Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Tobbi and Brittany Pasqualone. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Wow, you want to know more about us? We are honored. Flushed with flattery, and we’re too humble to tell you more- all right, you talked us into it. Let’s talk about Brittany & Michelle, shall we?
Brittany & Michelle are two best friends who met over 10 years ago while working at Disneyland. Launching Starspeeders at Star Tours in Tomorrowland was just the start of their long-distance friendship. Over 10+ years of road trips, flights, and many cards through snail mail, the pair always knew they’d collaborate on something together. Cactus & Cedar became a way to showcase their talents through unique gifts they designed together! Both paying homage to their upbringings, the shop’s name is a moniker of the two friends! Brittany, Head Artist, and Illustrator, is the “Cactus” because she was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Michelle, the Designer, is the “Cedar” because she has Lebanese heritage and is a proud first-generation American.
What started as a funny idea between the two bloomed into their best-selling Anti-Greeting Card Collection; insult cards you can “send to your friends or humble your enemies!” Creating Greeting Cards and Anti-Greeting Cards was the beginning of Cactus & Cedar, which quickly turned into adding their quirky designs onto t-shirts, tote bags, stickers, and embroidered hats! Their humorous friendship can be seen throughout their brand, as their designs stay true to their fun-loving personalities. Brittany and Michelle believe that the world could always use more laughs, so laugh at them–wait–no. Come laugh at their funny Greeting Cards and peruse the rest of their online website for a while!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest obstacle is the distance. Although we’ve mastered being best friends for over 10 years while living in two states (California & Arizona), the distance is sometimes difficult. All of our business meetings are done over FaceTime, and sometimes we can face a lot of distractions, like tending to our adorable dogs. Not to mention, catching up with each other’s lives through a screen can feel disconnected, so we frequently visit each other between Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
Brittany Pasqualone:
- Specialize in fun & quirky designs
- Drawn to bright colors (Which is great because it makes our Greeting Cards pop-out!
- My Polish heritage comes out the most through the floral embellishments on my patterned designs. (we even did a stationery card set aptly named “Polish Girls,” each representing my take on traditional Polish folk art.
- I love creating illustrations for our Halloween Haunts Collection, which features Halloween Icons and other spooky creatures. It gives me a place to get into some fun character designs!
- Known for floral patterns
- I’m proud of my best friend, Michelle, and her being the biggest champion of my artwork and always having faith in me.
Michelle Tobbi:
- I’m a stand-up comedian who decided it would be fun to start a joke-card business with my best friend, and by George, was I right!
- I specialize in improvising on the spot and silly jokes centered on my Lebanese family (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding).
- I love doing pop-up events for Cactus & Cedar, connecting with people in person, and seeing their reactions to our Anti-Greeting Cards and other quirky gifts!
- I’m very proud of my truly humble best friend, Brittany, for sharing her beautiful artwork after I’ve been trying to get her to do so for literally the entirety of our friendship
Our firm friendship and inside jokes set us apart, leading to many best-selling designs!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Brittany: To my parent’s dismay, I was the kid who drew on the walls and pretty much any surface that I wasn’t supposed to draw on! (R.I.P. Grandma’s Lazyboy Recliner, sorry, grandma!) I got a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art at Arizona State University in 2015 and continue to create art without destroying expensive furniture.
Michelle: I was the most dramatic child in class. So much so that my teacher seriously suggested to my Mom to get me a talent agent and that she bet I’d be an actor when I grew up. I didn’t pursue acting, but the dramatic little kid in me never really left, so I ended up majoring in Film with a Bachelor’s degree in Screenwriting in 2015.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cactusandcedar.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cactusandcedar
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cactusandcedar
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cactusandcedar
Image Credits
Michelle Tobbi
