The name “Federalisms” came to me nearly instantly when the idea for the company was born.
I was in a meeting with colleagues, and one manager announced that a woman on her team should now be found in the Global Address List with a different last name. Another manager piped up, “Oh congratulations to her on her marriage!” The first manager replied, “She got married 18 months ago, they just finally got around to updating her in Outlook,” to which the second manager responded, “Ha! There should be like a federal greeting card for that.”
And that was it for me. “I’m on it! Wait, I have 40 more ideas.” And in that moment, I saw it all unfold. It didn’t sound like it would be work at all. I knew from prior ventures that you needed 40 greeting cards to have a respectable (and marketable) line, which I easily could hit. It felt like I had just claimed a niche that was waiting for me.
As I walked out of the meeting thinking of all of the federal things the greeting cards would celebrate, I immediately knew what I would call the line. Federalisms. At my first non-work moment (I strictly adhere to not mixing outside employment with work!), I peeked to see if Federalisms.com was available AND IT WAS I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. (Note: it was not available on Instagram, even though it’s not an active or even visible account, despite my pleas to an empty inbox at Instagram, hence “@cardsforfeds.”)
You may be asking, as one person every three markets does, “Is this about Federalism?” by which they are referring to the division of power among the national and state governments, specifically a limited national government and strong individual state governments. Sometimes they are really excited about this, and sometimes they want to cancel me. People feel very strongly about things!
But, this is not the case. Federalisms is not about advocating for division of powers (omg I have such other plans for my limited free time), nor is it partisan in any way as long as we are vaguely on the topic. No, Federalisms is about advocating for federal friendship, collegial camaraderie, and other alliterative affinities.
“Federal” you get (I hope). But because some people have questions about the “-isms” part (and how it is a little but but really a lot different from just an “-ism”), I am here to clear this up. The isms in Federalisms derives from the definition of “ism” as a “noun suffix”: manner of action or behavior characteristic of a (specified) person or thing. It’s plural because there are a lot of them - both “manners of action or behavior characteristics of a federal thing,” and all the great cards, gifts, and quips you can find on Federalisms.com, at in-person markets, in retail locations that carry Federalisms, and on Instagram, Facebook, and even LinkedIn now (sigh).
Oh, and that first card is still in print and I love to share its story!
