SMG grad listed as one of top young entrepeneurs

Stylish, confident and congenial – much like the fictional character that helped spawn her small business philosophies – 25-year-old Boston University alumna Joanna Alberti continues to thrive and look hopefully toward the future, earning her the third spot on a recent top entrepreneurs under 25 list by BusinessWeek Online.

Alberti’s reaction to the news was a mix of surprise and delight.

“My first reaction was, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I made BusinessWeek Online not even a year into the business full-time,'” the School of Management graduate said. “My second reaction was that I had to thank BU and Jennifer Natoli through the PR Agency [Peter Arnold Associates] for nominating me. I was really surprised, but very happy because it was good to be recognized that I’ve come a long way over the course of the year.”

After graduating early in January 2003, Alberti began working as an assistant media planner and an aspiring copywriter at Boston advertising agency Hill Holiday.

In November 2004, Alberti’s portfolio of her own personal philosophies and quotes on different situations blossomed into the beginning of her business idea, starting with greeting cards. Some of her ideas included “Wear Pumps. Take Taxis.” and “A strong cup of coffee and self-confidence can carry you past the morning.”

“I had this book of philosophies that I had kept even while I was at BU,” she said. “[Hill Holiday was] doing an arts and crafts show where they wanted employees to showcase any talents outside of what they did for a full-time job … I put to some of my philosophies together for about a dozen styles of cards for the holiday craft fair.”

As the cards sold at Hill Holiday, curiosity about the character and where Alberti would take it grew. This small idea grew into something much larger.

“To make a long story short,” she said, “I started showing my cards to small boutiques. My first store was on Charles Street – The Flat of the Hill – and she [the owner, Katherine Morse] told me about the National Stationary Show … She said I should walk the show and see if I saw anything similar [to the character of Sophie and her design].”

After deciding that her design and concept were unique, Alberti left her full-time job at Hill Holiday and began seriously developing her small business.

Now having worked her first holiday season, Alberti said she is looking toward the future and also reflecting on the past.

“Now it’s two holiday seasons later,” she said. “I did holiday cards for the American Heart Association and freelance work for Grettacole, the spas in Boston. So I’m actually seeing myself being established with more clientele.

“It’s just been like the snowball effect because I didn’t do it like a normal – not that there’s a normal way of doing business -but I didn’t seek out people to work with me on how I fund it,” she continued. “I just kind of have been trying just to support myself and support what I like to do, and slowly I’ve been able to do both. But I just took a different approach to it.”

Alberti said her SMG studies helped to foster that different approach. She said it has been a challenging rise to success. She also said her time at BU gave her a foundation for her business.

“I’ve learned so much about myself and how to run a business,” she said, “and there are things I’m learning and have yet to learn.

“When I was at [SMG],” she continued, “I think they had just started the entrepreneurial department as a major … [and what] I have put into effect from SMG is just really strong marketing, and having to do a grass-roots effort without any advertising dollars. And also the team environment, having to speak in front of large groups and having to do presentations all the time helps in going to approach clients.”

SMG professor Sandra Procopio – who Alberti calls her mentor – said she was filled with pride when she learned of Alberti’s successes.

“We were thrilled and incredibly proud of Joanna,” Procopio, who is now the SMG Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs, said. “It’s always wonderful to hear about the great successes of our alums. We posted the BusinessWeek Online pieces on our website, ran a story in BU Today and corresponded with the entire SMG undergraduate community via our e-newsletter so they would have the opportunity to recognize Joanna’s success.”

Alberti said she was drawn to SMG’s structure and method of teaching.

“I really just liked the atmosphere and the work ethic,” she said. “I never thought that I would be an entrepreneur … I knew that I had the mindset of thinking outside the box and that I could be creative, but I thought that having a business background would help me fine-tune what other aspects of what I could do within an ad agency.”

Procopio said Alberti’s success demonstrates SMG’s format and goals in teaching students who aspire for success in the business world.

“[Alberti’s success] reinforces our distinctive approach of collaboratively teaching management as a system, the strength of our CORE curriculum and our emphasis on cross-functionality and team learning, which gives each student a measurable stake in the success of each team member,” she said. “The result: you gain practical experience thinking holistically, like a business leader.”

Alberti said it is this format and discipline that she found so appealing.

“SMG’s programs train future builders and leaders by emphasizing the need to integrate management science with the art and technology of business,” Procopio said. “Around the globe, business schools have long focused solely on ‘management science’ – accounting, finance, operations, market research, etc. But when we rely just on management science, we miss the art of business: the ability to go beyond data analyses, to probe potential results not predicted by the numbers and to ‘think horizontally’ by using informed intuition fused with rigorous statistical analysis.”

Alberti said ethics was the most important aspect of SMG that she applies to her life.

“They really always pushed being ethical – having both a strong work ethic and being ethical in business, not cutting corners,” she said. “I think that just being good in business has helped tremendously, because I’m very honest, open and upfront about where I am with my level of business … I always have returning customers because they like the quality of my work, and that if I’m not able to produce it, I would just say ‘No.'”

Alberti said she has a spirited and optimistic outlook of the future.

“I hope that it would be a business that has longevity,” she said. “I eventually would hope to license the idea of Sophie and her quotes on different [situations], and that it would be something that could go from greeting cards to paper plates and cosmetic bags, and things like that … it’s something that could work on a variety of products.”

Alberti said she wants to keep growing her business at a steady yet manageable pace, but maintain the quality her company has become known for.

Alberti has these words of advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs: “If they feel passionate enough about their ideas, and they’ve put a lot of thought into how they can execute it, then they should definitely just go for it.”