Pink Ink
Sarah Howes & Ji Shin
Sarah and Ji tell us how they set up their greeting card business in Venezuela.
Expat Women Interview with Sarah & Ji
Expat Women: Sarah and Ji, please tell us... what is Pink Ink and how did you come up with the idea?
Sarah & Ji: At Pink Ink we use original art work created by partner, Ji Shin, with stationery such as greeting cards, note cards and personalized name cards. Pink Ink also now uses original design in a personalized digital photo album and show that we will be debuting online later this summer.
We started the company for two main reasons: to fill a void of nice stationery in our local market, Caracas, Venezuela and to fulfill our own desire to create and grow a business that uses our talents.
Expat Women: How did you meet and what were you doing before you created your company?
Sarah & Ji: Ji Shin has a degree in architecture and is a talented and adaptable artist who was frustrated with picking up and then having to leave projects once another move was required for her husband's career.
She draws, paints, sculpts and uses other art mediums and was looking for a meaningful way to apply her art.
Sarah Howes graduated with a BA in International Management and even though she didn't have her new lifestyle in mind when she chose that degree, she hoped it would make her marketable. Prior to moving to Venezuela she was a Brand Manager at General Electric.
Upon arriving to Venezuela she received a local job offer as a Brand Manager for a multinational company but was concerned that once her family left Caracas, she would be on Interview Row all over again, searching for something new.
We met at an embassy–sponsored class titled "e–entrepreneur course" that taught us how we could essentially be consultants for various needs. Our business is different but the course helped us think about how we wanted to spend our time and how we could start a business.
Expat Women: You run Pink Ink from Ohio and Venezuela. Tell us how that works?
Sarah & Ji: We fulfill all local orders locally and any orders that are ordered online we print and ship from Ohio. Business would be much more costly if we didn't do it this way and it's quicker for the customer too.
Expat Women: Why greeting cards?
Sarah & Ji: Greeting card styles locally are more playful, perhaps using cartoon characters like Tweedy Bird and use a lot of text in Spanish. Our expatriate community looked for more artistic or meaningful cards that were either blank or in English but could not find them. We have done other work like create jewelry tags and business cards for a local jeweler, create name cards as they are used with packages here instead of greeting cards, and have done a few other projects
Expat Women: What are some of the challenges that you have faced, as expats and as entrepreneurs in Venezuela?
Sarah & Ji: Life online is a difficult transition because when we work locally we really know our customers and feel instant gratification when our customer uses our product. However, we need to build our online store so that we can continue our business no matter where we live and serve a larger market.
Challenges specifically to doing business in Venezuela are working through different expectations with our vendors although I'm delighted to say we have several regular vendors we work with now that are happy to have our business and we enjoy working with them. However finding them was a long treasure hunt that we don't care to repeat anytime soon!
Expat Women: What have been some of your sweetest rewards?
Sarah & Ji: When our customers get excited about our artwork it is very rewarding. Even if there were Hallmark stores on every corner, we would want our customers to buy our products because they like the artwork and want it to be a part of their lives. It may sound a bit much but it's a communication tool that reflects the person giving the card to the person receiving it and it makes us feel good when we're a part of that.
Expat Women: Thank you very much Sarah and Ji we wish you all the very best for Pink Ink's continued success.
Sarah & Ji: Thank you and the same to you! It's a pleasure for us to be a part of ExpatWomen.
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