Emily McDowell is the founder of the stationery brand Em & Friends, making greeting cards and gifts for the relationships we really have. Its signature Empathy Cards, a more supportive and honest alternative to traditional sympathy cards, inspired a sea change to the industry in 2015. Emily is also the co-author and illustrator of the book, There Is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life Gets Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love. Her work has been featured in hundreds of outlets, including The New York Times, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, BBC News, and NPR’s All Things Considered. In 2022, Em & Friends was acquired by Barnes & Noble, and Emily now works as an advisor, consultant, teacher, and speaker. You can find her on Substack, where she writes the newsletter Unqualified.