Season 2 Episode 13: The Moyle Sisters, Founders to HelloLucky

“Creative work for us, often, you can't see it from the outside. It's [the] percolation that's happening in the background. And it's not just done by sitting in front of the computer, and, and maybe requires like, looking at Instagram for an hour, which seems like you're flaking and procrastinating and otherwise being not productive. ” - Eunice

What happens when you mix an entrepreneurial spirit with love for art, creativity, writing, and the life-changing morals of mindfulness and inclusivity? You get Hello! Lucky, a thoughtful lifestyle brand for the young and young at heart! 

In this episode of Coming Clean With Indie Lee, we're joined by the fun and friendly Moyle Sisters, Eunice and Sabrina, Founders of Hello Lucky. They talk about their experiences working in the corporate world, how they felt hindered by the structure limiting their creativity, and the turning point that made them leave their jobs to pursue Hello Lucky, their creative, inclusive, and happy-go-lucky business. They also explain their creative decisions and mindsets and how they've applied them to Hello Lucky to bring a smile to people's faces.

Hello Lucky stands out for its wonderful mission to support its customers' highest good and deep-seated involvement with community wellness programs. Tune in to this episode to have a glimpse of the duo's lives and how they grew their business to an excellent point today!

About Sabrina and Eunice

Sabrina Moyle is the Co-Founder of Hello Lucky. She’s a creative chameleon -- she loves to write, draw, make things with clay, sing, and act. Sabrina has over 15 years of experience making cards and has started her journey of writing children’s books. She volunteers with The Mosaic Project, an Oakland, CA-based organization that teaches kids how to work together to create a just, peaceful, and equitable world.

Eunice Moyle is the Co-Founder of Hello Lucky. She is a passionate illustrator who’s loved drawing ever since she was a kid. Her illustrations have appeared on more than 15 books and counting, thousands of greeting cards and on everything from socks to pencil cases, pet bed and lamps. She lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband, Daniel, and two children, Imogen and Jude, and their dog, Freddie, and cat, Sans Gêne.

Links:
Website - https://www.hellolucky.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/helloluckycards
https://www.instagram.com/helloluckykids/?hl=en

Transcript

Indie Lee: 0:05

Hi, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of coming clean with indie Lee. I'm your host in delay. Now this podcast is all about living with passion, purpose and being fully present and I know this episode is not going to disappoint. Today I'm sitting down with Eunice and Sabrina moil. The illustrator writer sister's behind Hello lucky. Now how lucky is a design studio based in

Unknown: 1:40

Thank you so excited to be

Indie Lee: 1:43

I think it's so cool to have I've never done this right, like two sisters on the show. And you're not in the same place either.

Unknown: 1:51

No, I will try not to talk over each other the entire time.

Indie Lee: 1:55

All right. So I have this crazy assumption hypothesis, right. And so my hypothesis based on people who I've been speaking to doing podcasts, and just in life is that founders and entrepreneurs, you know, the successful ones, it's always because of something that happened in their life, right? For me, I had that awakening for other people, it could be something that happened

Unknown: 2:49

That is such a great question. And I think your hypothesis is correct. Yes. One more data point. I

Indie Lee: 2:57

By the way, I do not I asked this, but I never look for this answer, because I'm always really curious.

Unknown: 3:03

Yeah, totally, totally. Well, so I think that there is both there are two sort of turning points for us. And there's both pain and passion involved. You know, I think, and Eunice, I'll let you speak to this more. When we first started the company. I think we were both trying to escape the pain of not fitting in and not feeling like we belonged in a more corporate environment. And Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, I worked at a corporate web design firm during the first web crash. So you can imagine how that went. But, but But even before that, I feel like you know, I was always trying to bring sort of like quirky like humor to corporate websites, which needless to say, is not the greatest match. So I've you know, although it was fine, and I'm perfectly I have the kind of

Indie Lee: 5:03

else where you were you were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I would like to say a star. Yeah, right, another radian thinker. And you know, I sit down with my team, my creative team, like, you can't tell them you have to work nine to five, because in order for them to be optimal, we have to fit into where their creativity comes from. You can't absolutely and you

Unknown: 5:35

Well, yes, and and what is creative work for us often, you can't see it from the outside. It's it's percolation that's happening in the background. And it's not just done by sitting in front of the computer, you know, and, and maybe requires like, looking at Instagram for an hour, which seems like you're flaking and being procrastinating and otherwise being not productive. But in actually

Indie Lee: 5:58

So you're saying is I'm very productive, very productive,

Unknown: 6:02

even when you fall down the tick tock, all right. Inspiration can come from anywhere, so you just never know just to be open to receiving it. So I'd say sort of a corollary to that first, epiphany is we grew up overseas moving every two to three years. So for us, diversity, and inclusion, and connection was always something that was a part of our lives, you know, and so the idea of starting a greeting card company just made sense,

Indie Lee: 7:01

I think that right hand writing cards, and I do it all the time, still, I mean, my team is like you need more stationery, I love writing that I find that that's, that's an intimate connection, that's my love language is by writing out something and saying thank you, exactly, just texting, I would rather take right, my fountain pen, and write it out,

Unknown: 7:25

right. And speaking of being present, you actually have to be very present with that person. And if they're, if you're thanking them for a gift that you received, you have to be present in appreciating and noticing the gift that they gave to you, you know, so there's a real mindfulness practice that's built in to letter writing. And then the second, the second epiphany came later when

Indie Lee: 8:12

units, you have a background in exactly it

Unknown: 8:15

was torture, it was torture, when I was working in corporate corporations, that was torture when we were doing it for ourselves. Exactly. So we had to say no to that, you know, we had our own children, we had to say no to that, because we realized we weren't being fulfilled anymore. And also, I think the the awakening the second sort of epiphany really was in having our own children. And having done this sort of crafting of images and words and thinking about connection for so many years at that point. It was in having

Indie Lee: 9:27

changed. Third time someone has said to Luke. And there's something

Unknown: 9:31

about Tulum, Mexico, that it's just like the egg you believe in, like, give you the energy field there, whatever. And I have somebody to refer to you if you want somebody who's an energy, yeah, who's incredible anyway, so she was just working, I was not expecting anything. And then suddenly, it was like, I went to see another sort of body worker later in sampo. And I was back in San I'm basically a permanent kid.

Indie Lee: 10:48

I already could tell that now, just so you're seeing this, but I don't want to grow up you. And you know, what, why, serious? Exactly. You know, what's the point I, I think that it's important to embrace that inner child. And I learned so late in my life that I didn't realize I didn't know how to have fun. To be honest, I really didn't. I didn't know how to live it,

Unknown: 11:12

it's easy to lose it, you get caught up in all kinds of grown up nonsense. And it's very easy to forget how to have fun.

Indie Lee: 11:21

And I so Gosh, I could go so many places with this because first of all, ding, ding ding that my hypothesis continues to hold true. But and then now I need to go to Tim. But But no, it's fascinating, because what I've taken away from your work and and doing my research is this. It's not just mindfulness. It's also about inclusivity. Going back, you both grew up, obviously as sisters

Unknown: 12:04

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's been hugely, I mean, it's it, I think it's really hard to define how it shaped us. I mean, I think it's shaped us in so many different ways, I think we're, we're very open to all types of experiences. And I think it created a lot of empathy. You know, like, when you interact with all kinds of different people, and you see that we're all just human underneath it batik all kinds of like bizarre like local art style. Yes, yes. And then and then coming to our children's books. I think it profoundly influenced us and that we have a real appreciation for kind of wisdom from around the world, you know, because he grew up in you know, immersed in like, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, that was just in the air around in the cultures were and even, you know, Islam was part of you know, that we lived in Malaysia. So

Indie Lee: 14:12

And in many ways, a gift to both of you from your past. And I'm sure on the there's a flip side to that to constantly moving constantly. I mean, Eunice, I think there's a reason why you're a chameleon because you constantly needed to adapt, right?

Unknown: 14:27

Well, funnily enough, I actually loved it because every time we moved, you know, it was like, stressful, but I always found it very exciting cuz it was another opportunity to explore another part of your personality like to try being like punk rock this time, or to try being goth this time, which is hilarious. There was a while in high school where I actually did kind of a goth thing,

Indie Lee: 14:58

I mean, I can't even Imagine, I can't even like, I was very fortunate that when I worked at HBO, I get to travel all over with them. So I was exposed to a lot of different things and are but I think there's a different level of appreciation and immersion when you are living at Yomi. I'm traveling, but you are actually there living it, and seeing it firsthand and experiencing it

Unknown: 15:25

Yeah, yeah. Although that That said, it's important to note that we were part of expat communities. So we were in a little in a privileged bubble. So just definitely want to own that. Oh, absolutely. But at the same time, like, for example, like in our school, in China, in our, in our school in China, we every year, we would go for two weeks through rural China and stay at monasteries, or with local families, in very poor communities, and to see how they lived and to learn about them. And, you know, and that I think, was, you know, the kind of thing you just don't get

Indie Lee: 16:00

Right now, I completely agree. And so you really, I see it at least and the work that I've been looking at what you guys have created, you really do bring that to Hello lucky, especially as you know, the children's books to create that inclusive environment and share that wisdom of what you've learned to young adults and children who, who get it more than I hate to say it oftentimes

Unknown: 16:54

That is so sweet of you. Yes. So we have done a number of things over the years. And it's often shifting as we as new issues are coming to the fore that need attention, right. So you know, this year, we made, you know, contributions to organizations involved with Black Lives Matter and did a Black Lives Matter poster making party with kids. A big area of focus is an organization called

Indie Lee: 18:27

my gosh, sign me up at any time like that, you know, mindfulness for me is a major part of my brand. It's not just the products that we put on a shelf, there's a whole purpose behind it to empower others. So I was like, I'm in I'm like, keep going as well, I could go for three hours, I'm not going anywhere. I'm loving

Unknown: 18:47

it. It's amazing. And so it's these events, we bring people together from our Instagram community who are generally creators. But we've also had other people who are teachers and poets and things like that, in the past, we basically bring creatives and people who just have wisdom to share together on on a zoom call. And everybody just shares it's kind of like a show and tell type thing. also during COVID, realizing how much of the burden has been falling of care has been on women, you know, just seems like a no brainer. So. So I've done some of that, too. I used to live in France. And if you see the difference between like women, can they have government support sponsored childcare from three months on? And it's the expectation whether or not you work that you would put your child in childcare? So you could go on and do your thing as well, you know, and it's just, the contrast is just absurd.

Indie Lee: 21:07

It is, I mean, there's, I have so many friends who left the workforce to take care of their children. And re entry is almost impossible. And yet, they were the CEO of their home. Right? away. That's our future. And it's, it's incorrect. It's, oh, you we can have a whole nother podcast. on that one

Unknown: 21:31

alone required? For sure. Well, yeah, sure, you know, and they say that as a parent, you're forced to grow yourself up. And it's true. Like you become so much more wise and grounded and self aware as a human being when you have children, we're actively engaged in the parenting process and recognize that it's partly your own growth that you're working on. Oh, yeah, it makes you such a valuable person in the

Indie Lee: 21:57

much for my children, each one of them have taught me so much about myself and about life that I couldn't get in any class.

Unknown: 22:06

They really hold up a mirror, that's for sure. Oh, good.

Indie Lee: 22:11

Yep. I was like, okay, no filter, I life is a mirror. I was like, No, they say that your life is mirror, you have your environmental like, Okay, what are you? What am I trying to learn from this. And I love that. Hello. Lucky's mission is really about having these conversations to and you I look at is that you're creating a platform for them. It's not just the products, whether it's the

Unknown: 22:52

them early. Yeah, I just think that for us, we're really, the parent parenting is such a fascinating time, because it is a time when people are ripe for change, you know, over changing themselves. It's such an opportunity.

Indie Lee: 23:06

Another it's another, you know, transition point in people's lives, right. We have a couple of them throughout your life. And I totally believe that having children's is one of the largest transitions because you really don't know what you're about to get into. And I thought I was like, I know what I'm totally getting. No, no, I did not. I wouldn't change a thing.

Unknown: 23:31

Yeah, it's no joke process. It's the hardest job in the world without doubt

Indie Lee: 23:36

most thankless job,

Unknown: 23:40

but also the most joyful and hilarious as well.

Indie Lee: 23:43

Exactly, but yet the most rewarding one. I mean, people always ask what am i proud of stuff and it's never my company. It's my children. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Those are my greatest accomplishments. Yeah, the three of them for sure. Yeah. Okay, so so far as they don't jump walk in in the middle of recording. The thing like I sent out notes do not come in Mama's. You never know. I

Unknown: 24:34

So fight? Well, I have to say something about the facelessness of parenting because it is so such a profound opportunity to learn, right? Both that you don't need other people's affirmation, right. You don't need to prove not get things from our children very much. And that teaches us to not seek it to not seek the for affirmation from others. Right. And then the fact that they're always

Indie Lee: 25:46

Good. Yeah, I would, it's been the most inspiring part of my life is watching my children grow up into young adults. And there's just so much joy. And you know what I think because I was such an active participant, and therefore the good, the bad, the ugly and wouldn't want would never walk away. My son is, you know, 21 in Boulder, and I would say, in a three day period, he will call

Unknown: 26:21

Oh, I

Indie Lee: 26:21

made this I made this meal, or, Hey, can I have a recipe? And I'm like, Why are you calling me? I'm not the cook. Like it was just like, but it's those things. They call these? Like, how do I Brian? I'm like, if the internet years that you've lived with me, when did you ever see me, Brian? Anything? Why are you calling me. But the fact that I reached out, I so good, so good. And I love

Unknown: 27:06

Oh, definitely. That's like a goal for sure. Right.

Indie Lee: 27:10

So I'm like, to get currently still like

Unknown: 27:12

you. Yeah, exactly. I

Indie Lee: 27:14

don't know that they are not sure how much they like each other. So that leads perfectly into this. Sisters working together. Oh,

Unknown: 27:24

yes.

Indie Lee: 27:24

How does that work? Like, do you each have your own individual creative process? Like, is there one who's the illustrator? one who's the writer? How does that work? I'm

Unknown: 27:35

so we're really lucky that we just happen to have very, very compatible skill sets. Sabrina, you want to expound? Yes, totally. I mean, Eunice is a brilliant artist and has always been a brilliant artist. So she basically takes the creative reigns for you know, illustrating, and, and that sort of thing. I'm more of a jack of all trades. So I kind of manage the business side of things. But also I'm a writer. So and I'm a thinker, and I'm a reader, you know, so I come up with all I write all of our,

Indie Lee: 29:11

Healthy guys.

Unknown: 29:15

How's it my spirit animal is like a golden retriever. So I have a very easygoing personality, which, yeah, but also, but also, I feel like we have a very great good Well, first of all, we have very similar sort of 11 year old boy senses of humor, which I would like is hilarious. And but then also, like, you know, we have a really good battle because Sabrina is like, the deep thinker,

Indie Lee: 30:05

okay, so that for me those that were the puns come from because you guys are very funny. Yeah, I

Unknown: 30:11

love humor too. I love times. I love getting silly as well. So that's where Eunice and I like Wiley we real I'm a total goofball as well. But I also see this spiritual aspect to humor right humor is one of like, when you're in the midst of laughing or in in a heat or humor is just something that allows people to let go and be present and see the absurdity in everyday life. You know,

Indie Lee: 30:49

house for like the holidays. Because that's gonna be fascinating. Right? Thanksgiving must be a blast. I hear a house.

Unknown: 30:58

It's not it's pretty normal. Right? you miss me? Yeah, well, except that you know, our family's all on my dad's side. At least they're all scientists and so I my memories of Thanksgiving, which is I think why I love podcasts actually, is a bunch of intellectuals around a table like just droning on and on about whatever their topic subject at hand was. And I just love that I love the sound of somebody very intelligent, who really knows their

Indie Lee: 31:27

Oh, yeah. So I'm, I'm just going to do your parents don't remember having me. But I am the third sister. So be there for the holidays. Perfect. Brilliant. I always wanted a stationery store that I swear. So I am a daughter of a printer. And I come from a long line of years. So my grandfather was printer on Long Island had letterpress the whole Oh, yeah. And then my dad took it over. It

Unknown: 32:29

that's really hilarious because I was just explaining to somebody that our father was a diplomat and so he essentially a bureaucrat, and he used to bring home. It's funny, it's funny how these like things stick with you from being a kid. He used to bring home like, you know, unused forms and things for us to play with. And we used to stamp them and sign them and fill them out. And to

Indie Lee: 33:05

That's awesome. Oh my gosh. Okay, so we're in so well, I did I told my parents for you when I was younger, I wanted to have like a stationery store because I love paper. I love hand lettering. I've always been very into calligraphy like all of those things that side of me and so reading your website late I was like I want I want to go be with that. This is my lamps. So yeah, I

Unknown: 33:35

all related Yes, I mean, cuz you're doing you know, your your skincare line is about self care, you know. And safe theory is also about self care.

Indie Lee: 33:43

I know a really a connection is I love the feeling of a pen to paper and I am very much obviously the sustainability of being top of mind. I love to use a tablet, but I can't just use the tablet. I had to get my iPad, I had to get like the paper the matte finish for Yeah. So that I can feel the letters across. I'm sure about it. No, I tried to ask them. Okay, so what is next for Hello

Unknown: 34:16

business. Well, exciting. So we're continuing to publish children's books. So we're we've got four books a year coming out. And we've got so our next book is called school is cool. And that's coming out next month in late July. That's a back to school book. And then we have a love board book called bananas for you, which is a super silly, fun little board book that you love the person. And then you know our books. My dad is I'm mildly panicking about that right now as deadlines looming Yeah. a unicorn and a flying squirrel squirrel in space. So hilarious, I can attest to the fact that it is hilarious. It is just absurd and ridiculous and hilarious. Yes,

Indie Lee: 35:11

that's fantastic. I have no doubt.

Unknown: 35:13

Yeah, that's very exciting. And obviously, we're continuing to do our cards. And one of the one of the things we're most excited about with our cards, is we're doing these bundles of cards where people can just like, grab, you know, five for an occasion. And that's been really popular on our website. So we're excited. I have some Yes. So that that's great. And then And then finally,

Indie Lee: 35:42

Oh, my gosh, I'm putting it out there.

Unknown: 35:44

I know, put it out into the universe, because it is just we're just still in negotiations with a major network to pick it up there. They want to pick it up and develop it. But we're still in in this contract negotiation phases with that phase with them. But it's looking very promising. And so hopefully,

Indie Lee: 36:00

we won't have that out to the universe of preschool

Unknown: 36:03

tell animated series based on our book kindness rules, and also just inspired by all the characters in our books, hopefully, that'll be hitting, you know, wherever you candy or streaming at some point in the next couple years.

Indie Lee: 36:15

So okay, perfectly so that you guys have really just led me up for everything. That's great. Okay, so then, with all that going on, being entrepreneurs, being creative spirits, being a deep thinker, being parents, how do you find time for you?

Unknown: 36:34

You got to make that time. schedule it in, you have to prioritize it, you have to realize it's not selfish, you know that self care is the best care. And by caring for yourself, you're you're kind of filling up your own tank so that you can care for others. So lately, yeah, that was a lesson that took me a while to learn, I have to say, workaholic, one

Indie Lee: 36:53

of you. Is there one thing that each one of you does like specifically for yourself?

Unknown: 37:00

There are so many there's so different.

Indie Lee: 37:02

You guys are so

Unknown: 37:05

it's very exciting, because we have very different things. So hopefully your listeners will find there's something for everyone. So yeah, I I read books on spiritual growth and development every night before I go to bed. So I just fill my mind with wisdom before I go to bed every night. I basically sleep on it and metabolize that information. And that's how I that's how I go to sleep.

Indie Lee: 37:47

are related. Yeah. I was like, oh, tell everybody out what else I do. Because I meditate every day. I get up at five. I do my exercise. I breathe. Yeah, I

Unknown: 37:57

love your meditation Miss, by the way. It's awesome. It's awesome. And then I do I have a wonderful Reiki practitioner. So I get Reiki once a week. So that's been amazing. And during these during COVID I was doing you can get it virtually. So that was pretty cool. So I do that. And sometimes reflexology but that's I have a pretty you know, it's it's a lot of I spend it I dedicate a fair

Indie Lee: 38:34

I know, I cannot wait to hear Yes, despite the my spirit animals.

Unknown: 38:39

My true relative, Sabrina's like it was like a much more cerebral mine is all like physical, I feel like it's like so my, my I have my own version of meditation. But because I'm actually a terrible meditator. I find it in other way. So I love to dance. So I do Kpop with a couple of really amazing dance teachers, like probably four or five times a week and then at like, so like, I tried

Indie Lee: 39:39

gosh, I said this to my kids the other day, I'm like, I want roller skates because here's a fun fact for anybody watching listening to the podcast. I was on the roller derby.

Unknown: 39:50

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. A fact that

Indie Lee: 39:53

nobody ever in their wildest dreams. So I grew up during the 80s when rolling skating was very popular. And we would go to the roller rink and we'd skate and do all that and I loved

Unknown: 40:06

it. Oh, you need to get a pair of rollerskates right now really

Indie Lee: 40:09

kill me. It's weird that my mom let me do that.

Unknown: 40:13

My husband literally was like, if you break a hip and I have to spoon feed you for the rest of life, I'm gonna be pretty mad. And I'm like, No, but, but you know it. Yeah, it is like one of the purest forms of joyful activity that I found. So fun. So Joe, it's just a joy and you feel like 10 years younger than totally getting the roller skate. Yeah, like you gotta join it such the rage

Indie Lee: 41:09

takes many different forms. The lotus position is Yes. How do you clear your mind is really

Unknown: 41:16

well yeah, it's totally about clearing your mind and just kind of stepping away from sort of the day to day annoyances and obligations and responsibilities and all that stuff. And just taking a minute to just check out and do something just for you, you know, so, and I love being productive. So all these things are sort of weirdly productive. And meditation is gonna say like, I'll a lot of my children's books I write in meditation, like it's when I'm taking a break from actual busy room that the my best ideas come to me and Eunice is the same way. It's like when you're not actually like, it's like giving side eye to the project or something. It's like, not actually, yeah, trying to stare it down. But like, the ideas just come through you I always think of it like it's like I'm percolating in the background while I'm doing something else. And doing something else gives my brain time to kind of just sort of find the flow, you know, so

Indie Lee: 42:11

yeah, I'm guessing. Yeah, guys, thank you so much for joining me. I knew this was gonna be probably the most fun podcast and I'd be laughing the entire time and of course, exactly what happened. But I truly appreciate you joining me today. But also what you are creating out there in the world. It is a gift. You guys are gift truly.

Unknown: 42:33

Oh, thank you. We feel the same way that you and thank you so much. And oh, your honor and support.

Indie Lee: 42:42

Where do people find you? Oh, I almost forgot and it will be in the show notes. But important,

Unknown: 42:46

very important. They can we are a small women in business. So please do come and support us. We are at WWW dot Hello lucky.com. You can find us on Instagram at Hello lucky cards and also on Hello lucky kids.

Indie Lee: 43:00

Amazing and I'll make sure that's in the show notes. Thank you guys so much for joining me and taking time out of your crazy schedule. I know you've got tons of deadlines, but I really do appreciate it.

Unknown: 43:09

We appreciate it too. Thanks for this opportunity. So so much fun.

Indie Lee: 43:13

I hope you enjoy today's episode of coming clean with indie Lee. As always, if you like what you're hearing, hit the subscribe button and I'd love a review. And more importantly, if there are ideas for different guests or topics you'd love for me to cover. Feel free to email me at coming clean at indie lead calm that's coming clean at indie Lee calm. See you next time.