We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Deniesha Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Deniesha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Yes, my business serves an underserved community… the BIPOC community specifically African American community. I have sometimes created cards for other ethnicities and the LGBTQA+ community.

My reason is from 2017 through 2020, I would attempt to shop greeting cards for my family and friends, but they didn’t quite represent “us” or say the message I wanted to say to the recipient. In most cases, the only cards available to shop were the same card designs that were available every year with little to no new designs. As an artist and designer, I have always been a creative and crafty person, I enjoyed making things for my family and friends that I knew they would personally like and enjoy. Especially when it was something that had a personal yet very thoughtful touch.

So, in 2020, I started making cards for Mother’s and Father’s Day to keep myself busy during the pandemic. I knew it would be greatly appreciated since we were separated from our loved ones and couldn’t be with them during those holidays. It was also a great way to say I was thinking of them, missed them, and still loved them.

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?

I founded D. Johnson & Co. Greetings in May 2020, this business had become my calm and center during the “COVID-19 pandemic” storm we all lived through. I was able to use it as an outlet to be creative and share my gifts while giving a little love & kindness in every card I made. This all started when I made custom cards and stationery years ago, but mostly as an added service to my event planning business. Over the years, even though I stopped planning events, I continued to make event stationery as requested and greeting cards on special occasions for close family & friends to make them feel special. I quickly learned that it was another great business venture.

Although I obtained a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing at Florida A & M University in 2005, I have 34 years of art & design background as a natural artist who has done paintings, drawings/sketches, sculpting and has taken some interior design/architecture courses in college; I have become a self-taught graphic designer making one-of-a-kind greeting cards and event stationery for you today! With that, I have over 15 years of experience across several industries and departments… from HR to marketing to IT as a Sr. IT Project Coordinator/ Jr. IT Project Manager, and I utilize those skillsets to stay organized and pick up on the details needed to make beautiful stationery and greeting cards designed specifically for the customer.

Since starting the business, I have loved creating new cards (some may say I’m passionate about it) and being creative paired with my precise attention to detail are the tools needed for my card ideas to come together so effortlessly. Today, I’m slowly growing my business one card at a time, making custom stationery, and greeting cards uniquely for you! One key accomplishment I’m most proud of is we have shown consistent growth over the last few years where we had a 256% increase in sales over one year’s time.

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

I actually do not use an outsourced manufacturer; I make everything in-house by hand. That is why my greeting cards and event stationery are so unique; they’re handmade, one-of-a-kind, custom, collectible items made of the finest craftsmanship and artistry quality.

Although, when I first started, I didn’t have a laser printer only a Cricut Explorer and a basic printer, so my designs used a lot of cut paper and images glued onto a folded piece of paper. To add a fun touch, I would emboss the lettering onto the page using embossing powder, pen, and heat gun. As I have grown, I paid attention to so many Cricut how-to tutorials that have allowed me to evolve the designs of my cards a bit. I have now purchased two laser printers which give me the ability to foil my cards using my Minc foil machine and add my branding to the back of the cards.

The one thing I challenge myself with is to stay flexible and ever learning and growing. This will help me stay creative and open to new fun ideas and ways to make cards that are so loved by both the purchaser and the recipient.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Honestly, the most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been gifting a greeting card or stationery to the person… whether they were an influencer I wanted to impress, or they were a recipient that received a card that someone purchased for them, they soon ended up coming to me to order a card for a loved one of theirs and they continue to come back for those really special moments and occasions.

Another great resource has been social media. Creating content that draws them in and shows them what I do, and what they could receive turned into a special-order request and a loyal customer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.djohnsoncogreetings.com
• Instagram: @d.johnsonandco_greetings
• Facebook: @d.johnsonandcogreetings
• Linkedin: D. Johnson and Co Greetings

Image Credits
Profile picture credit: Desiree Wells of @dashcamshoots