Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma St. Pierre & Alyssa Matz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Emma St. Pierre & Alyssa Matz, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
From a young age, we’ve both been inspired by nature, having grown up in families that encouraged us to go outside, hike, and explore the world around us. Much of our creativity stems from nature and the beautiful things the world has to offer. By hiking and exploring, we are inspired to create art because of the beauty around us. The outdoors provides us the spark we use to create designs for our shirts and stickers. Although we draw our inspiration from nature and real places, we also feel the freedom to expand our creativity, adding elements from our own imaginations. We keep creativity alive by continuing to connect with the source of our inspiration: the natural world around us.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
From Hiking Trip to Small Business:
Back in February of 2024, we spent a week hiking around Arizona and won coveted permits to hike The Wave, an incredible and once-in-a lifetime opportunity, and a dream for hikers like us. Since it was such a big deal to us, and likely a once in a lifetime experience, we wanted a souvenir or two to commemorate our trip, only to realize that there weren’t many options out there- no shirts to wear home or stickers to add to our water bottles. After joking that we should just “make them ourselves”, we realized that neither one of us was really joking, and that we were truly interested in creating products that reflected the natural beauty of the sandstone rock formations we just experienced. Soon, we began thinking about other U.S. National Parks and recreation areas that we loved, and how we could create t-shirts and stickers for those places too! We slowly began adding products to our Etsy shop (and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon!)
Now, we currently have a thriving Etsy shop, products in two stores, and attend many vending events to share our products with others!
We settled on the name “Northeast Hiking Collective” because we feel proud of our Northeastern U.S. roots. Although many of our favorite places to hike are in the West, the Northeast will always have a place in our hearts, and it will always be our home.
The focus of our work is simple designs that capture the beauty of each destination. Oftentimes, National Park merchandise can be extravagant or busy, trying to encapsulate the beauty of the whole park. We’ve found beauty in simple deigns- focused on one scene from each park that speaks to us. The process of each design starts with a page full of sketches, then turns to digital art, and finally, gets sent to a local embroiderer who brings the design to life on a t-shirt.
Despite both of our connections to nature growing up, neither of us chose it as a full-time career, with each of us having a job in the healthcare industry. Emma is a Physical Therapist, and Alyssa is a Mental Health Therapist. However, we both grew up loving creativity and art, so having Northeast Hiking Co. as a place to expound on that intrinsic love has been freeing and fun for both of us.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Not being afraid to go for it! This business started as a joke, which led to an idea, which lead to a real small business. But if we wouldn’t have taken the risk to jump from idea to real business, we wouldn’t be where we are today. There is no method, sometimes you just have to be fearless in taking a risk!
2. Combating imposter syndrome! We feel like we battle this every day. But, we continue to get confidence through the support and encouragement of others who are rooting for us.
3. Marketing on social media. We didn’t realize how big of a thing this would be when deciding to open a small business. It can be nerve-wracking, and sometimes creatively draining to have to market on social media, but it is so worth it for the connections and networking opportunities! Engaging on social media is a great way to build your brand and business.
At the end of the day, the greatest advice we can give is to be scared, but do it anyway.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are always looking to collaborate with others! We love connecting with other small business owners for support, advice, and friendship. We would also love to connect with any National Park or related shops that would be interested in carrying our products. And finally, connecting with travel content creators is one of our dreams- we would love to have someone to represent our shirts while traveling!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/northeasthikingco
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/northeasthikingcollective
- Other: Etsy Shop: northeasthikingco.etsy.com
Image Credits
N/A. All photos taken by us.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
