In the heart of Rochester, NY, a city synonymous with Kodak’s pioneering legacy, a mother-daughter duo has breathed new life into the way we cherish our memories. reStickity, founded by Jodi and Emma Falk, revolutionizes how we display and treasure our pictures. But the path to reStickity was carved from personal trials and a profound understanding of the healing power of memories.
Jodi and Emma didn’t just stumble upon this innovative idea. It emerged from a deeply personal and challenging ordeal. In 2011, after having been cancer-free from Hodgkins Lymphoma for five years, Emma was struck with a harrowing diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The treatment necessitated long hospital stays, isolating her from the outside world. To bring solace and comfort into the stark, sterile environment of the hospital, Jodi surrounded Emma with photos of their loved ones, places of significance, and cherished pets.
However, the seemingly simple act of putting up photos in a hospital room was fraught with challenges. Common solutions like tape and sticky tack were messy and ineffective, while command strips were limited to a single use. Frames weren’t an option in a clinical setting. Photos would often tumble down, become lost, or stick together, only to be damaged when separated.
The journey didn’t stop there. As Emma transitioned to college, the challenge of displaying photos persisted. College dormitories, with their painted cinder block walls, are notoriously unfriendly to traditional photo displays. Then, the digital age ushered in a new dilemma. With the proliferation of smartphone cameras, photos became trapped in the digital realm, seldom seeing the light of day on walls or refrigerators.
With a keen eye for identifying challenges and a heart determined to find solutions, Jodi leveraged her academic background from Cornell and Wharton, coupled with her extensive experience in marketing, IT, and operations, to give birth to reStickity in 2018. This innovative solution allows users to print photos that can easily stick to any surface, be removed without damage, and be reused multiple times.
reStickity isn’t just a product; it’s a solution born out of genuine need. With varying sizes available, they’ve made it easy for customers to display photos seamlessly, whether one desires a collage or individual pictures. No longer are photos just trapped in devices or tattered from multiple displacements. Memories can now live vibrantly in any space.
But perhaps the most compelling aspect of reStickity is its mission. More than just a photo display solution, it is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Through Jodi and Emma’s journey, they’ve created a means for all to “[keep] the people, places, and pets that mean the most, close by, regardless of the distance or life situation that separates them.”
