HENRICO, Va. — Walking away from a more lucrative career in medical device sales, a local first-time entrepreneur is looking to make an imprint on the stationery market.
Former UR student Beth Harris has launched Pretty Girl Paper, a line of stationery, note cards and envelopes that feature gold-embossed designs and messages.
“I feel like there has been a resurgence of letter-writing and sending notes in the mail, and gold foil printing is so popular right now,” she said.
Beth Harris launched Pretty Girl Paper in June after leaving a career in medical device sales. (Courtesy Pretty Girl Paper)
The line’s initial offering of a dozen cards has been picked up by six stores in Richmond and another in Georgia. Local carriers include Mongrel, the May Fair House at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Quirk Gallery, Strawberry Fields Flowers & Finds, and the recently opened Gilt and Ash at Patterson and Libbie and Dear Neighbor in Church Hill.
Harris launched Pretty Girl Paper in June after bidding adieu to a career in medical device sales for such companies as CardioNet, LifeWatch and Tyrx. She said a lifelong love of paper and stationery, as well as an apparent lack of the gold-embossed designs she prefers, drove her decision to start her own business – a risk she took without lining up commitments from carriers in advance.
“That probably would have been a good idea to go around to stores ahead of time, but I didn’t,” Harris said. “I just decided that the product I was going to have was beautiful and would be of interest – that people would see it and really like it.
Continue reading onRichmondBizSense.com.
