Community Highlights: Meet Andrea Alvarez of Signature Paper Designs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Alvarez.

Hi Andrea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From as early on as I can remember, I always loved the arts and drawing, and as I got older, I started to realize my passion for “designing” was something I couldn’t ignore anymore. I attended Long Beach State and decided to get my BA in Psychology, however, my Junior year realized I really wanted to pursue a Marketing career where I could utilize what I learned in Psychology AND enhance the inate passion of creativity I had burning inside me. After college, I went on to work as a Marketing Coordinator for the OC Register, then eventually landed jobs as Directors of Marketing for restaurants like The Cannery In Newport Beach and El Cholo, and also in the Automotive and Healthcare Recruitment industries. While I was doing what I “loved”, I still felt a bit of a creative void. I wanted more creative freedom and none of these jobs truly allowed me to do that.

So, when I was about 24, my parents approached me about going in on purchasing a condo together and told me I would be responsible for the payments 100%. With this came a long discussion about financial responsiblity and always making sure to have x amount of dollars in your account “just in case something happens”. So, with all this in mind and needing a creative outlet that all these jobs did not provide for me, I started my own invitation company. It began when my mom assigned me to handle the invitations for my brother’s 30th birthday party and instead of buying them in the store, I got on my computer and designed one myself. After seeing the response to those invitations, I realized I might have something good here. I began small with birthday parties and birthing announcements, and landed my first wedding within a month. Starting an invitation company at this age ended up being the best timing of all because a lot of my friends or their siblings started getting married and the jobs poured in and with that came a lot of referrals. I’d work my regular Marketing job from 7 to 4, then go bridal meetings and head home to print, cut and assemble until typically midnight.

Eventually, my savings account flourished with this “hobby” of mine and within 6 months of purchasing my condo, I was let go from The OC Register. It was like someone took the wind out of my sail and I just sat in the parking lot and cried. I went home to my condo and just felt this wave of anxiety and stress until I remembered the advice of my parents. Just as they had told me, I had easily 7 months worth of mortgage payments in my account and I realized I was going to be ok.

I’ve always had this creative entrepeurial spirit in me. I left the corporate world in 2019 and started my own Marketing Consultant and Design Firm, partnering with companies to create websites and manage social media. While this wasn’t the best timing as COVID hit a few months later, it’s become a pretty successful business that gives me the flexibility to have a “career” and be a stay at home mom to our 3.5 year old. I still design invitations, and recently launched a Non-Toxic Homemade Sensory Sand Company for littles called The Lil Sandbox.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, definitely not. But what good journey has a smooth road? I’d say that as I became more in demand in the Wedding industry the pressure became heavier and the ambition I had at times would force me into positions where I was taking on too many jobs because I didn’t want to lose business. When you start taking on too much, before you realize it, you are drowning and forgetting the true reason why you started this journey in the first place. I started to get burnt out, which led to me getting “lazy” and time management went out the window. I knew I had to take a step back, which scared me, because I had grown to be such a successful small business with a great reputation. But if I didn’t love it, then it would show in my quality and I wasn’t going to sacrifice that even if the money was good. So I took a step back, took on less jobs and realigned myself.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Signature Paper Designs?
The name was formerly FabUniqueDesigns. While I really believed in this name at 24, at 42 I wanted to rename it to be more sophisticated and to also be more specific to what it had grown into. For the last 20 years, wow, 20 years?! I have created and designed custom luxury invitations for all things wedding, birthday, bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, corporate holiday cards, birthing announcements. Anything paper, I’ve specialized in. It grew from invitations only to providing full paper suites that included menus, thank you cards, placecards, favor tags, welcome signs and anything else someone was looking for for their special events.

I would say what sets me apart was my willingness to work with anyone’s budget without compromising quality. So often I’d get couples that had big dreams but small budgets and I could see the disappointment in their eyes, so my idea was always to try and be able to combine a design that still displayed luxury but on a much lower budget. I never truly was in it for the “money” and so I was able to work with couples on that piece in particular over these big invitation companies that were charging 2 or 3xs more for the same exact product. That set me apart and got me a lot of accepted contracts!

The thing I’m most proud of, is the amount of people I’ve made happy. I can’t tell you how many brides would cry when they saw their invitation completed and the gratitude they had. That was what it was all about for me, bringing their visions to life at an affordable price. Also, the fact that a few of my clients were told no they couldn’t do that and I made it happen for them is another thing I’m most proud about.

Any big plans?
Right now my daughter is 3.5 and will be starting school 2 days a week in the Fall – so the wheels in this ever working mind of mine are on overload wondering how I can put those hours to good use. As I mentioned earlier, I just launched The Lil Sand Box in April, so that’s become a main focus of mine. With 2 puppies and a toddler we had to get rid of Kinetic Sand due to the complications it could cause if ingested and so the homemade version is something that’s really important to me to prevent risk but still provide high-quality sensory play and development for kiddos at home.

I will continue to work all three businesses, I love to work – but, I also know and realize how important work, life balance is too especially as a mom. So, I just have to maintain a balance for all of my “kids”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.signaturepaperdesigns.com/
• Instagram: @signature_paperdesigns