CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The way Lora DiFranco explains it, she founded Free Period Press to help herself and others stay grounded in an increasingly chaotic word.
“As your classic overachiever, productivity and efficiency has a tendency to run my life,” DiFranco admits. “But when I reflect on my favorite days, they are never about checking off everything off my to do list. Rather, they are the ones when I’m connected to my body, mind, and community. I created Free Period Press to help us all create more of those days.”
Free Period Press publishes a variety of products that are designed to help people slow down, unplug, and take care. These include fun coloring books, habit calendars, motivational stickers, slow-down kits, and a series of mini-guides that help users explore our region’s amazing assets.
For her latest project, DiFranco decided to give locals a little help exploring Cleveland’s independent restaurant scene. Titled “Cleveland Eats: A Restaurant Bucket List,” the beautifully illustrated guide features 16 lists of eateries, categorized by cuisine, that makes it easy for diners to navigate the landscape. The guide goes well beyond traditional restaurants by including dessert shops, cafes, breweries, and cocktail lounges.
To help with the project, she enlisted 3 News food expert Doug Trattner.
“This is really the cheat sheet to restaurants in Cleveland,” DiFranco says.
Recently, the two met in person for the first time to visit some of the places listed in the guide. The first stop was Mitchell’s Fine Chocolates, a Cleveland Heights tradition since 1939.
“We are very famous for our orange peels and apricots,” says owner Emily Bean. “We're very good with chocolate covered fruit and nuts. So dark chocolate, very European style. We do European-style truffles, pralines, and my personal favorite is the Marzipan.”
The two sat down for a glass of wine at the Wine Spot and chatted about how DiFranco launched the business.
“So I started Free Period about nine years ago, as a super-side hustle,” she explains. “I'm not an artist myself, so I kind of come up with the product ideas and partner with artists and writers in town to kind of bring the products to life. Cleveland Eats is our newest one, but we have a Cleveland Metroparks mini-guide and a guide for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park."
While the topics and formats of Free Period Press products are wide-ranging, the aspirations are often the same.
“A lot of it is just taking time to reflect and brainstorming about the kind of life you want to live and making sure you're taking the time to focus on the things that are most important to you,” says DiFranco.
To purchase the book and learn more about Free Period, click here.
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