bay area brand shoot and q&a with WonderWell Founder Stephanie Brown
I am so excited to introduce you to Stephanie Brown, the founder of WonderWell Reflection Cards! Stephanie recently launched WonderWell with a darling deck of illustrated cards with fun questions for kids designed to lead to unique conversations, reflections, creative exploration and more. If you’re still looking for a holiday gift for a little one in your life, grab a deck of cards and enjoy fun conversations over the holidays that go beyond the less than original “how’s school?”
Stephanie and I captured a mix of headshots, brand portraits and product shots during her brand photo shoot in the Sausalito Studio. It was a total joy to work with her and I was inspired to get a look behind scenes at the brand and product before launch! As any product founder knows, there’s a lot that goes into creating product and Stephanie handled every single element with intention, leading to an incredibly high quality, creative product. Each card is a little piece of art too, with a whimsical illustration paired with each question.
Read on to hear about how Stephanie built WonderWell, plus a peek at a few of our photos from the shoot, too!
Name: Stephanie Brown
Business: WonderWell
HQ: san francisco
Web: thewonderwell.com
ig: @wonderwellcards
First off, tell us all about WonderWell Reflection Cards!
WonderWell Reflection Cards encourage children to explore their inner worlds and expand their imaginations. Each deck contains 50 illustrated reflection cards designed to spark conversation, journal writing, and creative exploration, anytime, anywhere with the children in your life—whether at mealtime, bedtime, in the car, at the park, or on the go!
Every detail is lovingly crafted with care, featuring playful questions and whimsical illustrations that inspire memorable moments of reflection. Made with durable, high-quality materials and decorated with shimmering gold stars, they are elegantly stored in compact packaging with a magnetic flap. WonderWell Reflection Cards make the perfect holiday gift or stocking stuffer that can bring joy to the whole family!
What inspired you to create the reflection cards?
The idea came to me after I rediscovered my childhood diaries, dating back to when I was five years old. Reading through the pages, I was reminded how journaling has helped me celebrate, process, and navigate life’s peaks and valleys. My hope is to recreate that same child-like magic in a deck of reflection cards designed to spark conversation, ignite creativity and prompt journal writing.
It must be amazing to now be sharing the cards with little ones, and see how they interact with them! What’s been a sweet or silly moment that stands out from a kid’s reflection with a card?
It’s been really fun and rewarding to hear stories and see photos of parents and grandparents using the reflection cards with their kids at the dinner table or on roadtrips.
One personal experience stands out: my fiancé and I hosted 2 families for dinner. Altogether, we had 4 kids ranging from ages 5-9 years old at the table. It was a little chaotic at first, so I brought out a deck of WonderWell Reflection Cards and asked the kids to pull some cards from the deck. All of us (adults included!) were SO engaged in answering the questions and learned a ton about each other in the process -- fun and sweet stories involving camping trips, paddleboarding, travels, etc. The five-year-old girl was adamant that every single person around the table answer each question, which was so adorable!
There’s a lot that goes into creating (and then: selling!) a product. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to fellow product brand founders who are just getting started?
I would remind fellow product brand founders who are just getting started to look for inspiration all around them and to re-think how they view productivity as they’re getting their product off the ground. Had I rushed certain stages to stick to a self-imposed launch timeline, I would have missed out on some really key moments of inspiration that transformed how I ultimately designed WonderWell Reflection Cards.
For example, I was struggling with finding the right font for my prompts. By chance, my friend mentioned how beautiful my handwriting is and randomly said “it could be a font!” That was a lightbulb moment for me, and took me down an unexpected path of researching how to convert my handwriting to a font. This detour extended my launch timeline but was so meaningful to my creative process and making the final product match my expectations.
What’s ahead in your business within the next year that you’re most excited about?
Next year, I’m really excited to participate in large craft and holiday markets, and to do some fun collaborations with influencers and retail stores.
How do photos support your marketing and e-commerce goals?
My new photos are such a huge support to my business goals. I've been able to use them in my website, product pages, and in my submissions to various holiday gift guides. They will also serve as the foundation for some Instagram posts I have planned. Having a full set of professional product photos instilled me with confidence as I navigated launching my business and product.
Working with Tory was a total dream! I was really impressed by how she took the time to understand my needs for our photoshoot. She even went so far as to look ahead at how I intended my business to evolve over time and made recommendations that captured both my short- and long-term business needs.
She was an incredible thought partner — she offered up some great staging and prop ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of myself, and was prepared day-of to make the most of our time, ensuring I got exactly what I needed from our shoot.
Who are three fellow founders or small businesses that you admire? (Include links to websites or IG if you have them!) I love the work of the following small businesses:
Shane Gabier: I love his ceramic bookends, I have a beautiful pink pair that makes my bookshelf pop!
Nkiki Norenberg: I love her moving meditation series - they’re electric and so moving (literally)!
Tay Nakamoto: I love all the fun, playfulness and colour she infuses into her DIY interior design work
Looking to get photos for your product brand, or headshots/portraits in san francisco or denver?
Shoot me a note and fill me in on you and your business, then I’ll send over more info on how you can book your own brand photo shoot!
