We are an actual duo, here at Sugar & Kiki.

Sugar is the Chief Joy Officer of the company. Kiki handles the operations, marketing, finances, etc., and Sugar is in charge of snuggles, ensuring regular breaks and snacks, and keeping spirits high. Read below to learn more about our co-founder.

Full name: Julia Sugarbaker. If you weren’t of sitcom-watching age in the 80’s, you might not know the original Julia Sugarbaker, and she is definitely worth knowing. A superfan created a Designing Women website that, yes, still has the look of a site created in 1998 (which it was) and yet is immensely useful and entertaining. Good luck emerging from that rabbit hole.

Oh, you made it back! Yay. Here’s more stuff on Sugar:

Born: March 18, 2010 in Big Sky, Montana, among a litter of nine

Favorite snacks: anything edible. And a few things most of us, even most dogs, would consider inedible. Homegirl likes to eat.

Favorite activities: running around the mountains or on the beach; swimming; chasing tennis balls; eating

Favorite places to chill: any little tucked-away nooks she can squeeze herself into

Bestie: her sister Dixie, who belongs to her grandparents. The familial relationships get a little funky with inter-generational ownership; Sugar calls Kiki’s parents Uncle Grandpa and Aunt Grandma. UG and AG for short. She says you can call them that, too.

Claims to fame: has received butt scratches from Aaron Eckhart AND Michael Keaton (and Mr. Keaton called her Shug Knight while doing so, so yeah…top that celebrity story)

Skills: guarding the house from intruders (They never even make it to the driveway! They just continue on down the sidewalk as if they were, I dunno, out for a walk?), pounding a bowl of kibble in seconds, flashing Mean-Girl-worthy side-eye, managing to be surprised by her own flatulence, and waiting patiently for a walk while Kiki picks out the exact right postcards to send each subscriber (you knew you could make requests, right?)

Fun fact: has traveled to 28 US states and 2 Canadian provinces

Letters written so far this year: 0, because, you know…thumbs

Update, 3/3/22: Sugar lost her sister, Dixie, on February 18. Dixie lived 11 years and 11 months and is missed every day.

Update, 9/13/24: at nearly 14 1/2, Sugar just visited her 40th state.