Sonia & Cindy
Meet Sonia & Cindy, Makers of Noted by Copine Cards.
Noted By Copine was dreamed up many years ago and finally launched in the winter of 2019 by two fashion veteran sisters, Sonia and Cindy, on opposite coasts, Long Beach and New York City.
Read their story below
What inspired you to start your creative enterprise?
My younger sister, Cindy, and I both come from a fashion background and we even had our own clothing line some years back. We’ve always joked that we would one day start a card line. A few times we’ve sent each other the same greeting cards that we purchased separately and given to each other. We thought, well, this must be a sign. Starting a creative enterprise is hard, for sure. But our advice would really just be to go for it. What can be worse than regretting never doing it? We’ve already had two businesses that are no longer around today, and rejection definitely just makes us want to try harder.
"You should always be learning and always trying to do better."
Describe your perfect day out and about locally.
One of my favorite local activities is definitely taking my Frenchie, Louis Bastian, to his favorite dog beach. Either Rosie’s or Huntington Dog Beach. He can just run for hours. Louis is a big part of Noted by Copine, he’s our muse in many of our creations. We know we’re doing the right thing since most of his cards are bestsellers. My husband and I also love taking long bike rides with Louis in his backpack, on the Bike Path along the beach and throughout the city. We’ll stop at Ubuntu for coffee and avocado toast and take a lunch time ice cream break at Long Beach Creamery. Happy Cow and Gusto Bakery are also some favorites. We’ll take Louis home and we’ll walk up to Bamboo Club for a drink and early dinner.
"We look for trends but also look for ways to improve ourselves and our brand as well as more ways to be as eco-friendly as possible."
What holds more value for you: creativity or knowledge?
I think there should be a happy medium of creativity and knowledge. I think it starts with creativity for us and luckily, we’ve had a few trials and tribulations to have learned from and to keep growing. Formal training was not necessary but definitely couldn’t hurt. We are also very passionate people and have a lot of drive when it comes to work and growing our business. It helps that there are two of us, we push each other to do better. It also comes from our Asian heritage. No tiger moms here but there was always a high level of standards.
If you could move to any other place in this or any universe where would you go?
OH this is an interesting question. Our mother recently passed, and we’ve come to realize life is really short and we need to remind ourselves to be kinder to each other and cherish every moment. I would love a world where all our loved ones can exist together. How about a utopian universe that’s always green and sunny, with dogs everywhere and lots of smiling faces, much like our cards.
"We hope to convince you to smile more, to live in the present moment more and to not take things for granted."
