We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyson O’Connor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyson, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
“She took the leap and built her wings on the way down.” I know this quote has made the social media and Pinterest rounds, but when I first saw it about 10 years ago it really resonated with me. It’s sort of how I started, and for the first few years ran, my business. I would leap into things and then just figure it out along the way. This got me off the starting line, which I’ll always be grateful for, but I made SO many mistakes. If I could go back, I might tell my younger self to take the leap, but make sure you have a solid plan for building the wings on the way down.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
A few years after graduating from art school in New York City, we moved back to our hometown of Buffalo, NY and realized now much we loved the people that call the Great Lakes Cities home. When we started our business 12 years ago, we wanted our name to reflect that love. Our first few years were focused on designing and producing luxury wedding stationery. I do all the illustration and design in our products, and Nick does all the printing, often on our 100 year old letterpresses. In 2015 we had an opportunity to open up a retail space that we expanded into a stationery and gift shop. While we were successful in retail and the custom wedding stationery business, with our work appearing in Martha Stewart Weddings, Travel & Leisure and Brides magazines, we still always loved the idea of launching a line of cards for wholesale.

In 2020, like so many, we took the opportunity to look inward, and felt our passion pulling us in a different direction. I started drawing with our new range in mind. I became obsessed with creating a greeting card line with the same meaningful, heirloom quality as our wedding stationery. We created cards that are sentimental, encouraging and empathetic, with messages that speak the feelings we often aren’t able to put into words ourselves.

Today, our business consists of wedding and event stationery, art licensing, letterpress greeting cards, and a line of gifts. We have a physical location, and two employees, and we’re about to start construction on a new studio. Retelling our brand story always sounds like a straight line, with a beginning, middle and end. But in reality, it was so many twists and turns, at times back tracking, at other times standing completely still. We made so many mistakes, and almost sunk ourselves several times. Comparison, hustle culture, imposter syndrome, mom guilt, and burnout have been stumbling blocks along the way that made me feel like I was the only one going through this. Even though they never go away completely, I now understand that they are lies that I have the power to move past.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband, for sure. We own this company together, but it would not be what it is today without his unwavering support from the very beginning. He has never doubted, never questioned the success of this business, even when things looked downright bleak.

About a year ago we joined the Greeting Card Association, and the fellow creatives and makers we have met through this group have become some of the best friends we could have imagined. The lack of competition in this industry has been astounding, and the support among our peers is unlike anything I’ve seen in any other line of work. Everyone’s card line, art, and unique voice are so different, we’ve all realized that truly a rising tide raises all ships.

Another group, that has a bit of overlap with the GCA, is Katie Hunt’s Proof to Product Labs community. Through her leadership, not only is this another place to share resources and lift each other up, but the wealth of knowledge she has curated has been incredibly valuable for our business. It has definitely given us some of those solid plans and materials for building our wings haha.

Website: www.rustbeltlove.com

Instagram: @rblpaperie, @rustbeltlove

Twitter: @rustbeltlove

Facebook: Facebook.com/rustbeltlove

Image Credits
City Lights Studio

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutHTX is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.