We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joy Hardaway a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Joy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I started Memphis Greetings after years of creating my own satirical cards to gift to my friends and family. I have never been the sentimental card type and wanted to give the people in my life cards that sounded like “me.” recipients would always say you should sell these and well here we are.
Joy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Omg, I really don’t know where to begin but Creating has been a part of my life since I could remember. I have always found ways to express myself visually whether it be on canvas, on stage, or in person. As a child, I remember doodling on my schoolwork instead of paying attention in class or stealing the tags off of Paris Blues jeans to draw the fashion illustrations. Art was my “thing.” I’ve never been big on verbally expressing myself. I always felt like the words never seemed to come outright. So if I can show you better than I can tell you was a person..I’m the person!
I currently run and operate three micro-businesses (micro for now). Phoenix Jai, a Specialty shop that provides my original art, clothing, stationery, and greeting cards. Art-in-Sun, a Luxury Swimwear brand created to accentuate the natural curves of real women adorned with embroidered art by me and my most known creation, Memphis Greetings. Which is A minimalist greeting card brand with a MEMPHIS flair that i created because ‘I wanted a card that reflected who I was.’ I’m not the sentimental card giver type so I created a brand for the ppl like me…my folks…MEMPHIS folks. It has been my most successful venture as it has been picked up by several local retail shops in the city as well as the go to for National companies to spread some love to their clients and employees. It’s really only up from here! So target if you’re reading this holla at cha girl.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My 1st hiccup in life happened early on. When I graduated high school I was accepted to multiple fashion and art schools but was discouraged by my family to attend because it was thought that I needed a “real” degree to succeed. My dreams of being a fashion designer were crushed. Being told I couldn’t do it because I was black or because I was female, or even worse because you can’t be “successful” with a creative career altered my whole perception of what I could accomplish. It changed me and not in a good way. I stopped drawing after that. There was no need if my art didn’t mean anything. I went on to go to “real” school in Miami, Fl. and you guessed it I never got that “real” degree that guaranteed me much success. I ended up coming back home and got pregnant with my son which definitely derailed school for a while along with the fact that his father was murdered a year after he was born. Dealing with grief and being a new mom gave me no time to create. I didn’t pick up a pencil again for 10yrs.
Then life hit me with another bump in the road and I was literally at rock bottom. I felt like i had lost everything and I had no purpose. I grabbed a pencil and a sheet of computer paper and began to draw. It was all I knew to do in that moment. Art saved my life. I was reborn. I was me…again. With social media becoming more and more popular ppl got to see my art and things just took off from there and Phoenix Jai was born.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Good ol’ fashioned word of mouth has been my biggest advocate! Social media presence has aided in that but just my clients being vocal about my products has generated the most sales and engagement for my business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.memphisgreetings.com
- Instagram: @memphisgreetings
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memphisgreetings
Image Credits
Memphis Memphis Memphis postcard shot credited: @thememphianhotel