We recently connected with Emily Foster and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I am beyond happy and grateful for the opportunities my business has given me over the past three years. It has given me so much joy and fulfillment, far more than I ever could have gotten in my original career! However, I do sometimes think about how it would be to be able to ‘clock out.’ Having your own business means that you are the marketing, sales, and fulfillment teams all rolled into one. There’s the reality that if you don’t work one day, the business doesn’t run.

One of the biggest challenges I face as an artist and small business owner is my work-life balance. When I started Alpacasews, I worked at home and slept where I worked. This lifestyle quickly led to extreme burnout and even a hospital visit for exhaustion and stress. As I faced my own limitations and dealt with my own self-induced pressure to succeed, I thought about quitting.

However, instead of quitting, I changed how I worked. I found ways to reduce my responsibilities and find people I trusted to support Alpacasews alongside me. I found a co-warehousing space that allowed me to grow my network and help me create a space where I could separate work from home.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Emily Foster, and I am the owner and creator of Alpacasews, a Boutique stuffed animal brand based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Alpacasews prides itself on original, creative, and high-quality designs that are perfect for any collection.

I originally got a degree in meteorology from North Carolina State University in 2021. However, in my senior year, I began sewing original dragon designs that quickly found a fanbase on Tiktok! Thanks to the love shown, I could sew stuffed animals for a living directly out of college once I graduated that spring. Alpacasews remained a solely handmade business until January 2022, when I first began outsourcing my original designs to a production partner in China. Since then, I have created over 30 manufactured designs ranging from Cryptids, Dragons, Cows to even Cats! We have funded our manufactured designs through four different crowdfunding campaigns, which raised over 250,000 in the past two years.

Today, Alpacasews sells plushies on Etsy, our online store, and in-person shows! We have also begun branching into wholesale.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I was 17, I decided to be a meteorologist. My family had always pushed me to pursue a STEM degree, which they saw as the best way to be successful. So, I took my deep love of Clouds and applied that to a field that I felt was the path set before me. I had huge dreams of studying climatology and working in science communication and policy. I spent four years learning statistics, physics, and calculus to become the best scientist I could be.

However, I also spent every bit of my free time in college sewing. I made stuffed animals as gifts, did commissions for friends, and designed characters on every spare piece of paper I had. In fact, I brought some of the stuffed animals I had made to a job interview after they asked me to see examples of my ‘Proficiency in physical, creative media.’ It was the one solace I had in college life that I wasn’t built for. I am an artist at heart and constantly dreamed of doing it full-time.

I went viral on TikTok for my plushie designs in my senior year. I decided to take the risk and not use the degree that I had put blood, sweat, and tears into and follow this passion that I couldn’t stop thinking about. My family was, frankly, not very happy. They saw a girl with no business experience following a pipe dream. I can’t blame them for being hesitant, but after spending my entire life following their expectations, I had to gamble on myself and the work I put in. I stopped my graduate school applications, moved into an apartment with a sewing room, and spent the next ten months working non-stop to prove to myself and everyone that I could make my dream a reality.

Three years later, I have a warehouse and an employee, and I am working hard to continue growing Alpacasews into the dream that I still have. If I hadn’t dared to pivot from my laid out life plan, I would have never gotten as far as I have today.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Since 2022, most of our plush toys have been manufactured using a China factory. It was one of the most complex decisions I had to make; letting go of control over all of the parts of Alpacasews was extremely difficult. I had spent months researching production partners through Alibaba, a website used to find Chinese manufacturers, trying to find the best fit. I wanted to find a company that would put the same amount of attention to detail and care into these plush toys as I did.

I finally found a match by talking with other plush creators online and researching the company’s reviews and policies. I am thankful to have continued working with them for almost three years after reaching out! It is essential to build strong relationships with your sales representatives so that they know your expectations and you can work with them to get the product you want.

Contact Info:

• Website: Alpacasews.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alpacasews/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/alpacasews
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Alpacasews
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alpacasews?lang=en

Image Credits
Emily Foster