Amanda Shafii
Owner, CopyCat; President, Downtown Northampton Assoc.: Age 35
Amanda Shafii wasn’t thinking about entrepreneurship when she earned a psychology and neuroscience degree at UMass Amherst, but when a business ownership opportunity emerged, she found she had a passion for it.
“My parents had started a printing business in 1985 and created a commercial company called TigerPress,” she said, and when they were selling off their former CopyCat shops, Shafii decided to take over the one in Greenfield.
“I’d moved back to the area, and they needed a manager. So I started managing that store in 2015 with the intention of selling it. But I fell in love with being a business owner, so I moved the business to Northampton.”
“I really enjoyed the sense of community and saw how shopping small and supporting small businesses is important to keep a diverse downtown. Instead of having all big box stores, we have a lot of unique shops. I also really love the fact that, as a business owner, the sky’s the limit — you can do whatever you want.”
The first thing she changed was the company’s outdated logo, and she also created a new website and focused on modern services like digital design, which hadn’t been offered before.
“The next major pivot was during COVID when we started being a B2B instead of a B2C, focusing on our business customers,” Shafii said. “I realized how much I loved helping entrepreneurs, not just with the printing part, but with the strategy part.
“That’s where my neuroscience degree becomes helpful,” she added. “When you work with CopyCat, we are your strategic partner for smart design and print marketing. It’s an opportunity to watch a customer make smart investments in their business and see the results.”
These days, Shaffi also serves as president of the Downtown Northampton Assoc., which seeks economic and cultural vibrancy through programming, festivals, beautification efforts, and business collaboration. She was already volunteering on a host of local boards — “I have a problem saying no to things,” she noted — and leading the association was a natural next step.
“The goal is always foot traffic and bringing unique art downtown. It’s a cycle: if things are happening, it gets busier. My specialty is marketing and getting the word out on social media and trying to have a very strong digital presence that gets a lot of views and engagement. So my goal for downtown would be to see business owners succeeding and see amazing, unique artists gravitating toward this area because of what Northampton stands for.”
—Joseph Bednar
