Tell us about your company and/or your products.
Warren Tales delivers witty and irreverent greeting cards because it's infinitely more fun than yelling at a screen. Our favorite cards to write are support and sympathy because that's where we see people struggling to communicate the most—people don't know what to say so they often say nothing at all. By writing silly cards for serious occasions, we're able to open people up to more candid conversation. We are especially popular with men (the unicorn of card sales), and we love a niche and writing challenge, so we're a great complement to any standard array of occasions. Our catalog is always growing—as is our collective will to laugh to stop from crying.
What's your role at your company?
One-woman show / "sit-down" comedian. I like to use the royal "We," but it's just me dorkily waving from my studio/booth. Over the years, I've worked with some great production partners on large print-runs, and a few Sales Reps to expand my reach, but everything still comes from and through me. At times I wonder if it's an ADHD self-motivated dream or Dante's 10th circle, but there really is nothing else I would want to be doing, so I march on with the determination of a dazzling candle burning at both ends. I used to joke about delegating my way to world domination, but have you seen the world? Turns out I'm better suited to comforting comic relief.
Why did you become a GCA member and tell us about your GCA experience so far.
I've been a GCA member since my early National Stationery Show days (2014 ish), and I'm pretty sure it started with being a fangirl. A number of card companies gave me their valuable time and attention when I first walked onto the scene (largely clueless), and I realized that most were GCA members. It was a group that offered boundless resources and support, and were so genuinely happy to welcome me into their world that I wanted to work alongside all of them, despite being the smallest minnow in a sizable pond. 11 years (and several catastrophes) later, I struggle to remember a time when I didn't know these wonderful people, and wasn't yet a part of this world. The GCA is there as much or as little as you need them, and truly feel like family. Their expansion into large trade shows with Noted Expo and the GCA Village has made it possible to travel and expand on a truly feeble budget. Their Louie Awards program has given me more publicity and reach (and validation) than I could have possibly mustered on my own. I look forward to the day I feel like I've finally repaid them in kind, but I doubt that's possible.
TL;DR: The GCA is amazing. Join and become One-of-us! One-of-us!
What inspired you to get involved in the greeting card industry?
One of my first jobs out of college was working at my then-local Paper Source (Brookline, MA), and I was the only staff member who genuinely enjoyed organizing the frequently-decimated card section. Sisyphean effort aside, it gave me lots of time to study all kinds of cards, and find favorite small presses. Somewhere between cocky and revelatory, I thought "I could do this!" and I thought of my business name—Warren Tales: a play on my surname and writing/publishing background—right there. And now, the personal history provides an extra layer of joy and appreciation every time I ship a card order out to Paper Source. I will always be grateful to them for serendipitously connecting those dots.
What's something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
Under sharing isn't usually a problem for me, but people might find it amusing to know that I was born in Tokyo (and then grew up largely in London). I typically work and write under my full name—Lindsey Yuriko Warriner—so that fact does help explain my middle name, despite my caucasian persuasion. American first name, Japanese middle name, English last name: unwittingly all the places I would grow up between. What can I say? Girl gets around.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
As the news cycle spirals further into doom and oblivion, think about how much we all need to laugh. Our (award winning) cards are a great way to bring a little levity into your store, and into your customer interactions (break the ice before ICE breaks us). Check us out on Faire (warrentales.faire.com) and keep this dream train chugging, one irreverent giggle at a time.
Lindsey Yuriko Warriner
Warren Tales
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