The time students spend at MSU can determine a lot of the important parts of life after stepping off campus. A lot of people decide what they want to do with their lives, make lifelong friends and even meet their future spouses while matriculating at MSU. MSU alumna Jessica McGarrow has started a stationary company to help Spartans celebrate being Spartans during their big days.
McGarrow is the president of Personalized University Products, providers of officially licensed wedding invitations, birth announcements, graduation announcements and other stationary necessities all bearing the official Spartan “S.”
“The collegiate merchandise industry has a gaping hole in the personalized stationary market,” McGarrow said.
McGarrow received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from MSU in 1998 and completed her master’s degree in business administration with the Eli Broad College of Business’ weekend MBA program in 2004. While serving as the president of the weekend MBA program’s alumni association, McGarrow saw an opportunity to fill the hole in the marketplace by starting her company.
“It’s fun for people with college rivalries in their office to be able to show their Spartan spirit,” she said.
Laura Fields, a 2004 MSU alumna and Rochester Hills resident, used Personalized University Products for her November 2008 wedding at MSU’s Alumni Chapel. She said she and her husband, who met at MSU, decided to use the invitations to incorporate MSU into their wedding because so many of their early memories from their relationship took place on campus.
“MSU feels like home to us,” she said. “We wanted to bring our family and friends together in the place where our story started.”
Fields said the elegant invitation design and tasteful use of the MSU logo drew her to using the invitations.
“They didn’t look like a tailgate invitation,” she said. “They looked like wedding invitations.”
With a wide range of products to choose from, Fields said she would definitely use the company again for her and her family’s stationary needs for important events like the upcoming graduation for her brother, supply chain managemnet senior, Jared Ambrosier.
Physics senior Justin Schaudt said Spartan stationary would appeal to people looking for their stationary to look official while maintaining their allegiance to MSU.
Although the fledgling company is new to the market, it already has a licensing agreement with Western Michigan University and Kent State University, among others. McGarrow said the company is planning to expand to universities and colleges all over the country, but to continue to pay special attention to the needs of the Big Ten.
“I really love answering the call in the marketplace for something unique,” she said. “Colleges and universities are such a fresh, fun audience.”
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