Ju-Ju-Be is the nickname of Julia Star Croft. A 9/11 baby born to a very patriotic family, Star was the perfect choice for her middle name and for the symbol of Ju-Ju-Be, Intl.
Kristin and Joe worked together at Oakley…Oakley is named after a dog!
The very first Ju-Ju-Be bag is an orange and teal Perky Perennials Be All that resides in Kristin’s office.
The Pink Room was started with made up screen names that happened to be Ju-Ju-Be team member aliases. They spent a few weeks talking to themselves…and then it all began!
Kristin’s son, Rylan, is the baby the diaper bag picture pockets. He was also born in 2005.
Perky Perennials is Ju-Ju-Be’s signature print. She has recently been retired…for now.
There is an annual Pink Lady Get Together in San Clemente, CA, for the biggest of Ju-Ju-Be fans…everyone is invited…get your plane tickets now!
In order to be a team member at Ju-Ju-Be, you must like Whoopie Pies and cupcakes.
Like the Partridge Family, Ju-Ju-Be once owned a bus…it was painted to commemorate the Fall 2011 print, Safari Stripes. It is now under the ownership of a preschool teacher in the San Diego area!
Ju-Ju-Be has a lot of confusing names. Susie Stein is one rep…Susan Steiner is another.
Ju-Ju-Be really likes K names. We have KK (Kristin), Kristin, Kristi, and have had Karen, Katie, TK, and more in the past.
Ju-Ju-Be’s first warehouse was a 10×10 storage unit. It’s a little bit bigger now!
Ju-Ju-Be has a really cool photo studio…it used to be in Joe’s living room!
Joe wants to be a photographer when he grows up.
The company’s first customer was Baby Style. They aren’t in business anymore.
Britney Spears saw a Perky Perennials Packabe at Nordstrom at The Grove and said “I want that!” And she bought it!
Tradeshows are Ju-Ju-Be’s specialty…ABC 2006 was the first one in a 10 x 20 booth. It didn’t have a theme.
2007 ABC was a Premiere theme to introduce the Premiere collection. We served popcorn and it looked like a movie theatre (that’s the way the spell theater in England..or if you’re sophisticated)
Our neighbors didn’t like us very much because they were always hungry for popcorn!
2008 ABC was done in an inflatable tradeshow booth. It had strings of lights and green astro turf. It felt like a country fair.
At the 2008 country fair trade show we had cotton candy.
The cotton candy machine we rented didn’t have a plastic top, so every time we turned it on it sent pink stuff up into the air like a pink tornado.
Our neighbors didn’t like us in 2008 very much because we covered them in pink stuff.
At the 2009 tradeshow we had the Ju-Ju-Be World Tour. It was a rock show and we played Rock Band.
We rented a full stage with lighting, a 30,000 amp speaker system (I think it was that much), and it was as loud as a rock concert.
Our neighbors didn’t like us in 2009 very much because we were really, really loud.
At the 2010 tradeshow we created a lounge with $4000 worth of white leather rented furniture, live music and a lot of yellow details to introduce Pretty Tweet.
We also had a photo booth. KK wanted to rent one, but we were over budget (too much furniture)…so Joe made one with an old camera, a flash head, a printer from Costco, and some wood he had in the garage.
Joe finished the photo booth at 3am the night before leaving for the show.
In 2010 our neighbors were nervous…but they liked the live music. They liked us!
Erick Macek played at the 2010 trade show. He is really, really good. His website is here. http://www.erickmacek.com/
If you went to the Erick Macek website you will see that he isn’t just a good singer. He was, uhm…well…eye candy for the booth?
Ju-Ju-Be rented a projector to show all the pictures from the photo booth at the 2010 trade show. It cost 4000 dollars to rent. KK and Joe installed it on truss 16 feet off the ground. It weighed close to 150 pounds. Just the lens alone would have cost 20k to replace if they had dropped it.
They didn’t drop it. That would have really put them over budget!
In 2011 Ju-Ju-Be went to the ABC tradeshow with Marty, the bus. Marty is named after the zebra in Madagascar, the movie.
Marty, the bus, is painted zebra. KK and Kristin painted it white in KK’s driveway.
The stripes were painted in Joe’s driveway.
Ju-Ju-Be might start a new division…Bus Painting!
Marty used to be a bus used by a church youth group. They used to call her Grease Lightning.
The Ju-Ju-Be 2011 tradeshow booth was a Safari/Jungle theme. KK bought cool fake snakes, antique lanterns, and cargo nets.
Joe lashed together pieces of bamboo with rope made out of coconut husk to make the signs and railing for the steps that went out of the Emergency Exit of Marty.
Joe wants to be on the TV show Survivor.
Our 2012 tradeshow booth theme was “Viva Las Vegas”…the trade show organizers moved the show from Vegas to Louisville, Kentucky. Guess what? Next year, the show will be back in Vegas…did they listen to us?
Joe channeled his inner Elvis.
The ladies dressed up like show girls…um…awkward…don’t bring it up…they are still trying to forget it.
Julie Draeger is one of the Ju-Ju-Be team tradeshow crew. She really likes crispy bacon. In fact, the Embassy Suites in Las Vegas she has rated as having the best bacon in the world.
Ellie wore our Drip Drops Be All on the show CHUCK!!
At the Pink Lady Get Togethers the Pink Ladies make some amazing crafts, food and gifts.
In 2010 there were cupcakes that looked like the print Drip Drops.
At the 2011 Pink Lady Get Together the Pink Ladies put together an amazing map made of all the Ju-Ju-Be fabrics.
That map is a cherished piece of Ju-Ju-Be and hangs on the office wall as a centerpiece…it reminds us of all our friends.
The 2011 Pink Lady Get Together had amazing crafts and fun things…everyone’s name tag had a print on it.
At the 2012 Pink Lady Get Together, we gave away OOAK’s (one-of-a-kinds) to every guest!!!
Our Marvelous Mums BFF stole the show on “Up All Night” with Christina Applegate!
In 2012, we partnered with tokidoki and created some AMAZING bags!
Kristin is Simone’s biggest fan. (Not in the same way as that Kathy Bates movie.)
In 2013, Simone was the guest of honor at a tokidoki x Ju-Ju-Be signing event!
The prop team on the movie set of Hangover II called us and asked us to send them our GIRLIEST bag! We sent them a Fuchsia Blossoms Be All and it was worn by the hunky Bradley Cooper!
In 2013, Modern Family’s Gloria carried our Ju-Ju-Be Shadow Waltz BFF on the show!
In another episode, Mitch and Cam carried our Onyx Blossoms BFF!
