliken is a huge corporation based in Georgia, I worked in a small satellite office in Santa Monica, California with four other designers – who turned into great friends. We had to manage our own projects as our design director lived and worked in Georgia. Because of the tremendous amount of flexibility as well as responsibility, I learned a lot of what it takes to be motivated to work for myself. Because I never had a traditional on site boss, I learned that I had the capability to essentially work for myself. Had I not had that type of creative and flexible work environment, I wonder if I ever would have even considered starting my own business.

Who have been your mentors and role models along the way?

I have been fortunate to have some wonderful role models and mentors
along the way. Daedre of Studio Daedre was a mentor in a very literal sense. She has a successful handmade greeting card company that happened to be walking distance from where I used to live. I took a part time job working for her once I left Milliken. I initially left Milliken to pursue freelance textile design and illustration, but I had always had a strong desire to break into the greeting
card industry. I even sent my design ideas to multiple card manufactures - and got rejected…a lot. I was terrified at the thought of starting my own company and I never saw myself as an entrepreneur.
Once I started working for Daedre, I got even more terrified at the thought because I saw up close all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. I learned a lot about the business and the technical aspects of manufacturing large quantities of cards by hand. But the biggest thing I thought I learned from her was that I absolutely didn’t want to end up running a small business.
It wasn’t until six months after I left Studio Daedre that I got the courage to start my own company. I have nothing but gratitude towards Daedre for her generosity and encouragement after I decided to go off on my own.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

I find inspiration for my work in anything vintage or from another era. Audrey Hepburn movies or vintage fashion illustrations always spark some sort of creativity. I also love to go to flea markets or antique stores for inspiration.

Possibly the place I get the most inspiration is from my friends. I am truly grateful to have inspiring, supportive, and encouraging friends. Many of my closest girlfriends do something creative – whether it’s full time or just on the side. I always feel uplifted to continue with my own creative endeavors when I hear about the latest project a friend of mine is doing.

It looks like you’ve enjoyed explosive growth in your business since you launched it. How do you juggle all the tasks associated with a quickly growing young business?

The only way I have found to successfully juggle multiple tasks
is good old fashioned list making. If I didn’t make lists, I know it would be a matter of time before I forget something crucial. Lists also help me organize my time so I don’t get overwhelmed with thoughts of endless tasks. I have a cute little red notebook a friend gave me as a gift and at the end of each work day I write everything down I need to accomplish for the next day. I find that if I wait until the morning to write my list, I get sidetracked and often never even get around to making it.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way?

The most important (and difficult) lesson I learned is the need to delegate certain tasks and not spread myself too thin. I found out early on that I can’t do everything. I tried. But instead, I got burned out and ended up spinning my wheels day and night. I realized that it’s OK not to be an expert in every aspect of my business – in fact; it’s not even humanly possible. I knew that my time was best spent designing and that I should simply hire people to do the things that I either didn’t have time for or wasn’t qualified to do. My husband now does the bookkeeping and we’ve hired people for everything else. We have sales reps, web designers, part time manufactures, and an accountant.
As a result, I am much less stressed and the business is able to continue to grow and thrive.

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