About Us

Envelopments exists because of its people…design driven and willing to serve.  In our blog you will first be hearing from our design staff and founders. We want to cut right to the chase and let you in on who we are, what inspires us and how we got here.  Following you will then be hearing from our extended family of not so shy employees, friends and paper peeps; and of course Envelopments’ network of Dealer/Designers…your access to paper creativity.

Deborah Hefter Co-Founder, Designer
Deborah Hefter is an irreverent three dimensional designer.  Deborah’s gregarious nature, sense of humor and lack of fear enabled her to grow a retail business into what was referred to by her customers as a designer’s playpen. With her sister Holly they were able to lay the foundation for what would evolve into the premiere product line and business for the creation of custom invitations called Envelopments.  She is finally married to her partner Mark and shares two beautiful daughters with him. Read more.

Holly Jakobs Co-Founder, CFO
Holly Jakobs has one primary mission at Envelopments, “make the customer happy.” Even though her retail days are long gone, she still considers herself a 3rd generation retailer. In her “pre-retail” days Holly expected to have a career in politics. But opportunity and fate wrote a different story. As a co-founder of Envelopments, she has worn multiple hats and has done every job from shipping and invoicing, to production and customer service, finally landing as Chief Financial Officer. But if you asked her today she would add “CTO…Chief Tweeting Officer.” Read more.

Mark Smith Co-Founder, President
Mark Smith’s background includes a varied past that stretches around the globe. His creative bent has been his ticket to experiences that have included tool and die design; production design for both film and theater; interior design for retail and residential; product, graphic and clothing design; as well as marketing communications design. Mark was also involved in the beginning of the personal computer industry as lead designer for the tradeshow COMDEX. Due to his vision and systems approach Mark was voted into the position of President at Envelopments by his partners to oversee the design of their business. When not working Mark can be found hanging out with his two daughters or gazing out to sea. Read more.

David Smith Co-Founder
David Smith felt he knew just one thing for sure when he sat at the dining room table with Mark, Deborah and Holly to initiate a concept, a company…beyond a shadow of doubt, there in front of him was an infinite pool of creativity, wisdom, compassion and acumen to draw from and with that something vibrant was about to happen. Taking the leap from art archivist, gallery owner, publisher, and photographic school director to Pulp Proprietor has been the fulfillment of David’s entrepreneurial and artistic imaginings. Read more.

Ramon Gomez Design Manager
Ramon Gomez never imagined that he’d make a career by designing wedding invitations for brides-to-be. He fell into the industry by chance while earning his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California, Irvine. Needing a part time job, Ramon applied at the 24 Hour Fitness, as well as Elements, the very cool stationery store right next to the gym. Fate stepped in when Elements hired him first. With limited skills, his only ability was to ring up customers, do an occasional gift wrap and assemble custom invitations. After being submersed in a world full of paper creativity, he moved up the ranks to become Elements lead designer. Four years later, he hung up his retail hat and began designing for Envelopments. Read more.

Mark Anthony Reyes Web Manager
Mark Reyes is a jack of all trades and the Web Manager at Envelopments. Also a robot and ninja – though not too great as a ninja – he spends the majority of his time sketching, designing and scouring the internet. Being the internet sleuth that he is, he’s able to keep a pulse on art, film, design, technology and just about everything else that’s going on. Mark first started as an illustrator, then in college, a film/video artist, and now a multimedia designer; and He’s been working with paper and custom invitations since he was introduced to Deborah Hefter at Elements in 2003. Read more.

Lindsey Boureston Graphic Design Assistant
Lindsey never thought she would live in Southern California. Raised in Northern California, she has a love for nature, the outdoors and traveling. After graduating college from Chico State, she moved down south temporarily to be closer to her family, and wound up finding an ideal job, with ideal people, doing what she loves. Although she has many hobbies and interests, design is one which she feels most passionate about. She is excited for the opportunity to be a part of the Envelopments staff and looks forward to growing as a designer with the company. Read more.

Tom Johns Manager, Business Development & Marketing
Tom Johns doesn’t have a background in paper, or the wedding industry, or design; and yet he is at home at Envelopments. His background is varied among HR & Organization consulting, Restaurant management, and Retail Operations. Tom is finding that all of his varied experiences lend themselves perfectly to his role at Envelopments: leading the Customer Service, Business Development and Marketing teams and helping in a variety of other ways to help Envelopments achieve its vision. Read more.

Rachelle Chuang Paper Enthusiast
Rachelle Chuang calls herself a “creativist” – someone who is attuned creatively to their surroundings; a person who understands and expresses their life through creative works or motifs.  With a long list of talents and interests her experiences include designer, fine artist, handmade paper and book maker, letterpress printer and educator. Rachelle is also very involved with the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA.  Guess it’s obvious why she can be found hanging out with Envelopments paper peeps to collaborate on a number of freelance projects. Read more.

Kristy Rice Momental Designs
Kristy Rice is indeed a storyteller of style; communicating for her brides in paint and pen, paper and prose, very personal stories with attention to detail and an unmistakable sense of hand. Since a young age, Kristy has been immersed in the visual. Art is for her not an act, but a lifestyle. Whether painting on location in Zion National Park or drawing imaginary flora on the walls of her sunroom, Kristy lives her art. She is an artist first, stationery designer second.
Kristy loves her supportive hubby Adam, all shades of green furniture, her loyal companion, the hairless dog Harry and outrageous handbags. Kristy is known for her painted paper goodies, artful styling and painterly approach to design projects where she captures and communicates the “Momental”, moments that are fleeting, yet profound. Read more.