License to Thrive

StickerSisters.com

In a world made up of people who dream about doing things, who watch things happen, or who take action themselves, Ariel Fox is a person who acts. You may have read about Ariel in CosmoGIRL!, Jump, The Washington Post, YM, Ms. magazine, or on MTV's Web site. She is the founder of her own business, Sticker Sisters.

In April of 1996, at age 13, Ariel tried to find stickers that would reflect the Girl Power!she had inside. She was unable to find any such stickers so she started her own company. Ariel used her computer to make four designs, which she printed out on sticker paper. Those first designs-"Girl Power," "Girls Can Do Anything," "Punk Rock Isn't Just For Your Boyfriend," and "Visit Our Power Room"-still remain popular. Sneaking into her mom's office after hours, Ariel made up a flyer announcing these stickers and sent it out to about 30 people. Most of those on the first mailing list were zine authors. They ordered stickers and spread the word about Sticker Sisters through flyers in their mailings, blurbs in their zines, and word of mouth among their friends. From the beginning, Ariel promised to keep her products affordable so that girls of all backgrounds could buy them; anyone with a quarter can enjoy a Sticker Sisters product.

Based on the amazing response to Sticker Sisters' first mailing, a post office box, voicemail box, and fax machine were set up to respond to the requests. Sticker Sisters developed a Web site and a mailing list of girls and women who care about them from all 50 States and 15 countries including Brazil, Italy, Australia, and China. Now in its fifth edition, the Sticker Sisters catalog has 19 designs and 6 different types of products including stickers, buttons, shoelaces, magnets, posters, and patches. It has been sent out to over 4,000 people.

Now Ariel is a freshman at the University of Southern California where she studies television/film production. She continues to run her business with the help of her mom and a few friends.

Hear from Ariel in her own words:

"Every Friday afternoon, I stand on tiptoe to make sure I haven't missed any of the mail in my post office box. After a long week, this is what makes it all worthwhile.

Those colorful envelopes are orders for Sticker Sisters--my project to empower girls around the world through stickers, shoelaces, magnets, and other products. I started Sticker Sisters at the end of eighth grade after the worst year of my life. Middle school can be a breeding ground for cliques and back-stabbing as kids try to build their "adult" identity.

After completing those horrible years, I decided I wanted to do something to help girls feel better about themselves. I had found that reading zines during middle school helped me find others to whom I could relate. A zine is a handmade booklet that can be as personal as a diary or as objective as a report on a current issue. There is a sense of underground community among the people who make and read zines. As I read zines by girls similar to me, I became part of this community and eventually I wanted to give something back to this group of people who had given me so much.

While thinking about starting a zine, I came across a group of girls who were making and distributing stickers that showed strong female characters from children's books. I ordered some of these stickers, but they never arrived. One day, when I was feeling frustrated about not receiving my stickers, I realized that there were probably a lot of other girls out there who wanted stickers and shared my disappointment. I decided I would make my own stickers with similar messages, but unlike the other girls I would actually deliver the goods.

I designed four stickers that had slogans like "Girls can do anything" and "Punk rock isn't just for your boyfriend." I sent a flyer announcing them to about thirty girls I knew who wrote zines. After the first mailing, people worried that I would be disappointed if I didn't get any response. Little did they know that girls around the country were sending copies of the flyer to their friends and placing orders. Now, more than ten years later, Sticker Sisters is still going strong.

Not to say it's all been easy. Having 2,000 catalogs returned because I hadn't followed a little-known postal rule about ratio of length to width wasn't glamorous. But overall, it's been an incredible experience. Sticker Sisters has given me the chance to meet other girls, attend conferences, and speak out on important issues. From Sticker Sisters, I've learned how satisfying it is to react to a problem with a creative activity and how exciting it is to see what will turn up in my mailbox next."