My Town: The Paper Lover Suann Song’s Washington, D.C.

For Suann Track, Washington, D.C. is not only the place she calls house, it’s a vital a part of the DNA of her firm, Appointed (which was one in every of G&G’s previous Made within the South Awards winners).

Track grew up in Seattle taking part in imaginary stationery retailer along with her sister, and later carved out a profession in advertising and marketing, PR, and graphic design. She conceived of the concept for Appointed when she couldn’t discover the kind of glossy, fashionable, high-quality paper merchandise at house that she beloved choosing up on her travels overseas. After a  profitable crowd-funding marketing campaign, Track launched Appointed in 2015 with a signature (and nonetheless cult favourite) product, The Pocket book. Since then, the corporate and Track have remained dedicated to producing purposeful and delightful items constructed from all American supplies, designed and completed proper within the coronary heart of D.C.

With a glossy new showroom within the district’s Ivy Metropolis neighborhood, and 7 years of fast-growing enterprise success underneath her belt (Appointed merchandise are offered in additional than 700 retailers around the globe), Track is aware of her manner across the nation’s capital. In October 2021, she launched the Pocket book Bar, a glossy, minimalist area in Ivy Metropolis that doubles because the model’s brick and mortar store and studio. We caught up with Track on the Appointed showroom and received her insider picks on the place to eat, drink, store, and run within the district.

District date nights and household pizza

Track’s tastes run from pizza spots that accommodate her four-year-old and fifteen-year-old to date-night venues. “My husband and I only recently tried Anju and that was actually good,” she says. “We’re large followers of that chef, Danny Lee. We love all his eating places—notably Chiko and Anju. In the course of the pandemic, particularly, we did loads of takeout from Chiko.” For the youngsters, they go to favorites together with Little Beast or 2 Amys. “Two Amy’s is my favourite pizza. It’s a D.C. establishment.” And for grabbing a drink after work, Track favors Different Half, the D.C. outpost of the Brooklyn brewery that’s only a stone’s throw from the Appointed showroom in Ivy Metropolis.

Capital by foot

Track and her household benefit from D.C.’s abundance of strolling trails on the weekends. “We love the Georgetown C&O Canal,” she says. “Generally we’ll begin close to Bethesda and stroll all the way in which down in direction of Georgetown.” And most mornings in the summertime, when household life slows down barely with the varsity break, she makes time for near-daily runs (she’s at the moment coaching for a half marathon) on the C&O Canal from Arlington to the Nationwide Mall. “From the Iwo Jima Memorial to the Capitol, it’s lower than 5 miles. It’s the right run: flat.”

Taking part in vacationer

A lot of Track’s household exploration is child oriented. “We’re members on the zoo,” she says, “And we’re actually pleased that the Nationwide Youngsters’s Museum, which was underneath development for years, reopened.” In good climate, they’ll additionally trek to the US Nationwide Arboretum. Come fall, you’ll repeatedly discover Track and her husband on the Kennedy Middle or The Warner.

Made in D.C.
Track is fast to record off her favourite D.C. manufacturers, together with the life-style store Salt & Sundry, the plant boutique Little Leaf, and jewellery outlets Kicheko and Shelter. “You don’t consider D.C. as tremendous inventive such as you do Brooklyn or elements of Los Angeles,” Track says, “however I believe right here there’s such a robust group of makers, and loads of them are girls and girls entrepreneurs. We’re all very supportive of one another.” In the course of the pandemic, Track joined different native girls entrepreneurs on a Slack channel that crowdsourced and shared information on navigating companies throughout PPP loans and shelter-in-place measures. “It’s such a small group and D.C. in itself is an enormous market, so there’s room for lots of various shops or impartial makers. As a substitute of a competitiveness, it actually breeds a spirit of collaboration.”

At house within the capital

Track, who has known as the D.C. space house for greater than twenty years, can’t image herself wherever else. “It’s a really manageable metropolis,” she says. “I like the combo of the politics, and also you get an enormous combine and variety of individuals. There’s nice artwork right here. There’s nice tradition right here.” She additionally credit the district as a key to her success. “For me, as a enterprise proprietor, D.C. has allowed for lots of alternative as a result of though there aren’t very many shopper manufacturers right here, there’s a really educated, discerning buyer base that’s open to purchasing and supporting native.”