Emily Coxhead is a British designer, illustrator and happy thing maker! She is also a graduate of Manchester School of Art, and the founder, director, creator and promoter of The Happy Newspaper. Based in a small village in Lancashire, the simple aim of this 28-year-old entrepreneur is to make the world a happier place.
The concept for The Happy Newspaper which was first published in December 2015 began as a small idea when Emily realised the effect that the news was having on her especially whilst she was going through a difficult time herself. Testament to her success, in September 2018 Emily was featured in The Independent newspaper’s Happy List which acknowledges 50 inspirational heroes who do extraordinary things for others, and who deserve to be celebrated for their kindness, courage and selflessness.
After graduating and going through a difficult time at home Emily felt a bit lost but still determined. She started working freelance straight away (from the box room in her Dad’s house which became my twinkly office). She registered as self-employed and probably learnt more in a few months than she did in three years at university whilst feeling like she was drowning for the majority of it, turns out she had no idea how to set up a business or deal with payments and taxes etc.
She had a lot of ideas; She knew that greeting cards were a huge passion of hers and began selling cards on Etsy in her second year at uni. She did a whole lot of research and emailing and asked a lot of questions and then was put in contact with her (now) card publisher Pigment who loved her designs and words. In the meantime she'd been doing MANY odd bits of design work, whilst also pushing this ‘Happy News’ idea to the back of her head until she realised, she had nothing to lose and set up a Kickstarter campaign which was successfully funded. She had created a newspaper!
As the company grew from strength to strength so did Emily's book deals and merchandise and I am honoured to stock her wonderful newspaper and best-selling book 'You Are Incredible Just as you Are'.
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