Episode 14: Amy Voloshin

Today on the show I have Amy Voloshin. Amy is the founder and owner of Printfresh, a textile design company and stationery company. On top of that, she and her husband Leo bought a warehouse in the Fishtown area of Philadelhia and turned it into an amazing office space. Lastly, she’s launching her own clothing line so soon called Voloshin. Amy and I started working at Free People together right out of college in 2003 – SO we have been friends a super long time. She is truly one of the most inspiring people I know and I’m really excited for you to get to know her in more detail.

Ok dokey, I am back and so hope you enjoyed my talk with Amy. I love how ambitious Amy is, she has so many things going and she’s crushing all of them. One of the ideas that came up a few times when she spoke about her work experiences was this idea of work place culture. This was always super important to her. She didn’t find the positive culture she wanted, so she created it herself. It’s a good reminder to not settle for a bad situation.

I also love when I asked her about failure and tough times – she is like oh that happens to me literally ALL the time and people are surprised at how calm I am. Yowzers. This was awesome to hear. It ties into a book I just started listening to by Ryan Holiday called the Obstacle is the Way. It touches on idea I’ve talked about before before –that our problems happen for us but takes it a step further. In the book, the main tenet is the idea that what ‘empeeds us empowers us’ So whatever problem is blocking our path is the answer and the path to making us stronger and smarter, better at business or coping, whatever it is. I love that way of framing problems and set backs. To do this though, it seems like you have to be calm like Amy. Breathe through it and not let it ruffle your feathers. Maybe that comes with experience I’m not sure but I plan to really work on this in my own life because I am pretty much a mess when things get tough for me.

The last thing I want to touch on is her productivity journal – what a cool idea. I'm excited to learn more about the pomodoro method of working too. I love good productivity hacks! Below are photos of Amy, her businesses and family. Find her online at Printfresh (for stationary), Printfresh Studio (for textiles), Voloshin (for her clothing line) and Paper Box Studios (for her office space). Find her on Instagram @voloshin and @printfresh. As always I’d love to hear what you think of the show and would so appreciate a rating or review on iTunes as well as a comment on the blog. Thank you so much for tuning in!