Stationery sisters

Local entrepreneurs have delved into many industries such as food, beauty, jewellery and more. Stationery is also a market that many micro entrepreneurs are choosing to explore. Paris and Roxy James, however, have taken it a step further and created a line of stationery items. The brand, It’s Pretty Productive, includes planners, notebooks, notepads, business planners, sticker books and so much more.

It’s Pretty Productive was born out of the sisters’ love for cute functional stationery to help them stay organised and productive while at school. Both scholarship winners, they never had beautiful stationery to make their academic journey more inspiring. Access to fashionable stationery was only through online shipping and the sisters saw an opportunity in the local market and the stationery brand was born. “Our planners and stationery customers include not just students but young female entrepreneurs and boss babes who are ready to conquer the business world,” said Roxy.

The brand produces all of its planners, notebooks, notepads, business planners, sticker books and much more. The sisters brainstorm on ideas and what patterns are currently trending and make decisions for the look and feel of the brand’s various lines. Paris explains, “For instance, we love tropical prints and they can be found all over our weekly planners now. You can actually use a lot of island, local and Caribbean inspiration like banana leaves, palm leaves, pineapples etc. We even have a planner collection named after some Caribbean islands. We also have a Trini Island Gyal Sticker Book with the most amazing prints including Icacos, Poui trees and Pigeon Point.”

The sisters say that in the two years the brand has been operating, their products are purchased by students, both secondary and tertiary. “We are blown away by the amount of support received for our little local brand,” says Paris. The brand has products designed specifically for the school market. “We created an exam summary book, where students can summarise all their topics for exams, so everything will be concise and easier to study from. We also have weekly planners to keep track of all your school and extracurricular activities. We even have custom spiral notebooks that are really cute and you can even get your favourite patterns with your name and subject on it.” One of the brand’s best sellers is the Its Pretty Productive planner, which is a full planner for 12 months, with monthly and weekly spreads, and goal pages every month.

The sisters have been marketing It’s Pretty Productive through regular pop-ups and their digital channels including Facebook and Instagram.