Greek Happy Makes the News!
I am so honored to have been featured in an article that ran in the Long Beach Press Telegram (my hometown newspaper) in February 2023!!
The article pretty much speaks for itself, so I'll just post it here in it's entirety:
"Maryann Miller has fond memories from her life in a sorority at San Diego State University about four decades ago.
And the friendships she made as a member of Alpha Chi Omega have endured — so much so that her sorority sisters deserve credit for a business Miller began during the pandemic.
That business is Greek Happy, which makes myriad sorority-themed products, from notepads and mousepads to blankets and pillows. The merchandise is branded for specific sororities, from Alpha Chi Omega to Zeta Tau Alpha.
Miller, a 1978 Wilson High School graduate, co-owns with sorority sister Gaia Winter.
The initial idea, though, came about during a Zoom call with their other sorority sisters.
“We were talking about coping and bringing more happiness into the world during a difficult time,” Miller said, “and Gaia wanted to do face masks and have them be what a sorority person would wear.”
Greek Happy, which officially started in 2020, took more than a year to get the face mask product up and running, Miller said. But the masks weren’t the only result.
“I was lucky to find a talented Disneyland employee who had been furloughed due to COVID-19 and we began creating graphic designs incorporating sorority colors, symbols and mottos,” Miller said. “And then, through Print-on-Demand technology, the online store quickly mushroomed into thousands of products for 20 national sororities.”
Indeed. A quick scan on the Greek Happy website reveals the scope of available products: A red Alpha Gamma Delta backpack with a squirrel on it for $59. A Phi Mu apron embroidered with that sorority’s name and the year of its founding — 1852 — for $38. Stickers, iPhone cases and tote bags, ranging from $20 to $30.
“Our designs are uniquely created and are inspired by the colors, flowers, symbols, mascots and mottos of each house,” the website says. “We don’t just change the Greek letters and stick the same design on each product.”
Greek Happy has a licensing agreement that requires a portion of every sale — 10% — be returned to the national sororities. But Miller seems happy to pay that.
“I have to say that the Greek life I participated in gave me my dearest friends and you can’t put a price on that,” she said. “I’m happy to give back.”
But that wasn’t enough for the former Wilson High cheerleader, who also attended Lowell Bayside Academy and Rogers Middle School. Miller, who splits time living in San Leandro and Palm Desert, also donates a portion of her earnings to the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
“The Greater Good Science Center has been studying happiness for years, so it was the perfect philanthropy for my mission,” Miller said. “I found out (about the center) through word of mouth and it felt like the right place to give back.
“I hope in some small way, I’m helping the world become happier,” she added. “After all, giving back is a proven way to become more cheerful.”
Miller said she knows she made the right choice joining a sorority. She pushed herself to go through the recruitment process and the result, she said, was a group of women that have enriched her life.
“I’m darn lucky to be doing something that I love and that spreads a little happiness in people’s lives,” Miller said. “If we take care of one another, life will take care of itself. It really comes down to the people in my life.”
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