We recently connected with Christina Stamatos and have shared our conversation below.

Christina, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Growing up in the real estate industry and graduating college with a degree in Interior Design, I have always dreamed of my own show on HGTV. After I graduated in 2019, I moved to New York City to work for an Interior Design / Home Staging company. After eight months of employment, the year 2020 had different plans for me. I lost my job and had no choice but to move back home to Boston. I felt so embarrassed losing my job to the point where I did not want to get out of bed, but my dad encouraged me to start going to work with him. He had just purchased an investment property and let me have full control of the design process. I documented the design process and was trying to come up with a clever social media name for renovations. I thought to myself that the entire process of renovating is making sad things happy. So, that’s how I came up with the name.

I have always been a creative and when I saw a video of someone making a basketball planter, I had to do it myself. With no intention on selling basketball planters, a lot of people reached out to me for one. My first taste of entrepreneurship was fulfilling 30 orders of basketball planters in 1 week.

My little brother sent me a video of someone tufting a rug while I was trying to figure out my next move for Making Sad Things Happy. Big shoutout to Youtube for helping me further my education on rug making. I have perfected making rugs ever since. A few months later, my little sister sent me a video of someone embroidering a sweatshirt. I got into embroidery a year and a half into my business.

Growing and scaling a business doesn’t always mean hiring more people. What worked for me was developing skills that allowed me to create more things people were interested in. I have been able to successfully execute on all my ideas because of discipline, focus, and consistency, but most importantly, the people I love always support and encourage me.

Christina, 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?

I grew up in a Dominican and Greek household with 5 siblings. Both cultures are extremely family oriented and encourage having large families. The concept of teamwork is a core family value in the Stamatos house. My Dominican mother was committed to running the house, raising our siblings, and keeping everything in order. My Greek dad worked long hours for all of us to be comfortable. He still works around the clock to this day, and we’re not sure where he gets all his energy from. They both created a foundation for us to grow up in a safe and stable environment. I credit a lot of the success I have today to the discipline and values I learned as a kid. I feel like I owe it to them to be successful. It’s not easy to start your own business. At first you make no money. In fact, more often than not you are losing money as you build a following. My mom taught me it’s ok to make sacrifices when pursuing something you care about. My dad taught me the level of commitment and consistency required to be successful. I think what sets me apart from other brands is how all my supporters are treated like family. I engage in conversation with many people and write personalized, handwritten notes. I have a long-term mentality and believe in the quality of my supportter relationships over sales volume. It takes me days to make a single rug and I treat each one as if it were going in my own living room. I also source the highest quality materials for my clothing as well at the expense of higher profits. I want my clothing to be someone’s favorite, not just another piece in their closet. I am so proud of myself for getting to where I am in 3 years and very excited to see what lies ahead. Above all else I am grateful. I know none of this could have happened without my friends and family.

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

Finding a manufacturer for quality, blank clothing was a challenge I took on for a year before finally deciding on a vendor. Ordering samples is expensive so crossing my fingers was my strategy. Building brand loyalty is important and sacrificing the quality of a product for a lower cost to make a higher profit is not how you achieve it. Affordable luxury is the goal. I design, digitize my designs into stitches, and embroider clothing myself. Those felt as challenging as olympic sports when I first started, but I got the hang of it by practicing every day. I still to this day am learning new tips and tricks.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The algorithm on social media now is stacked against small businesses who are sellers because they want you to pay for marketing. It’s smart on their part but it hurts small businesses by blocking people from organically coming across their products. Influencer marketing is the way to go to get the word out. Collaborating with brands is also a great way for brand exposure. If you have a strong product and are having trouble getting it in front of people digitally, do not be discouraged. Look to form partnerships with brands that share similar values and together you can gain momentum.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.makingsadthingshappy.com
• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/makingsadthingshappy

Image Credits
@_photosantiago_