We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Wood. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. Is there something you do different than industry standard?

Yes! We have reinvented how people gift and give back. It’s undeniable that people love receiving and scratching off tickets so I’ve flipped the concept on its head to create a game of giving back.

LottoLove is the first and only social good scratch-off ticket. I like to say we are the only lottery where everyone is a winner. What I mean by that is every ticket gives to one of our 8 charity partners. When a customer purchases LottoLove they become a champion of change, the recipient reveals a winning ticket every time and ultimately & most importantly the beneficiaries receive life-changing support. It’s a win-win all around.

With 8 charity partners and counting, we are creating awareness and support for many important causes.

In this world where there is an emphasis on material things, LottoLove shifts the focus to something more meaningful, human connection. More than a gifting company, LottoLove makes people feel good through doing good and brings people together to help others.

Charities have a tough job of fundraising. Partnerships are crucial to fulfilling their efforts and spreading their mission to new audiences. LottoLove is working hard to facilitate conversations about causes that need our support. By making charitable giving more interactive than traditional methods we are inspiring people to share with their communities. It creates a ripple effect.

Our scratch-off tickets spark more conversations, create more human connections, and build stronger communities. We believe that these moments are what inspire real change and it can all start with gifting a winning ticket.

For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.

Hold up your left hand like a mitten. Now point to the top of your ring finger. That is where I’m from, Petoskey, Michigan. It is your quintessential small town that attracts tourists all year round. It’s a magical place, but as an impressionable child, my parents knew it was important to travel.

My parents dedicated their lives to helping others; through them, I saw the many ways to give back. Every March my dad left for 10 days while he traveled to Central America to help build an orphanage and provide much-needed medical care. Eventually, we traveled as a family to some of the most remote parts of Guatemala. I saw people struggling to live. That memory and feeling never left me. My childhood inspired me to do something bigger with my life, but it took me a bit to realize that.

I graduated from the University of Michigan where I joined the Michigan Community Scholars program which had a focus on community service. Soon after moving to Chicago, my sister and I raised money for another mission trip. This time we went to Honduras. It was on these mission trips that I had the most sense of purpose. The purpose was clear, help people. But back in Chicago, I was in the midst of trying to find my career path and found many jobs that left me unfulfilled until I discovered the Chicago Portfolio School. With a focus on Art Direction, I learned about design & branding. I fell in love with design as a way to solve problems. I came out of the program with a portfolio and a plan. I moved to NYC.

NYC gave me a variety of experiences as I worked in advertising, fashion, and lifestyle. An old boss said to me once ‘if you’re not smart enough to understand this then I don’t know what to tell you.” It was at that moment that I knew the path I was on was not for me. Eventually, I started a branding business where I worked with many startups developing their visual identity. I was fortunate to collaborate with many talented people at the Concept Farm, Brooks Brothers, Jcrew, Lucky magazine, and MillerCoors. When I started working with social good brands I realized I didn’t have to be on the ground helping people to have a big impact.

It wasn’t until I started noticing my (then boyfriend) husband’s love for scratch-offs and remembered my Grandma had loved them, too that I realized that scratch-off tickets are so fun and exciting, but they bring people together around winning for themselves. It was then I thought why not bring people together around doing good and winning for someone else? It was a way for me to be in service of others, use my talents and make a real difference in people’s lives in many different ways.

Years after visiting some of the most remote places, I’ve made it my mission to change how we gift & give by turning lottery tickets into charitable gifts that spread positivity and love while helping those who need it most. LottoLove was born.

We are solving some basic problems, like what to gift anyone in your life. LottoLove is perfect for the person who has everything, who doesn’t want anything, who you don’t know very well etc. We are putting a spin on corporate gifting as well. It’s a gifting option that isn’t going to contribute to the massive waste crisis we are facing and we are making gifting fun and bringing back the joy of it.

And, we are solving really big problems, too. Now, I am reaching those remote villages once again. Because of LottoLove, kids are learning to read and write, families have access to clean water, girls have mentors, can stand up for themselves & their community and receive an education, people have sustaining meals & are learning how to be self-sufficient, and people are healthier & the world is cleaner by replacing kerosene with solar lights and young women are given the opportunity & resources to run for office.

Anyone who gifts or receives LottoLove becomes a champion of change.

LottoLove has a very engaged community. When my customers reach out with questions or feedback I take it seriously. We have an exciting future expansion into digital. This transition will open the door for more corporate giving options for adding more personalization and customization to the scratch tickets. This will also include a much larger gift catalog so they can support even more charities. (so if you’re a charity reading this please reach out).

LottoLove has been featured on the Today Show and Ellen Degeneres and included in several national publications such as Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Real Simple, and Redbook.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I’m a sucker for branding, business & design books. SO MANy. here are a few.

Same Side Selling by Jack Quarles & Ian Altman

The Brand Flip by Mary Neumeier

Design is a job by Mike Monteiro.

Uncharitable by Dan Pallotta. I think everyone should read this. It really forces you to question your current belief system about charities.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think as a business owner your resilience is tested almost every day. You have to show up for yourself and in a lot of cases, any responsibility lands on you.

In my LottoLove journey, there have been several moments that tested my ability to bounce back. I can laugh at this example now, but at the moment I was in shock. In the very beginning days, I was at a bank opening up a business account and the teller told me that they couldn’t do it because of the gambling nature of my business. The long short of it is that when people say no, you have to keep pushing forward.

Another challenging phase of starting LottoLove was actually product development. Coming from the design world I completely understood how design is iterative. There is a process you go through, sometimes longer, to get to the final product. With product development, there are SO many misses before you make it right. The user testing was a critical piece to the puzzle and provided a lot of insight. I had a few back-to-the-drawing-board moments. It’s easy to feel defeated when the answer isn’t clear, but that’s when you have to take a little breather, pick yourself up and try again.

Another issue at play is my slight perfectionism. At a certain point, you have to just tell yourself ‘this is it and understand that improvements can be made later.

Contact Info:

• Website: givelottolove.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lottolove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lottolove
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lottolove

Image Credits
Chelsie Starley for product photos & headshots