Today we’d like to introduce you to Niki Sepanj.
Niki, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I graduated from UCLA as a part of the class of 2019 with a degree in biological sciences. Throughout my undergraduate career, I was pursuing a career in medicine. I spent three years researching neurodegerative diseases and shadowed a number of physicians.
However, a few months before I graduated, I realized I wanted to change my career path to be more creative. I began interning for interior designers and subsequently created my own interior design company aiming to work within healthcare. I completed a psychiatry office in Playa Vista and a home in Manhattan Beach. I love the interdisciplinary aspect between medicine and design; the ability to make people comfortable in a healthcare setting through thoughtful design. In addition, towards the end of my senior year at UCLA, I created a passion project – Blow Balloons, a biodegradable balloon company aiming to make trashy parties clean. I’m a huge advocate for sustainability and eco-friendliness, and I’m so happy I was able to make a company in the field. Since launching in October 2019, Blow is in 3 retail stores. Our goal is to expand to all kinds of eco-friendly party supplies.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I’m a one-woman show as of now, and lacking a background in business and marketing led this journey to definitely be a learning curve. I had to teach myself how to do everything from designing my packaging to understanding how to create a business and target certain audiences. I had to optimize my branding to both align with my mission statement and my audience. I started out doing only online retailing and realized the majority of people don’t buy balloons online, so I started reaching out to tens and tens of stores in Los Angeles that I thought my project would be a good fit in. i received so many rejections and non-responses, but in January I finally got into a store which was the perfect foot in the door to get into subsequent ones.
Please tell us about Blow Balloons.
My business, Blow Balloons, is a new pro-social collection of biodegradable balloons developed to make trashy parties clean. As you may know, the use of synthetic latex balloons has an incredibly harmful impact on wildlife and the environment. Because Blow Balloons are made from 100% naturally compostable material (100% natural latex), they minimize the debris leftover from balloon releases and make for cleaner parties and events (no harmful or synthetic chemicals used, ever). With every sale, we donate a portion of our proceeds to the Surfrider Foundation to help keep our beaches and oceans clean as well.
I’m proud that we’re the only party supply store that offers completely eco-friendly products. The packaging is made of kraft paper, a biodegradable material, and even our shipping mailers are completely recycled. Balloons are such large contributors to waste, and I’m happy and proud we’re able to provide a product that gives consumers the opportunity to have sustainable alternatives when celebrating.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have done more market and consumer research so I would have a better understanding of how to target advertisements.
Pricing:
- A bag of gloss (matte) biodegradable balloons is priced at $6
- A bag of metallic biodegradable balloons is priced at $7
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.blowballoons.co/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blowballoons.co/?hl=en
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