The intern behind our new Thank You card

This summer, I got to work with an intern for the first time. Her name is Mikaela. She's a graphic and interactive design student and a genuinely talented artist. I brought her on to help me with something I had been wanting to make for a while: a new thank you card for Paper Bento boxes.

I gave her some direction to start. I explained that I didn’t want this card to feel like a business card, and it couldn't feel like a generic Shopify insert either. I wanted it to feel like a note tucked inside a letter from a pen pal, the kind of thing you open, read slowly, and then tape into a journal instead of throwing away.

Mikaela took that and ran with it. She looked through the stationery we've featured in past boxes and used it as inspiration for a drawing that feels like it's coming straight from my own desk. She even included the pencil case I actually use, the one that sits on my desk every single day. This adds a bit more meaning since it does feel like the note came from my desk.

Before she started drawing, she came over to see the box in person. She saw the items that go inside, and watched how everything comes together as I pack it. Then she took all of that and came back with a proposal and a direction that felt exactly right for this community.

This is my first time bringing on an intern. I've mentored people before, back when I worked in corporate, but this felt different. Because I'm still learning too, and I don't have all the answers. I'm also nowhere near the skilled artist that Mikaela is.

Handing off something this personal to me took a real step of maturing on my part. Trusting someone else to interpret a piece of my brand felt daunting, if I'm being honest.
But that's how I think about bringing anyone into Paper Bento, whether it's an intern, an assistant, or anyone else down the line.

It means trusting their skills and respecting what they can offer. I'm learning that trust is what lets good work actually happen, and it's even more important when the work is creative. People need a safe space before they can unleash what they're capable of.

Looking back, this summer taught me as much about myself as it did about the card. 
Mikaela's card is proof that trust was worth it. I gave her a feeling to chase instead of a strict brief, and she came back with something that says what Paper Bento is about better than I could have created it myself.

That's the kind of trust I want to keep building into this business as it grows.
I like being close to every part of Paper Bento, but growing this brand means learning when to step back and let someone else shape a piece of it. That's the real growth I'm walking away with this summer.