I’m incredibly fortunate to be in a position to chat with prospective clients pretty frequently. But to be perfectly honest, if I’ve only had one 30-minute conversation with someone, I tend not to remember the details months later.
Last April I was introduced to Erin Newkirk, CEO and co-founder of RedStamp, a company putting style and etiquette back into personal correspondence. Along with CTO Dan Wick, we had a great first conversation — but unfortunately our schedules didn’t match up, and we parted ways. Pretty typical situation for me.
Only this time I couldn’t get them out of my head.
A few months passed, and I was still thinking about RedStamp, kicking myself for not getting involved in some way. As luck would have it, I was traveling to Minneapolis (where they’re based) to speak at An Event Apart, and decided to shoot them an email just to say hi and see if they were interested in meeting in person. They were, and we ended up having a great lunch meeting over delicious sandwiches. We clicked immediately.
Based on where they are right now in their site redesign (pretty far along), we knew that a traditional UX consulting project wouldn’t really make sense. But given how well we got along and how much we both wanted to work with the other, we decided to go a different route.
On Friday, Erin announced that I have joined the RedStamp team as an advisor. This will allow us to have an ongoing, long-term relationship, in which I can help shape the company from a UX process perspective, react to the designs they produce, share insights that I come across in my daily work and life, and connect them with the appropriate resources as the redesign progresses — and long afterwards as well.
RedStamp is much more than they appear to be at first glance: a stationery company. They want to change the way people correspond. They want to bring etiquette and style into digital communications, and create a fluidity between online and offline correspondence that does not yet exist in today’s world. I’m incredibly excited that I will be able to play a small role in helping make that happen.
It’s an honor to join Joanne Wilson, another RedStamp advisor and the one responsible for putting all of this into motion. You can’t always predict how things are going to work out, but if you believe in something strongly enough, show your passion and follow through, amazing things are bound to happen.
If you have any insights on modern etiquette or the importance of style in online and offline communications, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or via email. Thanks so much!
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“if you believe in something strongly enough, show your passion and follow through, amazing things are bound to happen.”
Couldn’t Agree More!
Congrats on this cool new opportunity I am sure you will do awesome.
Congrats on joining RedStamp Whitney.
Make sure to visit Lake Calhoun in uptown before it gets too cold
(and by “too cold” I mean the lake will be frozen).