We recently connected with Amy Needle-Redei and have shared our conversation below.
Amy , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
In 2004 I was alone in a small apartment in Brooklyn NY raising a baby boy on my own. I had no money in the bank… and was worried leaving my baby with any babysitter or stranger in order to go back to work. I sat up one night after rescuing a dog from Bark shelter wondering how I was going to make my life work. I looked at our new puppy and decided to make a little sketch of him. ( he was so cute of course!) Watching him and the baby was a full time commitment and one day I decided to try baking some organic oatmeal dog treats to keep him (and myself) busy. He loved them! Next i packaged them and created a logo. I started giving them to my neighbors to try.
People started ordering them, so I created a little business called Fido’s Fabulous! New York. As things got busy I came up with this little Holiday Gift Bowl for dogs. I packaged all of it and took a photo. I decided to fax that photo to the Bed Bath and Beyond Corporate Office Pet division.
1 hour later I received an email from the buyer who asked if I could drive to Farmingdale, NY to meet the buyer. Well. I packed up my baby and we drove out to Long Island. By the end of the meeting I had a purchase order in hand for 28,000 pieces! They paid me 12.26 for each one. They would sell for 3x’s that in all BB& B stores nationwide. How the heck was I going to get enough money to complete this order? Hmmm… that is a story that is too long to try to type, but let me tell you, with 120 dollars left to my name, a 343k PO from a major retail chain – I had to do some pretty quick brainstorming . To be continued!!!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Went to Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan And had the pleasure of saying many famous people attended this small private school with me when I was younger: Jennifer Aniston was in my gym class! Many others too. I moved to to Music & Art high school to pursue my Art. I won a special program at FIT for fashion design and Illustration. I kept working on my art until decided to peruse illustration. I went on to create Children’s books, medical illustrations and book illustration. Did a lot of magazine spot illustration as well work for many clients such as Organic Style, Aveda , Chic Simple, Land’s End , Dr. Oz and more.. i eventually moved to Westchester where I opened my first retail store. THE CANINE BAR and sold high end dog accessories and gear while the busy coffee bar was the backdrop to the store. – dogs were allowed inside! Martha Stewart and Rob Thomas were some regular customers. I won Best of Westchester in 2006 & 2007. And My business was spotlighted/featured on News 12 Westchester two times.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When the curtain drops, it’s not over. There is always an opportunity to make something better . Better Art, better choices., better decisions. The lesson I had to unlearn is stop caring about what other people think about you . It is hard. Everything you do, in school as you learn to create your work as you step into your career , is all based on what other people think about you . Ironically learning how to undo that control is quite freeing. It takes a lot of practice, but slowly you can overcome that. As long as you are genuine, people will love you for who you are.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Had to pivot when my husband of 12 years abandoned us. Just packed a bag and decided he wanted to be with another woman, and her two children. He left behind our four. To suddenly learn how to live your life as both parents and suddenly now alone pushed me into taking a different career path – one that I did not initially want, but needed; I stuck with it and now have found myself intrigued with what may come out of it. It is a total opposite of me, my true self; it is Unbelievable that I have a job working for Citigroup. I actually try to bring some entrepreneurial changes into a very regulated environment . I try to think outside of the usual perimeters when I am working. Always looking for new solutions to help the company and employees succeed. I think they love that about me! I am definitely not the usual person that would be involved with finance.,(or at least that is my perception).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.redeidesign.com
- Instagram: RedeiDesign
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redeidesign/
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/amy-redei-14522a119
- Twitter: @AmyAmyredei
- Other: Saatchi Art Amy Redei
Image Credits
Amy Redei