Jessica started at American Girl as a graphic designer, was later promoted to American Girl magazine’s Lifestyle Editor, and then made the move to design the brand’s iconic toy product.

Carrie’s beginning at American Girl started as a web editor before advancing to book editor for the Advice and Activity line of nonfiction contemporary books.

Looking to escape the 9-to-5 grind and make a go at solo gigs, Carrie and Jessica knew their path was destined toward something creative. With coffee and gumption helping to fuel the spark, instead of landing on just one idea, the Wonder Women had more business ideas than they knew what to do with. And that’s when their “aha moment” happened: They were idea people! From adolescence all the way to adulthood, their brains have never stopped thinking about the next big thing. And thus, Wonder: An Idea Studio came to be.

As new small business owners, the Wonder Women approached their business with baby steps–intentionally growing slowly in order to find the services that best fit their skill sets. Agreeing that Wonder would start out as a hobby business gave Carrie the opportunity to girl boss as a freelance writer and Jessica do the same with freelance design while balancing being a new mom. Their Wonder time was spent focused on providing creative and consulting services for other small businesses, while honing their own unique ideation techniques.

With their freelance businesses firmly established and their comfort levels found from running Wonder as a side gig, Carrie and Jessica relaunch the business on February 1, 2018, focusing solely on brainstorming.

Just two weeks after relaunching the business—in the midst of marketing their services, doing local interviews,  and running creativity workshops—the Wonder Women accept a book deal from Andrews McMeel Publishing for Me, Myself & Ideas: The Ultimate Guide to Brainstorming Solo, to be released on April 30, 2019.

Writing and editing are fueled by caffeine and chocolate, all while balancing Wonder creativity and small business consulting.

Presented with the promising opportunity to partner with her husband on a new design business, Jessica makes the difficult decision to focus solely on the efforts needed for making Me, Myself & Ideas a success while leaving the remaining Wonder services in Carrie’s capable hands.

Today Carrie leads the creative ways of Wonder: An Idea Studio. While still focused on ideas and brainstorming, the emphasis of the business has pivoted slightly to focus on creative-based training to help redefine workplace culture. Carrie’s goal is to present a creativity-fueled training and consulting company to transform organizations by empowering people.