we’ve had the good fortune to talk with Amy Fredrikson and Audra Marscovetra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
When we came up with the idea of starting a curated gift boxing company, we knew that supporting local makers and artisans was a priority and became our first vendors we tapped into to get us rolling. Those goods are among of our favorites and most popular with our buyers. We love our partnerships with The Naked Fig soap, Bhava Wellness, Wandering Walden, Serafina Coffee Roasters, and Lotus of Clay, to name a few. The products they create are both beautiful and mindfully made with great love and care. There’s no better feeling than when we sell a box filled with local goods. It feels like a win for us and for the small business we support. Creating these relationships with local makers really makes our world feel smaller.

Recently, we have partnered with Serafina, our coffee vendor, who brought a new location into our own community of Moon Valley. Damian, the owner, is also a Moon Valley resident and has invited us to sell our boxes and baskets in the coffee shop. As a part of our business we offer custom made goods. Amy has been creating one of a kind items for many years and recently started making mugs and tumblers for the residents of Moon Valley that can be purchase at Serafina Coffee Roasters. It’s been really fun seeing the excitement around having goods available that read “Moon Valley Mama” or “Moon Valley Vibes”. We love our community and love to rally and take pride in it. Moon Valley might not be widely know in the Valley but anyone who’s ever lived here can tell you that it really becomes a part of who you are. We’re big on Christmas with our lighting competition, we gather for 4th of July fireworks, we flood the streets for Halloween, Moms gather for wine nights, and we rally around our schools.

Both of our kids attend the same school at Kaleidoscope, so it was a no brainer to be a sponsor of their school. We will be selling our gift boxes at the upcoming Fall Festival and will also be selling custom Kaleidoscope mugs and water bottles where we will be giving a portion of our proceeds back. We’ve been approached by other local schools for help funding education and are proud to have donated gift boxes to auction at both Brophy and Lookout Mountain as well.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Amy and Audra both have backgrounds in interior design and have carried successful careers doing so. Both being Phoenix natives, they have a heart for Arizona. You’ll see that love come into play all throughout their business. When VibeBox was just a concept the two agreed that supporting local makers was a must. Growing Arizona’s economy, particularly small businesses, is a core value of their partnership. Though the formation of VibeBox was a pretty seamless process, running the business has brought up some challenges. Both Amy and Audra have young families with school age children and preschool as well. Balancing life as mothers, entrepreneurs and Audra working a full-time job sometimes makes VibeBox take a backseat. Family is always first for both ladies. However, Amy and Audra are very fortunate to live next door to each other and work in a studio backyard at Audra’s house. This allows for quick chats, easy access to materials and letting the kids run amuck while they get stuff done in the studio. Though it wasn’t clear in the beginning who would fall most into each role that a small business requires we’ve come to learn that Amy is more inclined to the IT side; building a website from scratch, creating graphics, and content for their Instagram. Audra has stepped beautifully into the role of merchandising, product management and assembling orders. Both girls really enjoy the roles that naturally formed and find them fulfilling. If there was one thing we’d want the world to know about us as a brand is that we truly value each and every customer, each bit of feedback we can get and would bend over backwards to ensure that the customer gets a gift that leaves them feeling known and loved.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Serafina Coffee Roaster North, Durants Steakhouse for a date night, Postinos for bruschetta, Four Peaks Brewing company, Vegan and Vine, The Mercantile for some fun local shopping.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would probably have to give a shoutout to our partner Damian at Serafina Coffee Roasters. If it weren’t for him inviting us to sell in his coffee shop, our business would have no physical presence since we are an online company. We used to stew over how to gain trust and legitimize our brand.

It has also been so inspiring to watch his business grow and see relationships and partnerships develop amongst people over coffee. He is also very inspiring in the sense that he is constantly hosting events that give back to the schools, sports teams, women’s groups and things of that nature. It really makes you want to do better and help everyone win.

Website: www.vibebox.shop

Instagram: vibeboxshop

Image Credits
Erica McNicol Photography

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