How I went from a musical theatre performer to a greeting card designer: my "career" timeline

*Sharing because I feel like the fact that I have a plate glow-up photo shows you how strange my journey has been

I never expected to be where I am today, running my own business. I took an interesting path to get here, and often think of myself as an "accidental entrepreneur", but the more I look back, I feel this was always in the cards for me. Here's a look at the past eight years for me work-wise:

+ 2013

Graduated as a musical theatre major and moved to NYC immediately. I wanted to perform and I dove straight in!

+ 2014-2015

I booked the first international tour of Beauty and the Beast and spent a year abroad. Tommy and I spent that time long-distance, but he came to visit me in Milan for two weeks at Christmas.

+ 2015

Worked professionally as an actress regionally, on tours, on TV, and in commercials. I had a blast jumping from job to job and living my dream.

+ 2016

I started my travel blog (it's no longer live, but you can peep the archived Instagram account here lol). I was still working as an actress but was taking the time in between jobs to travel and teach English online with VIPKID, It's a wonderful company that gave me a lot of opportunities. I even taught the first year Tommy was in treatment to supplement our income.

+ 2017

I split my time living abroad, traveling with Tommy, prepping for our wedding, and working Off-Broadway. Tommy's diagnosis was in October, and our theatre careers were placed on what I thought would be a temporary pause. I got a job in a gift shop down the street to help pay for medical bills.

+ 2018

I had this crazy idea to start designing greeting cards for the cancer community. I loved seeing entrepreneurs and brands working with the gift shop and loved the spirit of these artists. I decided to take a leap and open an Etsy shop, mostly as a creative outlet, but also to see what was possible in the greeting card space. I decided to self-publish the planner I created for Tommy and me to use to stay organized during his treatment and called it The Better Book. I taught myself everything about design, e-commerce, production, marketing, the works, and within six months, I was able to quit my part-time job and work for myself full-time through Better + Company. I started my second shop, Five Dot Post late November.

+ 2019-2020

I spent the past two years growing, scaling, and sharing everything I learned with other card makers. I created my course, The Card Maker Business Course to help others start their businesses more quickly and easily. I had my first six-figure year in 2020, and am continuously seeing month-to-month growth. I wrote my book, Better Together, in collaboration with the cancer community and launched it on my 30th birthday.

+ 2021

I merged my businesses to house everything under Five Dot Post. I started wholesaling my cards, and am currently exploring this new and exciting space. I have no idea what the next few years have in store, but am sure they will surprise me as always!