Grandma’s Words Inspires Entrepreneur
In an era of e-mail, voice mail and text messages, such personal notes are rare. Ella Curren cherishes the handwritten notes and letters her now 86-year-old grandmother wrote to her over the years for birthdays, holidays and special occasions.In tribute to her grandmother — Elizabeth Curren, the society page editor at The New Haven Register for 40 years, who now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease — the 2008 Shepaug Valley High School graduate created a personalized stationery business, Ella Notes, as her senior project.
All of Ella’s stationery can be personalized with names or initials. She can also add such creative touches as hand-tied ribbons, hole punches, alphabet letters on strings, or stamped floral images.
“I’m a perfectionist,” she said of her attention to detail.
On March 15, Ella held a trunk show at Minor Memorial Library in Roxbury, where she sold 35 prepackaged sets of thank you cards and took 59 orders for personalized notes.
She invested $1,232 in the project, borrowed from her parents, and earned enough to pay them back in addition to making her $2,000 donation. “It’s been a pleasure. It was what I wanted to do,” said Ella, who spent 250 hours her “Notes from an Entrepreneur: Launching a Note Card Business” project, which earned an A.
Angela on July 7th, 2008 2:33 pm
I have always loved the special feeling received when I get a handwritten note over something emailed to me or printed off. I’m glad to see she made something from that inspiration.
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