My Experience with Paper Bunny Press & Proof to Product: What Really Happened

Disclaimer: This article represents my personal opinions and experiences only. All statements are subjective perceptions and not assertions of fact or accusations of misconduct.

Okay, let's start at the beginning.

Settle in, babe.

Katie Hunt: She started something called "Proof to Product / Tradeshow Bootcamp" that teaches/coaches independent greeting card designers and small business creatives how to scale their business for wholesale and do tradeshows, etc.

I paid to attend Tradeshow Bootcamp in 2018. This is a three-day event in California that also gives attendees access to an alumni Facebook group that is so full of knowledge and resources that it's insane.

Katie Hunt had her own stationery business in 2011. She attended two tradeshows before she realized chevrons weren't gonna cut it, then turned around -"pivoted" as she says - and started Tradeshow Bootcamp to teach others how to be successful at the wholesale greeting card game, even though she never was. Weird.

She uses this Facebook group to "leverage the knowledge of the community" to build her programs. I think she profits off of other's expertise rather than her own experience and uses that business model to take advantage of small business owners. Of course, lots of Paper Camp Alums have had a lot of success - that can't be discounted - what I'm saying is that everything I learned, I learned from someone else in PTP and NOT Katie. Even at Paper Camp, she had previous attendees there to defer to when asked a question and in the moment it was weird but idk why I didn't think about that more. Or the fact that she only had a wholesale business for 6 months prior to starting coaching wholesale. I mean... these should have been red flags. If you know me, you know I am a DIY-er all day and one of the main things I wanted to know when I went to Paper Camp was how to build a tradeshow booth - I honestly expected some kind of drawing or mock-up - even Ikea instructions on how to put one together yourself. When I asked about that, I got a list of vendors who would do it for me. So, she charges around $9K/6 months per person if you want access to "her brain" but she's just crowdsourcing info from the Facebook Alumni page and charging for it, but none of that is the point - just background info. You know what, this is actually partially the point - I feel like she will take anyone's money, regardless of what their motives are to joining the group... 

...which brings us to the the other thing - Samantha Rekas of Paper Bunny Press.

She attended Tradeshow Bootcamp (also called Paper Camp) sometime between 2020 and 2022, I'm not sure. But she was also in the exclusive TSBC Facebook page. At the end of each course, Katie Hunt will start a new thread in the Facebook group introducing the newbies and encouraging everyone to follow each other on social media.

This girl has literally gone down the list of Paper Camp alums and copied their work—some is a carbon copy, others have been changed enough to pass off as her own, but it’s still very obvious. When I was new to the Facebook group, I also went and followed all of the alums, and over the years, I have become familiar with people's work, as many are identifiable based on style, as true artists are. It’s a pattern.

In September 2022, Samantha posted that she was "changing her style."

Prior to that post, her style was completely different - free fonts off of the internet and the business name was Sam's Simple Decor.

Suddenly, her work shifted dramatically - to this. 

This card popped up on my radar in February of 2023 and I recognized it immediately because I had one just like it (below) that was inspired by a friend who laugh-snorts when he sees an inside-out umbrella.

But I thought, okay, she's from the "Windy City", so maybe she sees this happen all the time? I let it go. A few months later, in April of 2023, I attended a tradeshow in San Francisco called Noted that Sam from Paper Bunny Press was also attending. I snuck by her booth while she was out and checked out the rest of her cards.

It was all stuff that was confusingly similar to others in our industry, most of whom were at the same tradeshow that weekend and IN Tradeshow Bootcamp. IN this sacred Facebook group... I let this eat at me for months. Finally, I got a bunch of examples together and decided to approach Katie Hunt. I was under the impression that after paying her thousands, being in the exclusive Facebook group, and her self-appointed title of business advisor meant she would... advise me...

So on May 23, 2023, I reached out to Katie Hunt via Instagram DM - because in the year of our Lord 2023 Direct Message is perfectly acceptable for small business communications. And if you disagree, I trust you'll be an adult an simply respond otherwise. 

After her assistant said she would pass it along, I put together several other images and sent them over the next day, so she could "take a look"  - along with a message that ended with "please advise." Ya know, because I was looking for advice. Her response was totally unhinged.

(these are screenshots from both my phone and my computer but I assure you 10 million percent there is nothing left out or edited)

The "my children" thing set me off.

This is a completely inappropriate way to respond. I wasn't totally sure if this was some kind of dig (I don't have children—by choice, but I don’t know if she's aware of that), or if she hates me for some reason, or what—I was so confused and incredibly bothered by that. She could have just responded: Please email. And I would have. Sending images just seemed easier on an image app. 

I admired this person for years, had paid her everything I had in my business bank account, and this is how she responds to me? Please note: I apologized four times.

Like, excuse me, ma'am, are you talking about the children I helped you feed in 2018 with my entire business savings? What's even funnier is that at the time, she was running a paid ad on Instagram for Proof to Product and she was at a park with her children. You could hear them playing in the background. 

She then had her "assistant" email me some resources.

I shared the entire interaction with a fellow Paper Camp alum, and she said she had no idea who the "assistant" was and was convinced she didn't exist, citing several reasons.  This part isn't important, but it is pathetically hilarious.

So then I went straight to Samantha Rekas, Paper Bunny Press, to address the issue. 

"Collecting"  - more like building a case, babe. 

Several things to unpack here. First, Let's look at said artwork and you can decide for yourself. Remember, she redesigned her line in Sept 2022.

I shared all of those images with her, as you can see above, and then I also shared these images on my Instagram and the funniest thing happened. Other members of Proof to Product started to find WILD similarities to their work as well. 

Honestly, these are wayyyy more similar than mine - Stealing Like An Artist doesn't mean copy. If there is legit confusion about WHO made the art, there's a problem. After seeing these, I went looking to see if I could find any more - I remembered the feeling I felt standing in her booth at Noted and how familiar everything seemed and I couldn't shake it. 

My whole reason for reaching out to Katie about Samantha was to tell her that she's going down the list of alums and creating work that closely resembles that of others to build her line. How else could you go from "selling to absolutely fucking no one", to releasing over 40 new cards. I mean, with a great Instafeed and no ethics, yeah, you can do it easy. 

Katie didn't care. Not only was she so unnecessarily rude to me but she also didn't care that someone in her small business coaching group is strikingly similar to several other members of this group. I interpret that as - she would take anyone's money regardless of how they run their business. 

A few days later, I emailed Katie and her "assistant" back.

Shortly after this, another alum reached out and said that Katie had posted on her personal Facebook page just a week before about how she can't stand this commonly used term. In the comments she said that would not respond to anyone who uses this phrase. Literally how tf was I supposed to know this was a trigger for her? Grow up. 

Screenshot from yet another alum. lol

I was very upset by this whole interaction, so, as I usually do, I shared it with my personal Instagram followers. I blocked out her name and shared all the screenshots on my Instagram story. The response was so validating that I posted those responses on my business Instagram and tagged Katie.

I naively thought this would get me an apology, which was all I wanted. That's as delusional as Ray Jay thinking he could get back with Kim. Paper Bunny Press didn’t matter to me at this point—I was devastated that this person I admired was being so nasty and completely disappointing as a mentor.

But an apology is not what happened ahahahahahahaha

Please note this is a different assistant or she made a new email. lol 

This is where I lost my shit. Thank goodness I was at Mi Cocina drinking Mambo Taxi's at the exact moment I read this email. 

So obviously, I put myself into the Fire Girl meme in one post, then shared all of the screenshots on my Instagram story, tagged her, and then made it into a highlight to live on my Instagram until the demise of Al Gore's internet. 

It's the highlight titled "Don't Be a KHunt," which is beyond satisfying. 

This whole situation inspired a few different cards, which was fun. This first one did really well on TikTok. 

I have zero regrets about sharing this publicly. I stood up for myself and for the artistic integrity of independent artists in my community. If my business suffers as a result, so be it. I've reinvented myself too many times to be scared.

I'm talented. I'm creative. I'm authentic. I work hard.

And I've been walked over before.

Not today, neck.

Oh, and here's the redesign of my work that Paper Bunny brought up - the old versions are on the left.

The difference is Procreate and being able to draw freely in a digital space rather than clicking around in Adobe Illustrator for 10k hours. It wasn't a complete 180 in aesthetic, as seen above. 

So, if you want to start a greeting card line, I guess you can just buy a barely legible font, grab a set of textured Procreate brushes, join a small group of independent artists, and then set about “stealing like an artist” in a way that’s almost identical to the originals.

Good Luck!

UPDATE: 

March 23, 2024 - I came out with a coloring book and shared the process on my instagram stories. 

The First mention of Paper Bunny Press coming out with a coloring book was May 23rd, 2024. Another coincidence, I'm sure. 

Disclaimer: This article represents my personal opinions and experiences only. All statements are subjective perceptions and not assertions of fact or accusations of misconduct.