The First Time I Found Jersey Collective (It Wasn’t Online)

I was in a bookstore the first time I saw it - wedged between a table of tote bags and a rack of blind-date books. A little red vending machine with a sign that said: Jersey Collective.

There wasn’t a screen or a card reader. Nothing blinking or buzzing to guide me. Just this old metal crank, chipped and cold to the touch - something you don’t expect to find in a world run by swipes and taps. I turned it, felt a little resistance, heard the click. Out dropped a sticker in this tiny cardboard folder - an old diner sign I used to drive past on the way to my aunt’s house. Didn’t even know I remembered it, but there it was, in my hand.

That’s the thing about Jersey Collective - it shows you pieces of the state through someone else’s eyes, and somehow it still feels personal. Like it’s yours.

It started on Instagram back in 2014. Every week, someone new would “take over” the account - posting photos from their own life, their own corner of New Jersey. No influencers, no filters, just regular people showing us what their version of the state looked like.

Sometimes it was gritty. Sometimes dreamy. Film shots. iPhone snaps. City skylines. Backyard gardens. The only real rule was: be honest. Over time, those weekly glimpses started to stitch together something bigger - a living, breathing portrait of New Jersey built one story at a time.

Now it’s more than a feed. It’s popped up in gallery shows. In libraries. In vending machines that spit out stickers instead of snacks. It’s become a kind of time capsule - one that keeps expanding, bending, and resurfacing in unexpected ways.

Behind it all is a librarian named Kerri with a camera, a car trunk full of zines, and a deep belief that ordinary things deserve to be documented too.

OFFLINE, ON PURPOSE

At some point, the internet started feeling too small for what Jersey Collective was becoming. Instagram was great but the founder, Kerri Sullivan, had bigger plans. She knew from the beginning that the project needed to live offscreen, too.

The first IRL experiments were Instameets - casual, public photo walks that brought strangers together to document their surroundings.

We’d just announce a place and time and people from all over would show up to take photos together.

That energy carried into gallery shows, where she printed and displayed a photo from every week of the project’s first year. The result looked like a map of the state made entirely out of strangers’ memories.

The idea for the sticker machine came later - after Kerri saw a photo of an art dispenser from Pop-Up Magazine and spiraled (in the best way) into a research hole.

I immediately went down a serious rabbit hole into the world of creative vending. I’m a librarian, so doing a ton of research before diving into something is just what I do.

She bought the machine a year before launching it. Eventually, after talking to enough people running similar projects, she felt ready to kick it off with a successful Kickstarter.

Today, the machine travels the state - showing up in bookstores, libraries, and pop-ups - filled with limited-edition stickers and temporary tattoos made by Jersey artists.

The machine sits in my apartment or in the backseat of my car when it’s not out. It’s not glamorous. I fold all the stickers, pack them into cardboard folders, and load them by hand.

There’s no screen, no tech. Just a crank, a slot, and the chance to hold a piece of someone’s creativity in your palm.

There’s something fun and nostalgic about stickers. They’re little pieces of accessible art.

Some series follow a theme - like her recent literary drop for Independent Bookstore Day, hosted by Watchung Booksellers.

That was something I’d been thinking about doing for a while. Having them reach out gave me the push I needed to finally make it happen.

Others are more spontaneous - drawn from submissions or sticker designs she spots from friends and local creators.

Usually a series runs until it sells out, but I’d love to do more themed ones in the future. It’s fun seeing how different artists interpret the same idea.

Also, for the record: if she had to pick one sticker she’s most proud of? It’s the anti-book ban design her partner Alex illustrated. The concept came from Kerri - riffing on New Jersey’s vintage tourism slogan - and turned into a sharp, cheeky protest piece that sells out every time it drops.

THE NEWSLETTER THAT FEELS LIKE A SECRET PASS

While the vending machine might be the most visible thing Jersey Collective does offline, the Substack newsletter is where Kerri really gets to stretch out and share the deep cuts. It’s weird in that Weird NJ way, heartfelt, hyper-specific - and if you’re into local culture, it feels like finding a password-protected part of the internet built just for you.

I really enjoy putting the newsletter together and I hope people get something out of it.

Each month is a mix of local discoveries, submission calls, mini-interviews, and daytrip itineraries based on wherever she’s wandered lately.

If I’m reading an essay and they mention New Jersey, that’s usually a good candidate. I also look for local submission calls to share and sometimes people send those to me.

She’s even started adding a section with fully mapped daytrip plans - complete with personal recs and that hyper-local charm you can’t Google your way into.

It’s a newer thing I’ve started - where I share a place I went during the month and a little itinerary. It’s a way to help people experience something new, or go back to a place they maybe haven’t been in a while.

Her favorite segment, though? A no-brainer.

I really enjoy doing the NJ Q&A. It’s fun to find out more about people who are doing something interesting in our state.

She’s interviewed everyone from historians to filmmakers to small biz owners - some well-known, others hidden in plain sight. The series has the same spirit as the Collective’s early Instagram era: show us who you are, and show us why this place matters to you.

And it’s not just about spotlighting others, it’s about documenting moments that otherwise slip by. Not every sticker or gallery show gets the fanfare it deserves. Not every cool Jersey reference in an essay goes viral. But the newsletter holds onto those things anyway. Quietly. Consistently.

It’s part archive, part guidebook, part diary. And like everything else Kerri creates, it feels small on purpose. Personal. Tucked-in. Something you keep instead of scroll past.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JERSEY COLLECTIVE?

After more than a decade of building Jersey Collective, Kerri still finds herself asking the same question: what else could this become?

The project has evolved a few times, and I'm always thinking of new things I can do under the Jersey Collective umbrella.

Right now, she’s gearing up for something she’s never done before: a brand-new product that doesn’t fall into any of her usual categories.

It’s a new category I haven’t done before and something I’ve wanted to make for years.

She’s also deep in planning for a statewide independent bookstore crawl - a collab dream come true, where the sticker machine will hit the road alongside book lovers, readers, and local gems from every corner of NJ.

That has been a really fun project to organize. I’m excited to get the machine involved and see where it goes.

There might even be a physical space in the future. Something small but rooted. A storefront or studio that could host events, showcase artists, maybe even let the machine live somewhere full-time.

A physical space someday would be amazing, especially one that would allow me the space to host events.

For now, it’s still a one-woman side project. The machine lives in her apartment. The products fill her car. The drops are packed by hand. And the work continues between her full-time career as a librarian and her full-time passion for storytelling.

Jersey Collective is something I do on the side in addition to my career. It’s more like something I daydream about sometimes rather than something I’m actively working toward right now.

That said, she’s already done more in the past decade than most community projects ever dream of. She’s co-hosted podcast episodes, curated gallery exhibits, judged art contests, launched books, and built a whole-ass sticker machine from scratch.

And she’s still down for more.

I’d be really excited to do more work in the future with historic sites, arts organizations, and museums.

As for collaborations? She’s already worked with so many Jersey folks she admires, but her dream list is far from finished. From brand partnerships to unexpected locations, the spirit of the project is built on saying yes to whatever feels right for the moment.

If you’re wondering what else is in the merch pipeline? Yes, there’s more. The webstore already includes exclusive stickers, the Jersey-themed Go Fish! card game, and signed copies of her book. Patches, pins, or vintage-style trading cards are not off the table either.

We have a webstore full of products — including more stickers that aren’t available in the machine, our Go Fish! card game, and signed copies of my book.

If you ever catch her restocking at a vendor market, say hey. Chances are, she’ll recognize you from last year.

A STATEWIDE BOOKSTORE CRAWL? YEAH, THAT’S HAPPENING.

If you’ve ever dreamed of spending a whole weekend bouncing between indie bookstores, collecting stamps like a literary scavenger hunt, and winning free stuff just for showing up? This is your moment.

On June 7th & 8th, Jersey Collective is launching its first-ever New Jersey Independent Bookstore Crawl, a two-day, statewide celebration of the bookstores that give this state its soul.

Whether you visit one store or a dozen, I hope you’ll join us as we shop locally at some of our state’s great independent bookstores.

Here’s how it works:

• Grab your crawl guide

• Hit up as many participating bookstores as you can

• Get stamped at each one

• Be automatically entered to win raffle prizes - gift cards, books, and surprise bundles donated by shops, publishers, and local businesses

Each store you visit gets you one entry into the free raffle, so the more stores you visit, the more chances you have to win.

And no, there’s no wrong way to participate. Want to make a whole day trip of it? Amazing. Want to stick to your local shop and bring your friends? Perfect. You can crawl one day or both. You set the pace.

Maybe you'll use this weekend as an opportunity to check out new-to-you stores. Maybe you’ll choose to support your regular haunts. Either way, it’s all about showing up for these spaces and celebrating our literary community.

This entire thing is being organized by Jersey Collective with support from Rutgers University Press and Hello Art Design (who also designed the gorgeous logo and flyer).

They’re still looking for sponsors and shops to get involved. So if you’re an indie bookstore that hasn’t been contacted yet? Now’s the time.

I did a lot of outreach but didn’t get to everyone in the state or haven’t heard back! If you’d like to participate, send an email to jerseycollective@gmail.com

Full list of participating bookstores is coming soon, and spoiler alert: it’s gonna be STACKED!

THIS IS A PUBLIC LOVE LETTER.

Jersey Collective doesn’t shout. It doesn’t sell. It shows. It documents. It preserves the kind of everyday beauty that doesn’t make headlines but shapes how we remember where we’re from.

It’s a decade-long collaboration between strangers. A sticker machine in the back of a car. A newsletter that feels like a friend whispering, “hey, you should check this out.”

And it’s still growing.

So if you’ve ever taken a photo of a crumbling diner sign or found yourself feeling way too emotional about a tote bag from your local bookstore? You’re already part of it.

You just need to tap in.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

📸 Instagram: @jerseycollective

📰 Newsletter (Substack): jerseycollective.substack.com

🌐 Website: jerseycollective.org