[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: Growing up, we all got cards, right?
From your aunt or your nana.
And you never really read them.
You just kind of shook them to see if there was any money that
fell out, you know?
But there's so many things that people celebrate and experience
in their lives that is not just something you
can find at the drugstore.
You know, someone will be like, my son just came out as trans,
and it's just like, yes, yes, we have a card for that.
I'm Arley.
MORGAN CALDERINI: I'm Morgan, and we're
the owners of Ladyfingers Letterpress in Colorado
Springs.
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: Morgan proposed
after dating for three years.
MORGAN CALDERINI: Yup.
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: And we posted
some photos of our wedding invitation online.
There was this big, neon poster, I'll hand-lettered.
Before we knew it, the invitation went viral,
and we were getting requests from people
to make their wedding invitations.
MORGAN CALDERINI: We didn't even have a website.
[LAUGHS]
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: Yeah, we kind of hacked one together
really quickly.
MORGAN CALDERINI: And we quit our full-time jobs
and went to work for ourselves.
It was scary, but it was also exciting,
because we were our own bosses, and it was totally up to us
for the first time.
I never went to business school or graduate school.
We were really lucky to take a business class.
We spent eight weeks writing a business plan.
And it's my number one thing I tell
anyone who wants to be in business, to find a class that
can help take you through the parts
that you're not familiar with.
We opened up our mom-and-mom shop July of 2016.
We have four letter presses here in the shop, some of them
over 100 years old.
I do the printing.
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: And I come up with all the bad, bad jokes,
and then I draw them.
My gauge is if I read her my little notebook and she laughs.
And then I'm like, that's a good, and he's like, no,
it's terrible.
I'm like, but you laughed.
MORGAN CALDERINI: And so sometimes we make those cards.
We realized the card industry wasn't addressing relationships
that fell outside this very mainstream vision.
So we speak from our own experience
and tell our own story with what we make.
We also want to make other people's experiences
available to our customers.
So we sell things made by friends and people
we've known for years.
We want everyone to feel like there's
something here for them.
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: Well, I was constantly
searching these little bits of information
about how I could better our online presence.
Our Google listing was so helpful.
MORGAN CALDERINI: Customers leave comments, leave pictures,
and then really explain what their experience was like here.
We've been surprised at how this store has been supported
and grown by our own community.
50% of our sales also come through our website,
and almost all the traffic is coming from Google.
All of what we do is about representing our voice
and our values in our work.
How we support LGBT organizations and the community
is a huge part of our vision for our business.
Inside Out is a local organization
working with LGBTQ youth.
ARLEY-ROSE TORSONE: We create designs and letterpress printed
goods for them that help support their cause.
When I came out, my family was like, yeah, we know.
And I was like, how come nobody told me, you know?
[LAUGHS] And they think it's so important for youth
to feel supported, and encouraged, and loved
for the people that they are.
MORGAN CALDERINI: Everyone's going through something.
Everyone's feeling something.
And if we can provide that human connection
in this age, where everything is so digital now,
it means so much more than I think it did before.
And so I'm really excited that that's
what we get to do every day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]