This February, we kicked off a milestone moment for BOY MEETS GIRL®. As our brand celebrates its 25th anniversary, founder Stacy Igel is honoring the occasion with a collaboration that brings together three brands built on creativity and self-expression: BOY MEETS GIRL®, Sloomoo Institute, and Stickerbeans.

The limited-edition collaboration is more than just a product drop — it’s a celebration of community, imagination, and a full-circle friendship years in the making.

Coming together with longtime friend and Sloomoo Institute co-founder Karen Robinovitz, Igel created a collection that merges fashion, play, and collectible design through a special Stickerbeans assortment inspired by the iconic BOY MEETS GIRL® x Sloomoo universe. The partnership reflects the shared spirit between the brands: encouraging creativity, emotional expression, and fun.

For Igel, the collaboration carries deep personal meaning. She and Robinovitz first met more than 20 years ago, long before Sloomoo existed, when Robinovitz was one of the first journalists to champion Igel’s work. Now, decades later, the two friends are collaborating inside one of the most creatively immersive spaces imaginable.

“This collaboration is deeply personal,” Igel shares. “Karen and I met over 20 years ago, long before Sloomoo existed, when she was one of the first editors to champion my work. To come together now — celebrating BOY MEETS GIRL’s 25th anniversary inside a space built entirely around creativity, emotion, and connection — feels full circle. This moment is about joy, community, and giving kids the chance to express themselves freely again.”

The campaign itself adds another layer of meaning. Photographed inside Sloomoo Institute’s colorful, sensory-filled space, the shoot was captured by Igel’s 11-year-old son, Dylan. Having grown up around his mother’s brand and creative process, Dylan has been part of many campaigns behind the scenes over the years. This time, however, he stepped fully into the role of photographer.

With more than 30 of his classmates participating in the shoot, the campaign became a true celebration of youth, creativity, and collaboration. Watching Dylan approach the shoot with maturity and focus was a proud moment for Igel — and a reminder of the power of encouraging kids to step into their creativity.

The story behind the collaboration is already generating excitement. Earnshaw’s Kids captured exclusive behind-the-scenes moments from the campaign shoot, with a full feature on the collaboration and creative process coming soon.

At its core, the BOY MEETS GIRL® x Sloomoo Institute x Stickerbeans collaboration celebrates what has always been at the heart of the brand: connection, creativity, and community. Twenty-five years in, BOY MEETS GIRL® continues to evolve while staying true to the spirit that started it all — empowering people of all ages to express themselves freely.

The collection is officially live and available to shop now on Sloomoo's site. 

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In the latest collaboration and drop with BOY MEETS GIRL® x Strawberry Shortcake, the founder of BOY MEETS GIRL® Stacy Igel, wanted to create meaningful products that bring back the nostalgic vibe this iconic character represents.

Stacy says, “This project is especially dear to me, as it ties into my childhood love of stickers. While cleaning out my childhood home, I came across my old sticker books and spent hours with my sister reminiscing as we flipped through the pages.”

Pairing BOY MEETS GIRL® x Strawberry Shortcake with Sticker Beans and their signature rhinestone stickers feels like the perfect marriage. We are all so excited to bring this collaboration to life, just in time for Valentine’s and Galentine’s Day, spreading joy and sparkles to others.

Co-founder of Sticker Beans, Dana Runyon noted:

“Bringing to life Strawberry Shortcake StickerBeans® in such a unique way makes me smile.  We worked hard to bring our own touch to this iconic brand - and give BOY MEETS GIRL® the sparkle it deserves as well. Working with Stacy, who is someone I admire has been super exciting and we can't wait to show the sticker world these amazing designs!"

Read more on Good Morning America about this awesome collaboration.

Available on stickerbeans.com and where all sticker beans are sold. Some store locations are noted below.

Bee Bee Designs- NJ  

Camp Stuff For Less- NJ  

MJ Beanz- LI, NY

Occasions- MD 

Just Between Friends- IL  

Barnaby’s Toy & Art Shack- Nantucket  

Frankies on the Park- IL  

Learning Express Boca 

Ross Highland Park- IL 

Glamour Girls- IL 

Scoop Shop- NY 

Sugar Crazy- NY 

Sticker Planet-CA 

Kid Biz- Dallas 

Loomey’s Toys- CA

Boy Meets Girl and Strawberry Shortcake Partner on Unisex Back-to-school Collection

BOY MEETS GIRL® x Strawberry Shortcake Unveil a Limited-Edition Eco-Adaptive Varsity Vest as part of their Back-to-School collection

Exclusive 09.13.24 to WWD

This back-to-school season, BOY MEETS GIRL® is celebrating Strawberry Shortcake's 45th anniversary with an exciting and meaningful collaboration. BOY MEETS GIRL® x Strawberry Shortcake is releasing (on 09/13/24) a 13-piece back-to-school collection that features a mash-up of both brands’ logos within BOY MEETS GIRL®'s signature unisex styles, including hoodies, crew sweatshirts, tees, totes, and notebooks. For the first time, BOY MEETS GIRL® and Strawberry Shortcake are introducing a limited-edition eco-adaptive upcycled denim vest with magnetic faux leather sleeves, reflecting a commitment to inclusivity and sustainable fashion. 

“Over the past twenty + years, BOY MEETS GIRL® has been a brand that shares stories and brings people together while giving back to communities,” said Stacy Igel, Founder of BOY MEETS GIRL®. “We have always said ‘confidence and courage never go out of style’. Introducing an adaptive piece of clothing to our collection was important to carry our message even further to those with a disability.”

Owned by WildBrain, a global leader in kids’ and family entertainment, Strawberry Shortcake is one of the world’s most-adored brands. Since her creation in 1973, with the release of a simple Valentine’s Day greeting card, Strawberry Shortcake has grown and evolved with new content, toys, consumer products, and experiences for generations of fans. 

Elizabeth Litten Miller, VP of Franchise strategy at WildBrain, added: “We love collaborating with BOY MEETS GIRL® as they bring their amazing point of view to Strawberry Shortcake, capturing her sweetness, nostalgia, and kindness. Their new adaptive, upcycle denim vest, reflects our joint values of inclusivity and creativity as well as our Strawberry anthem of ‘baking the world a better place’.”

This past year, BOY MEETS GIRL® Founder Stacy Igel was a guest instructor at Columbia College in Chicago, where she once took design classes as a high school student. As part of this class, students were divided into groups and presented new concepts to Stacy, one of which included adaptive clothing. Designed to address mobility issues, sensory impairments, and disabilities, adaptive clothing is more comfortable and accessible for people who may face challenges with traditional clothing.

In true BOY MEETS GIRL® fashion of bringing people together, Stacy was so impressed with what she saw in her class at Columbia College in Chicago that she asked some recently graduated students to join her in a newly created collective, appropriately named the BOY MEETS GIRL® x Strawberry Shortcake Chicago Collective. Together, they worked to develop a limited-edition adaptive upcycled denim vest with magnetic faux leather sleeves. Stacy guided her Chicago-based team on how to source ethical production houses, what to look for in upcycled denim, and how to cast an adaptive model.

“It’s incredibly special to bring this project full circle and involve the next generation of designers from my hometown,” Igel said. “Adding Jessica Ping, a disability model we cast in our campaign, was very important so we could understand all the elements needed to empower someone with a disability. We had fittings and talked through the product together. Jessica epitomizes a confident young woman and is a perfect fit for our BMG x SSC collaboration.”

50% of the net proceeds will be donated to The National School Climate Center's Community Champions program.

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GET YOUR OWN COPY OF EMBRACING THE CALM IN THE CHAOS:

DECEMBER 12th, 2022 To read more, head to the WWD article here - by Lisa Lockwood.

Tell us a little about yourself. 

Prior to my diagnosis I was a thriving mother-2 sons, self proclaimed  athlete, wife, professional model, philanthropist, addicted to societies  accolades, insecure, zero self esteem and totally dependent on my  external beauty. 

The year before my diagnosis, I had a torn ligament in my right wrist. I  went to several doctors who all said I had to have surgery. I picked  the surgeon with the pedigree, Stanford grad. He performed the  surgery. My biggest complaint during that time was when would I get  back to yoga, by Christmas he proclaimed. 

6 weeks later the pretty pink cast came off, his physical therapist  showed me a free exercises to start with to get movement back and I  was on my way,  

2 days later my arm ballooned with swelling and grotesque pain. I  literally could not move in bed, I laid my heavy right arm on my chest  like a mother holding an infant and shook in pain. After several hours  of icing it I called my surgeon. It was a Sunday, and I was worried that  I was disturbing him on his day off-(self-esteem issue). 

The surgeon told my I over-iced it. I believed him. One week past and  my arm was still on my chest, I was still in bed, and the swelling was  ginormous.  

I asked my husband to call the surgeon and take me to his office.  Once in the surgeons office, I could hear him but he did not see me,  his physical therapist told me I had over used it. She splinted it and  sent me home.  

One week later I called the surgeon again, my husband drove me, I  carried my arm on my chest and I was seen by the surgeon. He told  me I had this thing called RSD, it was a bummer but not to panic, I  would see his pain management doctor and we would go from there. 

He explained RSD was a misfire in your brain-basically my brain was  saying to my right arm-PAIN-SWELLING, when in fact it was fine.  

So I went to his pain management doctor, she loaded me up with  pain meds and they sent me to a physical therapist far away from  their offices.  

A month went by, and still extreme pain, I ditched the narcotics but  went to PT daily to get as much movement back in my right wrist as  possible. Christmas had come and gone and still no yoga. 

A month goes by and wrist is getting worse, I see the surgeon on  occasion and the real bullying begins. 

Long story much shorter, I finally get up enough courage, 6 months  into this arm debacle and see a second opinion (self-esteem issue). 

The new doctor took one Xray and every bone in my wrist was  broken, I had no cartilage left and within hours I was in emergency  surgery to dig out as much infection as possible. You see, the entire  time, dated back to the original day of surgery, I had an infection  brewing. It's as showing its nasty face by the pain, swelling and loss  of movement, but the doctor was ignoring all the signs. 

Ultimately, I went to NYC to HSS hospital where they excavated my  own broken wrist, replaced it with cadaver bones, cadaver bone  grafts and a cadaver Achilles tendon. My arm was now permanently  fused-handicapped and in full pain. 

6 weeks post arm fusion, I was back in NYC in a hotel with a heavy  cast on from my finger tips to my shoulder attempting to take a  shower. My heavy cast hanging out of the shower, I took the bar of  soap and brushed it over my left breast to wash it and immediately  felt a lump. 6 days later, still trying to imagine life with a fused arm,  how would I cook? Drive? Type? Take care of my kids, myself, my  husband, my modeling career? I was diagnosed with an aggressive  form of breast cancer. 41 years young, no family history of BC and  now a sickly woman needing constant care and attention.

Upon diagnosis, what was your first thought?  

I couldn’t wait to die. After the previous year of being in grotesque physical pain, to being stripped away of so much of what I loved with a freshly fused arm, to losing all that time with my children, to facing a  new trauma, and the realization that my self-esteem was so  damaged, to facing the realization that I allowed that vicious doctor to bully me for months. All cascaded in my mind, I was desperate to die, to quit, to move on to a more peaceful place and to free up the  burden of my life on the ones who loved me. Fortunately, that sentiment only lastly the firs month. That is when I began to fight for my life, my self-esteem and my worth. 

What is something that gets you through the hardest days?  

Many things. Fortunately I rebuilt my self-esteem. I replaced people  who put me down with people who wanted to cheer me on, I shut  down the negative mental thoughts that previously consumed me,  (your are not worthy, you are not beautiful, you are not capable-you  are only……). Those limited beliefs no longer paralyzed me. I also  rebuilt my life on things that could not be taken away, I knew my  beauty could be taken, my material items, the very bags I used o  covet couldn’t save me or comfort me during chemotherapy. I shred  the false Idols in my life that never filled me up, they were only  temporary. So now I live to serve, to inspire, to share hope, to use my  story of pain to make others feel less alone in their struggles. I speak vulnerably about who I was and why that life doesn’t work. So on my hardest days, I seek to serve more, I find new ways to offer hope, I  search for people who are lonely to help them because I never want  anyone to feel as bad as I have felt in my life. I also cling to God and my faith in a higher power, that cannot be taken from me. 

Who is another women who also had cancer that I admire.  

Truthfully, I have many women I admire, mostly the friends who taught  me self love and stood in a space that allowed me to learn about what truly matters-not stuff-but people. They led me through the seasons of trauma in my life and assured me that once I was healthy, I would have the privilege of inspiring others. They are my heroes. In the cancer world, I have many friends and I respect all survivors, It’s a  traumatic road for us all. I was diagnosed with stage 2 level 3 Her 2 positive breast cancer October 1, 2012.

Support System? 

I would say my support system has historically been my female  relationships. I could even say that back in high school. I am a strong  believer in women standing together, not standing alone. I have great  parents who also have helped me along my path. My support system  now would include people I have met through what I do, my modeling  career, my speaking career, the non-profit boards I sit on and even  some long time followers on socials. I have been lucky enough or  courageous enough or maybe crazy enough to be very honest about  my story, and because of that, I have an astounding amount of  people who cheer me on, I am ridiculously grateful for that.  

Resources for other women? 

I wish the resources for women going through breast cancer were  more widely known. For example, when I was going through active  chemotherapy in 2012-2013, there was not a support group at the  hospital I was being treated. I think since then, there are, but those are few and far between. I believe socials can help, following  survivors or organizations is important BUT I truly believe we need to  be seen, heard and touched. SO that means in person. I get to speak  to lots of organizations so I meet survivors and become an ear for  others, but one complaint I hear about is this lack of nationwide  support. We need more. The walks and activities around cancer are  great if you are able to participate because you can meet people  there. Doing this type of campaign and sharing real stories is critical for others going through cancer, nobody wants to feel alone in their diagnosis.  

What society gets wrong about young women battling breast cancer and cancer in general?

I wish I could shout this answer from the rooftops. Society is  mistaken about the perception that when women complete active  treatment, the story and the battle over. Too often, survivors have only  begun. There is what I call-FOR-Fear of Reoccurrence that paralyzes  so many. That alone should be talked about. Next, there are  emotional as well as physical side effects to treatment AFTER  treatment is over, there are too many to list. For me personally, I have  heart damage from one of the chemo’s I endured, I have liver damage  also from the chemo, I had an almost fatal MRSA infection in 2020  from the implant I had put in after my mastectomies, the lists go on  and on. Just two weeks ago, I had PET scan, which is an invasive  test to rule out cancer. So often cancer survivors go through ‘scares’  and tests for years and decades after. Post care, compassion and  connection are crucial. Let's start talking more about this. I heard a  statistic one time about the number of women who take their life  during or after treatment. Cancer can be a very lonely disease. it  doesn’t havre to take money to help someone, it just take awareness.  Check in with someone who has been diagnosed, send a text, give  them a call and if you don’t know what to say, say that. Say, “I don’t  know what to say but I want you to know I care.”  

Advice for someone newly diagnosed?  

Be kind and gentle with yourself and your emotions. It is a gigantic roller coaster, the less you try to control the better. Let go of pride, my insecurity and lack of self esteem got me stuck in  a mindset that it was shameful to ask for help. That is pride. Let that  shit go, ask for help-you will need it and people WANT to help. Work on your inner self not just outer self. When we have a low self esteem we make marginal decisions. During my 15 months of  chemotherapy, there were plenty of days I was laying on the bathroom floor in between vomiting, I was on that floor doing  introspective work. I was not meditating on self pity, I was ruminating  on ways to chance negative self talk. There are many moments after  diagnosis that fears can grip you, the more you work on self love and  self care, the less that fear can keep you stuck. Lastly, a diagnosis can be an opportunity, to show courage, to teach others around what it looks like to be brave and scared at the same time. You deserve time, and attention-ask for it and give it to yourself.  

The last song I listened to……  

Pachelbels Cannon in D-mostly because I want to get married again. So I am manifesting love. Which is funny because I don’t even have a boyfriend? To be continued…… 

Photographer @sophieelgort⁠

Creative Director @stacyigel⁠

Chair Creator @thevaleriestarart ⁠

Hair & Makeup @thevaleriestar⁠

Location c/o @jimmycrystalny ⁠

To read more, head to the WWD article here - by Lisa Lockwood.

This week, our Founder/CCO, STACY IGEL, launched the pre-order of her book, Embracing the Calm in the Chaos under Harper Collins! We are so excited.

Stacy Igel walks you through her journey of creating a thriving business while raising a family and conquering the challenges that women entrepreneurs face daily. The book is a memoir business book that describes the journey of building our brand, BOY MEETS GIRL®, from the ground up.

Stacy is passionate about helping budding entrepreneurs follow their passions and gain success while balancing family life and cannot wait for you all to read this book.

LEARN HOW YOU CAN PRE-ORDER STACY'S BOOK IN NOVEMBER TO GET A FREE GIFT!

GET THIS FREE BOY MEETS GIRL® ETCITC UNISEX TEE!

Learn how you can get this tee here.

By holding this NFT you will get access to all VIPS events that happen in '23 for Stacy's book launch. You do not want to miss out!

Learn how you can get this NFT here. 

Blog Features:

Amri Kibbler

Denise Albert

Mercedes Wilson

Alina Pimkina Mehrle

Jamie Pleva Nickerson

Christine Hardy

Kyla Rayne Phillips

This collection is dedicated to our dear friend Kristen Martinez 1974-2010. Together BOY MEETS GIRL® founder Stacy Igel & PinkCans4Cancer co-founder William Anthony Dean are coming together to honor Kristen. “We met over a decade ago when Stacy along with Kristen were co-chairing the In Living Pink Gala under the Young Survival Coalition for Breast Cancer. We instantly became friends and had a mutual love for our friend Kristen. A decade later we came together to honor Kristen’s legacy and continue to advocate to help survivors of cancer.” Check out the latest article in Insider about this collaboration here.