Have you ever found yourself in a store, frantically searching for the perfect card, only to leave empty-handed? That’s exactly what happened to Krystal Henry in 2021.
The founder of Around the Way Mom, a blog she launched in 2016 based on LL Cool J’s song “Around the Way Girl,” Henry had already built a platform encouraging moms to nurture themselves emotionally, physically, socially, spiritually, and financially. After struggling to find meaningful cards for her loved ones, the blog led her to create Mother’s Day cards—which soon evolved into a standalone venture.
Now 43, living in Southwest Baltimore’s Ten Hills neighborhood with her husband and son, she has launched her own stationery company, Around The Way Parchment (ATWP)—a brand that has grown to include 10 different collections of heartfelt, typography-forward greeting and postcard designs with the goal of bringing encouragement, motivation, and inspiration through stationery.
“It’s not a piece of paper,” she says. “It’s a memory, it’s love, it’s care, it’s concern, it’s a connection, and that’s what paper does.”
As the holiday season kicks into gear, we talked to Henry about her unique designs, cards she treasures most, and where to find her products.
Tell us about Around The Way Parchment’s existing collections.
There are over 10 different collections. Some for those regular, everyday occasions and then those underrepresented occasions. So everything from apology, birthday, congratulations, encouragement, and holiday cards—which right now includes Christmas—all the way down to sympathy cards and thank you cards. And there’s even a line for Black women entrepreneurs called the EntrepreneuHER collection. I also do custom work for small businesses.
What’s one of your favorite collections?
One of my favorites happens to be the Zodiac Birthday Collection. It’s not a collection that I see in mainstream stationery. One day, I sat down and thought about how people love to celebrate their zodiac sign. We talk about how it’s Scorpio season or Sagittarius season, whatever it might be. And I thought, well, what are the unique qualities about these signs? So each one of the cards features different signs and a star pattern on the card. You open it up, and on the left there’s a quote or mantra. On the right, there’s a sentiment.
What was your field of study that led you to becoming the founder of a stationery design company?
[At Towson University], I started off as a pre-med major, and then quickly realized that organic chemistry was not my thing. And then I moved on to political science with a minor in communications. And it really should have been communications first.
Well, given that you started Around The Way Parchment with the goal of encouraging stronger connections, maybe organic chemistry is your thing.
You know what you might be right, and maybe not necessarily with the math component, but I guess creating an organic community around a shared experience and doing that in a way that helps to motivate and encourage people is what parchment does.
Many people have a card they treasure—maybe one they’ve kept in a drawer because it’s from someone special. Do you have a card like that?
Yes. Oh man. I have a lot. I keep a card on my dresser in my room from my grandmother, who is now deceased. She wrote a very heartfelt message in there. On my bookshelf, I have a card that my mother, who just recently passed earlier this year, gave to me, congratulating me. Those two are treasure cards. One of them I created, another one from one of the major manufacturers, but those are two that I pick up and look at often that have a lot of value to me.
Where can folks buy Around The Way Parchment cards this holiday season?
Online, plus places like Flourish [on Harford Road], The Ivy Bookshop in Mt. Washington, and The Collective at the Owings Mills branch of the Baltimore County Public Library—a partnership with CCBC.