3 times a week, I draw or doodle something in my sketch pad. It helps keep the brain thinking. Many times, as I am painting in my little sketch, an idea or two or eight make an appearance in my thoughts. That's my kind of multitasking!
So what has been rolling around in my thoughts? It's time to get serious and take care of my health. Writing a book and other life interruptions left me not thinking about myself and my health. I have (GASP!!!) 20 lbs to lose. I can't believe I just told the world, but I did. The words are staring me in the face and it's time I hold myself accountable to take care of "me".
I got the biggest surprise of my year last week. I searched to see if Stella Lighting had a Facebook page and they did. They just put the page up and had 99 "Likes". I clicked to like the page and I was #100. I posted a little funny, saying I am the 100th Like on the page so do I win a trip to Disney? I awoke to find an email the next morning that I won their new Black Stella Lamp. I NEVER win anything...I was literally jumping in my seat!!!! My lamp just arrived. I truly love my Stella. For real. Let me tell you why....
It has a soft twist-able neck that you can flex to your liking.
It is LED and soft yellow lighting. You can switch to your liking.
AND...it has multi -dimming selections. COOL!
It had a nice long cord that you put into the back of the lamp.
I love this kind of cord. It wraps up nicely and you don';t have to wrap it around the lamp for transportation.
Look at how I can position my lamp to however I want!
My husband is eyeballing this lamp for his fly-tying.
Keep the box! It has a nice handle on top so you can bring your lamp to classes or retreats. You can put your cord back into the little white box, but I put my cord into a little zippered bag I made. Hmmm....maybe Stella will consider little zippered Stella bags?
I am super excited to tell you about this lamp. I started to think at 3am like I always do. I wanted to know more about the lamp and the Stella people, so I emailed them and asked questions. Wow! I got more than I imagined and will share my little Q&A with them.
Many
thanks for your interest in Stella Lighting. We always love hearing about
individuals stories and continue to achieve three critical things in our
business….LISTEN……INNOVATE……..FULFILL. We try and always put our customer
first, delivering personalized lighting solutions that users find value in.
Anyhow, I wanted to answer a few questions that you had.
ME: How did you come up with the name Stella Lighting?
Great
question! To begin, Michael McCormick our Vice President and Director of
Brand Development called me up one night after I had tasked him with developing
a "lighting company name". We had previously developed the lamp
for school children here in Eugene as there is lot's of research on how our
brains interact with light. Anyhow, Mike called me up on night very late,
about 1:00am and said, "I have it, Stella Lighting". He asked,
"Do you know what that means in latin?". I said "of
course, we just named our 6th child Stella, it means star". Stella
Lighting Inc was born. He sent over the logo the next day and we were off
to the races.
ME: Is this a mom and pop business?
It
is interesting, Michael and I started selling lights out of the back of our
truck. Originally, we were sitting in Starbucks, having a cup of coffee
one morning about 6:30 AM and a woman came up to us randomly. I would say
she was in her early 60's, frankly, kind of caught us off guard. She
said, "Excuse me, I just could not help but notice your light and the way
the light changes color. I am a seamstress for a living and I use what
are called Ott Lights, do you know what those are?" I said "no,
and proceeded to explain that I knew nothing about the sewing industry". She
looked at me and said "Well, you should, because everybody in our industry
uses the Ott Light, and that light will do anything and everything that my Ott
Light will do and more!" We proceeded to bring in 150 lights as a
trial order. We sold all 150 lights throughout the state or Oregon in 7
business days, and set up 23 authorized retailers from Ashland, in southern Oregon to Portland in the north. We are now represented in 48 states, in
over 280 shops. That was in June of 2012. As of December 2012, we
were the #1 ranked notions item for the distributor EE Schenck and the #8
notion item for Brewer. So, we started as a mom and pop, and morphed into
something bigger. This said, we will never forget who we are. The
small independent shops put us in business, gave us the opportunity, opened a
door. It is because of them, we have had our success today. Our
story is part of the fabric of who we are, and we never want to loose that
identity.
ME: Where are you located?
We
are located in a small community called Coburg, just north of Eugene, OR.
Our offices are in a located in the historic "Purkerson House, built
in 1890" on cottage row. We also have a small warehouse where we
prepare, store and ship product. It's a really neat place to have an
office and work, again, part of the fabric and culture of our company.
ME: Will you be coming out with new colors in the future, like purples and teals?
It's
funny, we talk about this quite a bit. I suppose the short answer is, I
don't know. People ask, and frankly we want to deliver what the consumer
wants. This said, the most realistic color in the future would be pink.
We have thought about doing a breast cancer awareness lamp, to where part
of the proceeds form each sale would support this cause. We would love to
get more feedback from people regarding what they might be receptive too.
ME Tell me out the dimmer, yellow and white light?
In a
nutshell, lighting is extremely personal. I think in this industry,
lighting is especially critical, matching of fabric and thread, individuals
that may have a hard time seeing, or simple illuminating a controlled space.
We have had the opportunity to talk with people all over the united
states, and the story is often the same. People just are not happy with
the products that have been out over the pst 5-8 years. Lights get to
hot, don't provide enough light, have expensive replacement parts, ext……This
all said, we wanted to provide products that could provide solutions for these
types of issues. The Stella has the unique capability to provide three
different kelvin spectrums, warm white, pure white, and cool white. These
spectrums give the user maximum control to adjust the color that they work best
under. So, as an example, if you are reading, the warm spectrum really
encourages your eyes to not work as hard, reducing brain activity, resulting in
a very calming light, easy to read under. The opposite is true
regarding the pure white setting where the spectrum is the closest thing to
natural outdoor light. As a result, true color is illuminated, while your
brain is being stimulated. Brain stimulation in essence encourages the
user to pay attention to the task at hand. Stella further provides the
user maximum control through the capability to dim up or down to 10%, flex the
neck to produce light where light is needed. Last but not least, Stella
produces minimal heat, has no replacement parts and comes with a 12' power
cord. Again, it's all about our user. Our user expects excellence in what
they do, sewing, quilting, fiber arts and mixed media. Why should the
lighting products they use be anything less than exceptional? It's quite
a bit to strive for, and we might fall short, but we are going to work hard
trying.
ME: Where can we buy Stella Lamps?
The
best way to buy your Stella is at your local sewing, quilting, fiber arts and
mixed media retail store. We are currently represented by 280+ shops in
48 states. Detailed authorized retailer contact information can be found
by visiting www.stellalighting.com.
In the event your local shop does not yet carry they Stella Light, simply
ask them to either special order one in, or encourage them to carry the lamp in
stock. You can also submit an online form that records the shop
information and our sales team will contact them direct. Now, in the
event these options do not work out for whatever reason, Stella products can be
purchased off of the Stella Lighting web site direct. We will drop ship
to you and payment in easily processed through our online store.
Summary
It
sounds funny, but I really consider our story and American success story.
We have been so fortunate to enter an industry and provide a product
where users were receptive, in a very short period of time. It's been a
combination of luck, quality product, strong brand, and good customer service.
Our product has a higher price point, however, we don't shy away from
this. We produce a premium product, with premium customer service behind
the product. We consider Stella a tool. You can buy a cheap tool
and replace it in a few years, or buy the right tool the first time and save
yourself the headache. Furthermore, the fabric of who we are as a company
is critical, and we want to continue to build products based on what the client
wants. Later this spring we will be releasing the Stella Sky, a state of
the art floor lamp. We developed and designed this product based on
conversations with the consumer, what they want, and I am confident that we have
designed a product that achieves this. Nothing like it will exist.
In the end, it is our sincere hope that we can continue to evolve into
the lighting company that people think of in this industry when they want to
purchase a lighting product. We are grateful to be apart of blogs like
this, people talking about our product. Lighting is personal, and we want
to encourage people to think about that. The best way to encourage this
is to promote education.
You can find Stella Lighting on Facebook. Go click "Like" and learn about them.
Pssst.....I would love to have you come and visit me on my Professional Art and Quilt Facebook page too! Just CLICK HERE
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