Michelle Hensley’s rise from a widow with two children worried about her next paycheck to playing a role in diplomatic relations by designing the gift wrapping used by President Trump is a story of faith and perseverance.
When her husband, Eric, passed away in 2014, Ms. Hensley was uncertain what the future would hold or how she’d provide for two grieving children. Today, she is the CEO of Nifty Package Co., a luxury gift basket and gift-wrapping business.
In January, she was tapped by the Trump administration to be its official gift-wrapping designer. That means that when foreign dignitaries and other world leaders receive gifts from Mr. Trump and first lady Melania Trump, they are wrapped in her custom designs. She also produces custom gift-wrapping designs for Vice President J.D. Vance, second lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“There were some really dark moments I’ve had walking through this time and then I see these highlights and there’s no possible way that I could have gone there without the hard steps to begin with,” Ms. Hensley told The Washington Times.
Gift-giving is a longstanding tradition in diplomatic relations to establish relationships and promote cooperation between two nations. The exchanges often involve symbols or items of cultural importance to the foreign leader receiving the gift.
For example, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, an avid hockey fan, arrived at the White House last month, Mr. Trump gifted him a Washington Capitals jersey emblazoned with his name and the number 24 to mark his role as Canada’s 24th prime minister.
The president, vice president, secretary of state and their spouses select the gifts presented to foreign dignitaries through the State Department’s Gift Office in conjunction with the White House.
Ms. Hensley said the gift’s presentation sends as strong a message as the gift itself. For Mr. Trump, the wrapping design includes gold paper, a gold replica of the presidential seal and a blue ribbon. Mrs. Trump’s wrapping uses a lot of white and red to compliment her fashion sense, which often includes both colors. The paper for both was handmade by Nifty Package Co. of Orange County, California, which has a contract with the State Department in conjunction with the White House.
“The designs are based on the importance of the role and then their personality. It’s tied together so I would do something completely different for President Obama based on his personality and what he favors, even though it would be reflecting the United States of America,” Ms. Hensley said.
Ms. Hensley keeps the wrapping the same for each foreign dignitary whom the Trumps and Vances exchange gifts with, but recommends little tweaks based on the country the other leader is representing. She said she spends hours, sometimes even days, studying the recipient.
When Mr. Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia in May, Ms. Hensley recommended adding the color lavender to the gift wrapping. Saudi Arabia uses lavender as a symbol and for official ceremonies, particularly for welcoming foreign leaders. It rolls out a lavender carpet for ceremonies, replacing the traditional red carpet. Lavender grows naturally in certain regions of Saudi Arabia.
“I study each leader. Do they kiss, bow or shake hands? How do you gift to this person?” she said. “I want the gift to show that they’re really thinking about that recipient.”
Nifty Package Co. does the design and supplies the wrapping used by the White House and State Department. A White House official found the company after searching on TikTok for “Kim Kardashian’s gift wrapper” and asked her to submit some designs.
She submitted several designs and beat out competitors to land the coveted role.
When she started, having a high-end client list that includes the Trumps, Mr. Rubio, Ms. Kardashian and Justin and Hailey Bieber seemed like a pipe dream.
Things looked pretty bleak for Ms. Hensley in 2014 after she lost her husband to cancer, had children she was homeschooling and had to reenter the workforce at 50 after being out of the job market for more than a decade. She felt the odds were stacked against her.
She quickly landed a financial services job, which required 60 hours per week, and returned to her love of gift wrapping by launching Nifty Package as a side hustle, trying to learn about entrepreneurship along the way.
Keeping her day job, Ms. Hensley put all of the profits she earned back into Nifty Package Co. but still was looking to grow the business. That’s when inspiration struck in 2018.
She’d wake up every morning at 3:45 a.m. to pray and read her Bible. One morning while reading her Bible, she looked out the window and saw her van, sitting there.
“I started wondering if I could drive around wrapping people’s gifts. I could put all my wrapping paper in that van and drive it around,” she said.
The next day she put up a website and launched a mobile gift-wrapping service, driving around wrapping people’s gifts for a fee.
It wasn’t a smooth transition. In one of her first assignments, Ms. Hensley bungled the job by wrapping all the gifts but forgetting to put labels inside. She had to unwrap the gifts, add the labels and rewrap them.
The White House couldn’t have seemed further away at that point.
Everything changed in March 2019, when Too Faced Cosmetics discovered her work on Instagram and tapped her for a large-scale gift-wrapping project. It was her first big gift design and wrap assignment.
That project brought in a raft of new clients, including some high-visibility celebrities. Ms. Kardashian’s manager called her in 2019 and asked her to present some designs to the First Family of Reality TV.
Ms. Hensley described an anxious meeting with Ms. Kardashian and her then-husband Kayne West, whom she described as “very sweet, very kind.” But Ms. Kardashian was very tough, rejecting nearly every one of the designs.
She walked outside and said a prayer, determined not to leave without a sale. Ms. Hensley came back inside and asked if anyone had any fabric and immediately went to work showing them a Japanese wrap that heavily uses fabric.
That success caught the attention of even more celebrities and high-profile companies. And now she can count the Trumps and the Vances, perhaps the most famous couples in America, among her clients.
She said the one thing people should learn from her journey is that they shouldn’t give up.
“Trust the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways,” she said. “Acknowledge him and he will direct your path. I know my path hasn’t been perfect, I’ve been led on that path.”
