Janna Willoughby-Lohr of Papercraft Miracles Interview
I am a poet, musician, visual artist and entrepreneur. My company, Papercraft Miracles, specializes in eco-friendly handmade paper art & gifts. We make magical things from paper that bring meaning to people's lives. I started my business while I was still in college in 2003 and ran it as a side gig for about 12 years.
In 2016, after I had my first son, I quit my full-time job to be at home with him and work on scaling my company and it took off quickly. Since then, I have built a team of skilled artisans and we have done custom projects for major companies such as Twitter.com and Capital One.
I won a $25,000 Ignite Grant for my company in a sharktank-style pitch competition in 2018, and in 2019 I was named 40-Under-40 for Stationery & Gifts from Stationery Trends Magazine.
I am very active in the entrepreneurial leadership space, helping other women to start and grow their own businesses and supporting them through their struggles. I am on the board and chair the membership committee for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Buffalo/Niagara Chapter. I am also a founding member of the Diversity & Inclusion task force for our chapter, working actively to create a more ethnically and culturally diverse membership and to encourage all women business owners to be involved in leadership and decision-making for our chapter and beyond.
In addition, I have a podcast called Reach the Stars Podcast which is a collection of conversations with cool people who do cool things. We bring inspiring stories of persistence, passion and purpose as a way to help others feel connected and learn resiliency skills so they can overcome obstacles on the way to their own dreams.
I have been performing poetry and music publicly for over 25 years and have shared stages with a wide range of other performers from 10,000 Maniacs to Beats Antique.
During my junior year of college, I lost my mother, my dorm burnt to the ground with all my things in it and then the school cut my financial aid for my senior year. I managed to finish school in four years with a 3.9 GPA, despite this extremely traumatic time.
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