FREEHOLD, NJ — Freehold resident Amanda Auletta said she started her business, Amanda Auletta Designs, as a “celebration of life” following her battle with postpartum depression.
Auletta, 29, said she first got the idea to start a business during the party planning process for her daughter’s first birthday.
As she and her husband worked to put the celebration together, Auletta said she found herself becoming more and more interested in the party's planning. Seeing how the celebration came together made her wonder if she could become an event planner as well.
“I got really interested in the process — how it was all coming together, working with different vendors,” Auletta said. “And I kind of thought ‘Hey, this is right up my alley.’ I had friends reaching out to me about the idea and I said ‘You know what? I think this is for me.’”
Flash forward to January 2024, and Amanda Auletta Designs is born.
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According to Auletta, she and her husband run Amanda Auletta Designs as a two-person team. When working with customers, Auletta offers rental coordination, event decor and more for parties and celebrations.
As the most unique part of her business, Auletta specializes in balloon decor. Since starting the company, she's made everything from a balloon wedding dress to birthday balloon bouquets for various events.
“I worked at Party Fair for my first job and I swore I would never do that again,” Auletta said. “Somehow, that kind of evolved into giving it [event planning and balloon decor] a try.”
For Auletta, starting the company was not only a way to express creativity, but a way to celebrate life as she approached the one-year mark of her battle with postpartum depression.
Defined as a prevalent and potentially severe mood disorder by the National Library of Medicine, postpartum depression affects approximately 1 in 7 women within the first year following childbirth.
Though the disorder stems from a combination of hormonal changes, genetic predisposition, and environmental factors, the National Library of Medicine said up to half of postpartum depression cases remain undiagnosed due to the stigma surrounding the condition and patients' reluctance to disclose symptoms.
According to Auletta, starting her company helped prove that she could trust herself following her battle with PPD, and served as a way to bring joy to herself and others.
“One of the first big jobs I ever did was for a woman who trusted me with her daughter’s first birthday,” Auletta said. “It was so special, and it wasn’t my best work artistically, but it was the point where I started to say ‘Wow, you can really trust yourself. You’ve got this. You can handle this.’”
"And that's been my number one message since, you know?" Auletta continued. "That even if you're scared, just do it scared. See where you go from there and just trust yourself."
In addition to running her company, Auletta also works as a full-time elementary school teacher in Colts Neck. Though balancing her work with teaching and being a mom has been challenging, Auletta said the reward of bringing others joy and expressing herself more than makes up for it.
“The most rewarding part is just being part of people’s special days,” Auletta said. “Having them trust me, and building those relationships with clients? It’s the coolest thing in the world.”
To learn more about Amanda Auletta Designs, you can visit their Instagram or visit their Facebook.