We were lucky to catch up with Christine Brown-Fiehler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christine, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Connection, whether it’s between people or ideas, has always been at the heart of what motivates me. The moment something clicks or that light bulb turns on, it’s magic and bonus points if it’s a shared feeling. Puzzle Pandas has given me countless opportunities to connect with people around the world and given others more opportunities too.

Christine, 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?

You can think of Puzzle Pandas as a worldwide scavenger hunt for puzzles. Our mission is to spread joy and the mental health benefits with our communities by hiding puzzles that we’ve already finished. Completing puzzles can be a relaxing and meditative activity that can help reduce stress and anxiety. Who doesn’t need less stress in their life? Additionally, sharing puzzles with others can help build connections and foster a sense of community. We have Puzzle Pandas all over the world “puzzling-it-forward” and sharing those good vibes both in local communities and through social media. Be sure to check out @puzzlepandas on Instagram for worldwide drops, or if you’re in the area, you can follow one of our local accounts: @puzzlepandas_cincinnati (curated by myself), @puzzlepandas_southflorida (curated by @monicahilton513 & @puzzledcaro) and @puzzlepandas_spain (curated by @puzzlecrisalida), @puzzlepandas_romania (curated by @puzzleessence) and @puzzlepandas_nepa (curated by @elizabethlukan).

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

All I can say is timing is everything and so is the niche. The pandemic really fueled the puzzle community through social media and I realized this after the idea of Puzzle Pandas came to me. As puzzles started to stack up, I was desperately looking for opportunities to connect to people and others were too. We connected through creating puzzle accounts on social media. When you finished one, you shared with your people on your news feeds and stories. While the online puzzle community was booming, I took their puzzle sharing one step further and encouraged the community to share puzzles they would never put together again with a stranger. It was a different spin on the community and it took off. I’d encourage anyone who’s trying to build their followers to do something a little different and create more, interesting ways to connect people. Ultimately, that’s what we want more of anyway.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Typically, in the puzzle world, companies will offer free puzzles in exchange for review posts. I didn’t want to write reviews, I wanted to create art that illustrated all the things Puzzle Pandas stand for – joy, kindness and good vibes. So when Micropuzzles reached out, I took a chance and dropped all my ideas on them. The chance paid off and we decided to collaborate. I often help them with their subscription box puzzles and they sell my Puzzle Pandas Kindness Collection puzzles – a set of 3 showcasing exactly who we are, captured in my illustrations.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.puzzle-pandas.com
• Instagram: @puzzlepandas
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PuzzlePandas/

Image Credits
Photos provided by Puzzle Pandas, Carrie B., Jamie C., Rox and Sydney R.