Hi Natalie! Tell us a little bit about you.
Hi Shana! I’m so happy to be a part of your shop. In my “real life” I’m a freelance journalist with a focus on social justice and environmental reporting. On the side I do copywriting for progressive political campaigns and run my business Raspberry Cloud Studio! I love supporting other small makers by growing my collections of stickers, washi tape, tiny ceramics, and more. My goal is to find a full-time journalism job (harder than it sounds!) and run my shop on evenings and weekends, including expanding more into wholesale!
When did you start illustrating?
I don’t really consider myself an illustrator, but I did minor in visual arts in college. I’ve always liked to draw, but prefer fun lettering and doodling to so-called “serious” illustration. That’s why so many of my shop items are centered around words and phrases!
We love the feminism and LGBTQ+ pride message you have in your items! What inspired you to start creating such empowering illustrations?
As headstrong feminist and a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I always aspire to spread positivity and joy around marginalized identities. My little sister is transgender, so she’s the inspiration behind all of my trans positivity merchandise. With so much negativity in this country and around the world impacting trans people and other queer folks, I take special care to make sure my products are bright, fun, and uplifting.
Whether someone’s celebrating a coming out, a name change, gender affirming surgery, or another life transition, I’m so honored to help my customers celebrate the LGBTQ+ people in their lives.
I have to ask: How did you come up with the Trans Juice Box idea? We LOVE.
This idea actually came from Tumblr, where I saw edits of people chugging various drinks labeled “respect for trans people” and so on. The juice box started out as a sketch that I turned into a digital illustration, and more recently I added new lettering using a digital font to make the stickers easier to read. I’ve had a great response to my newest addition, Respect Nonbinary People Juice, so I may expand the design to even more identities in the future!
Oh and because I'm nosey, do you have any pets? Pics pls!
I have a retired racing greyhound named Ruby! She’s my third greyhound-- I highly recommend this breed to everyone, and not just because there are plenty of former racetrack dogs looking for loving homes. They are also extremely friendly, quiet, hypoallergenic, and they snooze all day!