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

Stephanie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My late father was a very charismatic coach, father and entrepreneur. His favorite thing to say at the end of every encounter were the words “Have Some Fun Today”. Toward his last years with us my dad became very ill and was in hospital after hospital trying to heal him. Even laying there in a hospital bed, he would say to me as I left for the day he would tell me to ‘have some fun today’.
On April 25th 2014 my father passed while he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center. The first thing I thought when I heard the news were his words: Have Some Fun Today and I would take those words and I knew they would always keep his memory & spirit alive.

At his funeral over a thousand people came to pay their respects to him, He was a coach when he began his career, 50 years later the kids he coached came to his funeral, the people he touched when he worked as a teacher and an insurance salesman came, his friends and colleagues from all walks of his life came because he made everyone feel special.

So, a few months later while I was doing my morning meditation and gratitude practice I had a vision of a painting with those four words: Have Some Fun Today. Maybe it was my dad speaking in my ear? I envisioned the products that we carry and I knew in that moment I was going to start this brand.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi, my name is Stephanie Rado Taormina and I am the founder, designer and CEO of the lifestyle brand Have Some Fun Today.

As a fine artist and interior designer who began my career in fashion over 30 years ago, my creativity and artistic vision has always been at the heart of my work and art. It was that same creative spirit that deeply moved and inspired me after losing my beloved father in 2014.
“I was sitting in my living room one day, shortly after the passing of my father, when I began to visualize a painting. I was inspired by something my father said every day; “Have Some Fun Today.” The painting was just the beginning. I wanted to make a t-shirt, a beach tote, a hat… That was the day I started this brand.”
I have a BA in communications and business from The Pennsylvania State University. I then continued on to Parsons School of Design where I earned a BFA in fashion design and went to work on 7th Avenue for several years before starting my own soft home furnishing & loungewear brand called RADO, LTD. where
I sold my pieces to high end stores across north America like ABC Carpet & Home, Gumps & Portico.
From there I began another successful design business as principal in my own design firm called Stephanie Rado Taormina Interiors & Art, LLC. which I created interiors & fine art for residential & commercial spaces all over the country until I switched gears and founded HSFT in 2014.
I founded HSFT to share my passion for finding the joy in life. I started with a t-shirt, a tote bag and those four words my dad always said and has since created a brand, a mindset and a philosophy that connects with my customers. It’s the beauty of that connection with people that inspires me to keep sharing the message. ”My mission is to help shift people’s mindset to include Having Some Fun everyday and to make people smile through my designs.”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I would say that it is important to understand what you are capable of as a person who has a dream that you are dedicated to making a reality. A lot of people would come to me over the years and tell me their ideas and ask for my opinion and you need to understand that having a start up means that you will be working 7 days a week. Unless you are very well funded you will also be doing many jobs that are not your expertise, but they have to get done so you figure out how to do it. The level of commitment is off the charts when you don’t have a big team or a lot of capital to fund your operation. There have been many times that I had to pack boxes, transport hundreds of boxes of product places, back breaking work that no one in their right mind would volunteer to do especially since I didnt have to do any of this. Do you have what it takes to work 24/7 for 9+ years with little compensation? It is not for the faint of heart, but I believe in what I am doing and I know I am one big thing away from my brand making it big. To have the resilence to get up every single day and make a positive post about the brand can often be so hard to do. But I have done it every day for over 9 years. One day, I’ll tell this story from a place of looking back and being proud of my accomplishment.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I started Have Some Fun Today, I had an interior design consulting firm and as my father’s illnesses persisted I was feeling that my focus was getting less and less on designing spaces for other people and that something wasnt feeding my soul with it any longer. I was in that space where I was open subconsciously to something new, I just didnt know what that would be.
Interestingly enough, when I received the vision of the Have Some Fun Today painting it was the result of circumstance and my openness to inspiration and spiritual guidance. Asking the universe every day what is right, what is the next step?
When the message came through and it made sense from a talent & skill perspective, the training I had earlier in life from attending Parsons fashion program, I knew the steps to take. I could have just done an etsy shop and kept it all small, but life did not intend for it to be small.
Life intended for it to have room to grow and be shared on a larger scale with the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://havesomefuntoday.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hsft_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSFTofficial/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieradotaormina
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEuaXzK-rKkd260csxK-QUw