TalkingWithTami: Hey there Britt Britt, whats been going on with you & Stinky Kids since we last saw each other?
Hello Tammie and Happy New Year. Since we last saw each other, StinkyKids continues on its journey of becoming a household name and a brand that you can trust. Not only have we added a new line of apparel including dresses, hats, and hoodies, we have launched StinkyKids plush dolls that will be available for purchase during the 2009 Back to School season. We now have sales representatives in the Atlanta Apparel/Gift Mart and the Dallas Mart and I hired a Director of Sales. StinkyKids is very close to finalizing a deal with a licensing agency that will take the brand global and we are working on the books and animated series. At stinkykids.com we have a preview of the animated series and we have added our first game where kids can play hide-n- seek with the characters. So much exciting opportunities and so much more to come!! One very exciting opportunity that is available this March 2009, is my story will be featured in the new Chicken Soup for the Souls book titled Power Moms, so look for it this March in book stores, you will love all of the stories.
TalkingWithTami.com: I saw you on the Danny Deutsch on
MSNBC recently, congrats to you! Can you tell us how that all came about?
The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch was so much fun to be a part of. I actually received a call from a PR firm (that heard about StinkyKids) and asked if I would be interested in a segment on his show. Of course I said ‘yes’ and within a hour from that initial call, I was telling my story to a producer, and booking my ticket to New Jersey. It was a three day shoot. They came to my house for the entire day, then that night I flew out to New Jersey and taped part of the segment the next day. Then two days later was talking live on the show with Donny from a remote satellite here in Atlanta. It was so fast, so much fun and I have received a number of emails and calls from other entrepreneurs thanking me for inspiring them to ‘keep on keepin’ on’.
TalkingWithTami.com: Before you started Stinky Kids, what was your occupation? Do you have any regrets about leaving corp to start your own company?
Before StinkyKids, I was a stay at home mom. I left the corporate world, where I worked for Coca-Cola, when my first child was born. My situation of starting a business was one day put into my lap by my daughter who simply asked me to paint her as a ballerina and now has developed into not only a work from home business, but a brand that is now in the initial stages of licensing. I believe that everything that you do in your life, leads you to where you are supposed to be. So never regrets because all of my experiences as well as mistakes have made me the entrepreneur that I am today.
TalkingWithTami.com: Tell the readers how you created Stinky Kids and some rewards and challenges you faced.
StinkyKids was created as I mentioned earlier from the simple request of my daughter to paint her as a ballerina. That painting led to a ‘hobby business’ of painting for other friends and families allowing for some extra grocery money. While showing the paintings to a local retailer, he wanted to buy the rights to the characters that I created and put them on tee shirts. So instead of selling him the rights, I decided to become an entrepreneur and start a tee shirt business. The name StinkyKids comes from the phrase ‘little stinKer’ which we called our son when he was a little boy to celebrate the innocent mischief he would get into. Since inception, StinkyKids donates 10% towards the fight against cancer and our characters live by the motto ‘Always Be A Leader OF Good’, which we taught our son when he would witness bad behavior on the playground.
As we began to sell tons and tons of StinkyKids tee shirts, our clients wanted to learn more about the characters that I created, so we brought them to live, which now has led us to not just selling tee shirts, but creating a brand around these characters and building a world around their adventures and motto. So today, StinkyKids is..
a brand built around a community of 10 diverse characters, sharing the philosophy of being little stinKers, making right choices and spreading their motto ‘Always Be A Leader Of Good’.
Tammie, my greatest reward is being able to include my children in my business as they created the characteristics of all of the StinkyKids and are a big part of my business decisions. It is also rewarding to be able to inspire little stinKers of all ages to believe in yourself, enjoy the innocence of childhood, but also work hard to make right choices and Be Leaders of Good.
There are challenges everyday. I am trying to accomplish something very difficult by taking a doodle and turning it into a brand and a household name. So my biggest challenge is holding back my passion to see my hard work and dreams come true, which they are and will continue to do.
TalkingWithTami.com: Imagine you just got invited to the Nickelodeon Choice Awards to be a guests at the gifting suite! Tell us what you would take with you, and why?
I have had the privilege of being asked to participate in a number of awards gifting suites and it is very exciting. I always take myself because I am the face behind the brand and people love to meet the creator and hear the story behind the brand, it truly increases your brand’s popularity. I also bring everything I can to tell the complete story and I am never dressed in anything but my StinkyKids brand tee, designer jeans, and my black sparkle Converse sneakers. It is now my trademark and I big part of my brand.
