Perhaps you'd like to know a little more about me?
If not, just skip right over this part.
(Promise not to hold it against you.)

I've been a writer since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I've always written in my mother tongue: sarcasm. Starting in high school, I was a regular winner of the New York Magazine humor competition. After obtaining my degree in PR/Journalism at Boston University, I did time as an advertising copywriter, plying my trade for several years in both Boston and New York.

In 1981, while still working a full-time job, I started my own greeting card line – Snide by Snide. They were a huge hit at Fiorucci -- the hippest store in NYC at the time. They'd sell out in days. I'd run over there a few times a week to restock their spinners. Within a year, I expanded from selling locally to selling nationwide. I had reps in about 20 states.

After the initial thrill of being in business, however, I realized that the creative part was what I loved. The packing, shipping, dealing with reps all over the country, trying to get payment from card stores in other states, was no fun at all. At the time, I lived in a tiny Manhattan apartment that was soon filled with boxes of inventory, Collier Brother's style. After a few years, I'd just about broken even, and decided to call this line quits. Far from seeing as a failure, I regarded it as a valuable business education.

In 1983, while still working as a copywriter, I conceived of Bubby Gram -- Jewish grandma singing telegrams. I ran the idea up the proverbial flagpole by placing a small ad in the back of New York Magazine. Within the week, I'd delivered my first Bubby telegram. I performed my own jokes and sang my own original funny songs delivery birthday bagels and get well chicken soup. It was such a nutty shtick, I was invited on talk shows all over the country, and my story appeared in national and international magazines and newspapers from the Jerusalem Post to Der Speigel.

I soon recognized that Bubby and her unique perspective would make a great character on greeting cards. This time, however, I knew I wanted a publisher to handle the distribution. Fortunately, my first choice, Recycled Paper Greetings, immediately offered me a royalty contract and Bubby Cards were among their best sellers for many years (I also wrote post it notes, buttons, mugs, magnets).

Every card was shot on location -- from Brighton Beach to the Catskills, from Long Island to the Bronx. This authenticity seemed to be a big part of the appeal. After a decade of this, however, I couldn't deal with shlepping all over for photo shoots. I hung up my support hose and switched to using vintage images with snappy captions and word blurbs. With these designs, I had highly successful lines with Recycled, Marcel Schurman, Papyrus, American Postcard, Smart Alex and others. (see some at http://adriennegusoff.com/aegcards/home.htm)

I also taught Greeting Card Design and Marketing at Parsons/The New School in Manhattan, for 20 years, until eventually leaving the city and moving to the Catskills.

I'd all but give up the card biz when I was inexorably drawn back in.

Every year, my husband, Michael, and I host a big holiday party. Each guest receives a personalized swag bag with all kinds of useful/ interesting/creative/funny/silly stuff, much of it handmade by me. In 2024, I whipped up some funny digital collages using local vintage postcards to slip into the bags. That idea was quickly nixed once I realized that this project would suck up all my printer ink in no time.

Rather than abandon the cards completely, however, I ordered the minimum of 25 of one design just to see how it looked printed professionally.

The glossy card looked better than I expected! I put up some of the other designs on my personal website and showed them to others. Everyone loved them. Some immediately asked for t-shirts. Encouraged, I began showing them to some local stores and dispensaries. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

So I got cracking, creating new cards as well as resurrecting some of my best selling cards of yore. I built a website and here I am, in the card biz once again!

I'm very happy to have something to keep me entertained and off the streets.



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