15th Anniversary | All Access | 92
and created embroidery for Disney, the
NFL, Nickelodeon, MLB, and a host of
others. During that time, he won dozens
of awards and was traveling around
the country teaching digitizing classes.
One day a woman came up to him after
a class and said her mother owned a
store in Florida and that he should come
teach a class there. Steve said, “What
kind of store?” She then explained that
people embroidered as a hobby and had
machines, software, and everything at
home. Believe it or not, this was the first
he had heard about home embroidery.
So, he went to Florida, taught the class,
and had a great time. During that class, he
was introduced to representatives from a
machine company who hired him to teach
at their convention. He then met sewing
machine dealers from around the country -
it was like a new world!
As Steve traveled around teaching
digitizing classes, he was asked the same
question from every dealer he met: “Why
don’t you have your own designs to sell?”
After some thought, he contacted one of
the artists that he was doing freelance with
to draw some artwork for him. The artist’s
name was Ginny Vela and she still works
with us today. The first collection she
created was called ‘Americana’ and it was
released under Artbox Digitizing.
Steve was still traveling the country and
teaching digitizing at the time, but wanted
to create a company where he could
teach software and create designs. So,
in September of 2004, Artbox Digitizing
was dissolved and Anita Goodesign was
born! Steve soon relocated his business to
Charlotte, NC with three of his employees.
Over the next 12 years, Anita Goodesign
would grow at an exponential rate to the
company you have come to know and
love!
Now to answer the most popular question
we get at events, where did our name
come from? His grandmother was always
a source of inspiration and supported
everything Steve did as she worked in the
sewing industry her whole life. Her name
was Anita Pieroni. Of course, the second
part of our company name is a play on
words, making it “I need a good design.”