Cool Girls with Tag: design

Sabrina Moyle and Eunice Moyle

Name: Sabrina Moyle and Eunice Moyle
Ages: 44 and 46
Location: San Francisco and Aix-en-Provence
Occupation: Co-Founders, Hello!Lucky

Sabrina Moyle and Eunice Moyle, sisters and co-founders of Hello!Lucky, united their passion for art with a knack for business in order to start their award-winning letterpress greeting card and design studio. Hello!Lucky partners with many artists to create products from books, to ceramics, to stationary and beyond.

The sisters have settled in San Francisco after growing up in Burma, Libya, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and United States as a result of their father’s Foreign Service Officer career. Although their father had the job that brought them around the globe, it was their mother who Eunice remembers as being an aesthetic influence on her.

“I wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember! I also loved playing with office supplies and setting up shop with my mom’s costume jewelry and make-up samples,” she says.

“By the time I was in eighth grade, I wanted to be one of three things: a museum educator, an interior designer, or an advertising creative director,” Sabrina says. “I also loved writing, acting and singing. I’m finding that I have been able to incorporate all of these into my career at Hello!Lucky, between writing children’s books, creative directing our product designs, and even thinking about how to adapt our characters and stories for the screen!”

The two embarked on their endeavor after Sabrina had graduated from business school, and after Eunice had designed some dog and cat-themed cards for a pet store where she was working at the time.

“I had extras and sent samples to a major stationery retailer in New York City. They placed a big order. Then I called Sabrina!” Eunice remembers.

“Eunice is the most talented artist I know, so I jumped in to help get Hello!Lucky off the ground. In the process, I discovered my own creative voice and discovered that through Hello!Lucky, I could explore both business and creativity,” Sabrina adds.

Although Hello!Lucky has been around since 2003, their road to a successful small business wasn’t always smooth, between making payroll, managing a staff of up to 20 employees, and adapting to changing technology.

“The biggest difficulty was when we were worried that social media would kill greeting cards, so we pivoted our business to focus on selling wedding invitations online,” they recall. “We realized in the process that we are not a tech company, and that what we love doing most – and are therefore best at – is developing creative designs and content. Plus, social media has led to people having more connections, not fewer, so greeting cards are still a thing; our fear that they would go away was unfounded.”

These challenges have taught the two a lot, like how to be adaptable in a business environment and how to capitalize on their strengths.

“We’ve gotten very good about changing course in response to signs we get from the market, listening to our gut instincts, and not getting too attached to any particular outcome,” Sabrina says.

Both sisters work from home in order to balance being mothers with being business women. “We do our best creative work when we make time and space for ourselves,” she adds.

By free-styling the collaborative process with their clients, and by never taking themselves too seriously, they have found a way to truly establish a unique company that is driven as much by creativity as it is by product.

The two have some sage advice for young women learning how to navigate the world.

“Take the time to become aware of the subconscious emotional and mental programming you have received from your parents, teachers, and friends — which manifest in stories you tell yourself about how you should or shouldn’t be, whether you can or can’t do something, how you respond to conflict and failure, and the extent to which you are in touch with your own voice, path and purpose,” they say.

“Try to clear away any emotional or mental blocks by getting curious about the origins of, and then turning around, any negative thoughts patterns. Just because you don’t know what you’re good at yet, doesn’t mean you’re not good at something so stay open to trying new things and actively welcome failure as an opportunity to grow. You have a unique role to play in the world, and your life is about discovering your purpose through a combination of inner reflection and inquiry, and gaining wisdom from your experiences and education in the outer world.”

For these very wise words, and for the beautiful and dynamic products and partnerships Hello!Lucky helps to create, we think Sabrina and Eunice Moyle are very Cool Girls!

Stay up-to-date on Hello!Lucky by visiting their website or Instagram. And treat yourself to a pair of their beautiful socks from our Fall 2019 Artist Collaboration!

We made a $200 donation to The Mosaic Project on behalf of Hello!Lucky. We encourage you to make a donation too and help spread education!

Julz Nally

Sock It to Me Cool Girl Julz Nally.
Photo by Kim Nguyen

Name: Julz Nally
Age: 41
Location: Portland. Oregon
Occupation: Illustrator

At eleven years old, Julz Nally’s parents saw the way that their daughter had fallen in love with art and they enrolled her in watercolor lessons. It was that support and encouragement for creating that has led this Portland based illustrator to create Hummingbird Art Camp.

Sock It to Me Cool Girl Julz Nally Hummingbird Art Camp artwork.The idea for the camp came to her in the middle of working on an illustration project.

“I have over 20 years experience connecting with and teaching kids through art,” she explains, “So when the idea hit me that I could create my own art camp for girls, I ran with it immediately. I couldn’t think of a more joyful way to spend the summer than sharing my love for artful play and watching kids create in our own backyard.”

Julz decided to name the camp for the hummingbirds that visit her gardens and front porch throughout the year, as well as for the reminder that they provide to live a joyous, fulfilled, curious life. Providing a creative outlet for young girls during their downtime allows Julz to give back and foster a whole new generation of artists.

Her day to day life is also filled with artistry and inspiration; Julz is a self-employed illustrator after honing her wares out of college as a graphic designer, advertising art director, and apparel graphic designer.

Sock It to Me Cool Girl Julz Nally art for Hummingbird camp and graphics for clients side by side.

“I’ve been my own boss for the past 11 years now, starting with my a line of graphic jewelry that I used to create and sell as Handmade Julz, to now illustrating and designing for clients,” she says.

The collaborative process of working with clients allows Julz to create a final product while still allowing the clientele to have the freedom to dictate their vision and direct the project. Her solo work, however, is a very different animal.

Sock It to Me Cool Girl Julz Nally personal art: colored spoons with positive messaging.“The personal work that I create comes from my soul. Sometimes I make art inspired by what I’m eating which might become a pattern or something thought that comes to mind. When I’m just making art, it’s for me, and I will sometimes sell the original or a print if others are interested. I tend to ‘make art’ all day, in all aspects of life because that is the way my mind works. The world is full of magic and inspiration, it just takes slowing down to listen and take a closer look. Always keep a sketchbook and pencil nearby,” she advises.

That’s not to say that she lives her life cloistered away in her studio.

“I find that I’m happiest when I balance my week with time out of the house socializing, so I work that into my schedule in small ways. Currently, my typical day consists of figuring out our daily camp activities for Hummingbird Art Camp & designing and painting a piano for Piano. Push. Play. for summer 2018,” she says. (Piano. Push. Play. is a group that rescues pianos and puts them in several locations around Portland for the public to play and enjoy.)

In the future, Julz hopes to continue illustrating, both for clients as well as book publishers.

“I hope to collaborate with a friend on our own book one day filled with ideas for getting creative with nature and connecting with all of that magic within,” she says.

Sock It to Me Cool Girl Julz Nally and daughter Juniper
Photo by Jena Coray

Even more exciting, next year Julz and her family will be going to New Zealand for a family art residency. Her eight-year-old daughter, Juniper, will co-teach a few workshops with her mother while the family is there. “It’s an amazing thing to dream up an idea and work towards that goal, believing that anything is possible,” Julz says.

And what aspirational words does Julz have for other fledgling artists and whimsical girls?

“You are unique and beautiful. Your differences are what make you so special. Keep dreaming big because if you believe that you can, anything is possible. Love yourself and who you are becoming.”

For her loving and lovely vision of the world and the art to be made within it, we think that Julz Nally is a very Cool Girl!

A $200 donation was made to Children’s Healing Art Project (CHAP) on behalf of Julz. You can donate here.

Stephanie Smith

Name: Stephanie Smith
Age: 26
Location: Seattle, Washington
Occupation: Ph.D. Candidate and teaching assistant, Department of Biology at the University of Washington, Seattle

Ph.D. candidate and illustrator Stephanie Smith was a natural born biologist. She spent her childhood rifling around the dirt for treasures like “tiny frogs, raccoons, mushrooms, cicada shells, worms, and wild strawberries.”

Those fledgling years in Newark, Ohio sparked her passion, which she now channels in her teaching assistantship and studies at the Department of Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“When I went to college I was originally interested in paleoanthropology, but I took a mammal evolution class my second semester and that was what really got me interested in fossil mammals in general,” Stephanie explains. “I asked the professor if I could work in his lab and he took me on to wash and organize mammal fossils, and to sort through fossiliferous sediment (read: dirt with tiiiiiny fossils in it) under a microscope. That volunteer position was the thing that really started to get me excited about studying mammals.”

The summer following her sophomore year of college offered her an opportunity to do field work in the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming with Ken Rose and his field crew.

“On our first day out collecting fossils, I remember I found a jaw of a tiny horse (Hyracotherium) with three teeth in it, and I think I decided that day that I wanted to do this forever,” she says.

These days, much of Stephanie’s time is dedicated to completing her Ph.D. dissertation and illustrating things she finds interesting in nature.

“I’m working with a bunch of collaborators right now on a manuscript of one of my dissertation chapters, where we’re looking at changes in the type and relative abundance of different kinds of mammals on the landscape right after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction, which is the one that wiped out all dinosaurs except birds,” she says.

In the classroom, Stephanie is assisting a class on the evolution of mammals, and much of her lesson planning includes illustrating what’s taught.

“I get to draw these big mural-type figures on the board for my students when I teach about them. I find that using simplified line drawings and flow-charts can help my students grasp complicated concepts, especially people who are very visual learners,” she explains.

Beyond the classroom, Stephanie has designed the t-shirt for the Discoveries in Geoscience (DIG) Field School, once again using her artistic talent combined with her love of paleontology.

“The DIG is a free professional development opportunity where K-12 STEM teachers come join our research team in the field for four days of research experience and hijinks. I’ve been a field instructor for the DIG for five years and it’s one of my favorite things to be involved in because of how excited the teachers get about paleontology!”

In the future, Stephanie hopes to get a job working in a natural history museum where she could ideally do her research, write grants, and use her illustration skills to inform and inspire the public about science.

“Science communication is really important to me, and illustration lets me inject more creativity and personality into the process,” she says.

And beyond that personality powering her paleontological prowess, what message does Stephanie hope to communicate to young women stoked by science?

“Don’t be afraid to go out and learn new things for yourself! You can learn about a million things just by observing what’s going on in the world around you, and asking questions and investigating. Learning is not just a thing that happens in a classroom.”

Very cool advice from a very cool girl! Thanks, Stephanie, and best of luck with your dissertation!

Some internet offerings if you’re looking to check out Stephanie in action on Instagram, Twitter, or her website.