Today we’d like to introduce you to Luba Hansen.
Hi Luba, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In 1994, at the age of ten, I was adopted from Russia by an American couple and came to the United States without knowing how to speak or read English. Although I was surrounded by other children at school, I often felt alone. Some children made it clear that I was different and did not belong in their group. My childhood in a Russian orphanage had not been a happy one, however, and even during the difficult moments of adjusting to life in America, I knew how lucky I was to get a better life. I was determined to learn English as quickly as I could.
Disney movies became a fun and comforting way for me to hear and understand the language. As I began reading, I recorded every book I completed in a small notebook so I could see my progress. Looking back, that may have been my first experience using a notebook to document a personal journey. To this day, journaling and physically writing things down on paper has always been with me.
I also became involved in dance and acting, which helped me build confidence. Acting forced me to speak in front of an audience and I was terrified but I pushed through it. I was always drawn more strongly to creativity and storytelling than to science or math.
After college, I pursued acting throughout the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. In my late twenties, I moved to New York City to study acting and film full-time. Living in New York taught me how to be independent, resilient, and strong as a young woman. The city constantly challenged me to grow, take risks, and believe in my abilities. I truly came to understand the saying, “If you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere.”
In 2017, my best friend, Shana, called to tell me she had started her own food business in Washington, D.C., and asked if I would help her run it. Shana was my first friend who I met in 5th grade who decided to be friends with the “strange foreign kid.” We quickly became inseparable, and our friendship remains just as strong today.
In 2018, I moved back to the Washington, D.C. area to work with Shana and help operate her growing business full-time, while continuing to pursue acting part-time. I learned nearly every side of running a business, including operations, management, payroll, finances, customer service, marketing, and even food delivery. I wore almost every hat, except the chef’s hat. The company would have gone out of business, if I was in charge of cooking.
Building and running a small business with my best friend was one of the most rewarding experiences of my thirties. However, as the business grew busier, acting gradually took a back seat, and I began to miss having a creative outlet of my own. In 2022, I decided to reduce my role in Shana’s business to part-time so I could reconnect with my creative side and explore what I wanted to build next.
In 2024, I launched my creative stationery and art business, Love To Scribble®. The name was inspired partly by my years as an actor in New York City, when I would scribble my lines repeatedly in journals to memorize them quickly. Looking back, though, I realized that scribbling had been part of my entire life. I had used notebooks to track my progress while learning English, record my thoughts, learn scripts, and work through difficult moments.
Whenever life felt overwhelming, I would scribble in my journals. The writing did not always make sense, and it did not need to. Simply getting the thoughts out of my head and onto paper helped me feel lighter, clearer, and ready to move forward.
That experience became the heart of Love To Scribble®. My goal is to encourage people of all ages to scribble, especially when life feels difficult or they do not know where to begin. Scribbling helped me find my voice, build confidence, and continue growing. Through my colorful stationery, I hope to give others an inviting place to begin doing the same.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Looking back on my life, I’m happy my road was not smooth. The difficult parts of my journey taught me how to adapt, keep moving forward, and create opportunities for myself when I was most afraid and had no idea what I was doing.
My struggles began early, during a childhood when no child should have had to face so much. I spent part of my childhood in a Russian orphanage separated from my little sister (she got adopted first by the same family.) It was because of her that I was discovered by that same American couple. I came to USA during the holidays of 1994. Reuniting with my little sister and getting a new family was my Christmas gift.
Learning English and school was such a struggle, and I often felt alone. But those experiences made me determined to learn, find my voice, and build a better future for myself.
Pursuing acting brought a different set of challenges. It is a competitive and unpredictable industry filled with auditions, rejection, and long periods of uncertainty. Moving to New York City pushed me far outside my comfort zone, but it also taught me independence, confidence, and how to continue believing in myself even when I heard “no” all the time.
Later, helping build my best friend’s food business taught me how demanding entrepreneurship can be. I wore almost every hat and learned that running a small business requires sacrifice, flexibility, and the willingness to solve problems you never expected to face. As the business became busier, however, I lost touch with my own creativity and had to make the difficult decision to step back and rediscover that part of myself.
Starting Love To Scribble® created another learning curve. I had to turn my artwork into products while also learning manufacturing, photography, e-commerce, marketing, packaging, events, and everything else involved in running a creative business. There have been mistakes, slow periods, and moments when I questioned whether I was doing enough. But every challenge has helped me understand my customers, improve my products, and become a stronger business owner.
If my road had been smooth, I do not think Love To Scribble would have the same meaning. The business grew from the ways I learned to cope, communicate, and keep growing through difficult times. My struggles did not stop me. My struggles made me stronger.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the founder and artist behind Love To Scribble®, a Maryland-based stationery brand created to help people bring more color, creativity, and self-expression into their everyday lives. I design original artwork and transform it into notebooks, journals, reading logs, stickers, bookmarks, greeting cards, and other paper goods. I also hand make some of my products in my Rockville studio, including small-batch and limited-edition notebooks from recycled cardboard boxes and paper.
I specialize in colorful stationery that is both artistic and useful. I want each product to bring joy while helping someone organize their thoughts, record memories, explore an idea, or write through a difficult day.
Love To Scribble is known for bold color, original human-created artwork, and distinctive designs that encourage creativity without perfection. As a one-person business, I guide each product from the first sketch through development, photography, and packaging. Customers receive something thoughtfully created by an artist who genuinely cares about their experience.
What sets the brand apart is the meaning behind the word “scribble.” To me, scribbling is not careless or meaningless. It is often where an idea, feeling, story, or new beginning first appears. I want people to know that they do not need to be accomplished writers or trained artists to use a beautiful notebook. There is no wrong way to begin.
I am most proud that I turned something that helped me throughout my own life into a business that may help someone else. Scribbling helped me learn English, memorize acting lines, process difficult emotions, and find my voice. Now I get to create colorful stationery that helps other people discover their own voices. That purpose is at the heart of every Love To Scribble product.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I have learned along my journey is that my struggles made me stronger, smarter, and more resourceful.
Every difficult experience taught me something I could carry into the next chapter of my life. My experiences taught me how to adapt, solve problems, trust myself, and keep moving forward even when the path was uncertain.
Also, I learned that making mistakes does not mean I have failed. Whether I was learning English, pursuing acting, helping build a business, or starting Love To Scribble, growth always came from being willing to try, learn, and not to give up.
I would not choose to relive every difficult moment, but I appreciate the strength and courage those experiences gave me. My struggles will always be part of my story, but they do not stop me from moving forward. They remind me that I am capable of growing through challenges and creating something meaningful from them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lovetoscribble.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveto.scribble
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558043042994
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luba-hansen-40bb0315/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/lubahansen?igsh=MTVyZWprNjUwenc0dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
