The long version.
I'm Amanda Emerson, and I'm the artist behind Sneaky Burrito. I live and work just outside of Philadelphia with an orange cat named Fishsticks. He's a notorious chicken finger thief and literally the most perfect man to exist. Ever.
Sneaky Burrito started in 2022. Not as a plan, more as a thing that happened. The pandemic had pulled the emergency brake on everything. Some people got a sourdough starter. I did not get a sourdough starter. What I got instead was one of those is-this-it questions - the kind you can only hear when the ambient noise drops out. I'd set art aside for "real life" somewhere after college, without ever really deciding to. It turned out "real life" had never actually needed me to. So I started making things again.
It also turned out I had a lot to say. About politics. About the world. About every new headline that made me go "are you fucking kidding me?" out loud, at the kitchen counter. Making art was a much better option than screaming into the void.
A Rockstar Roller Derby collab. One of a handful of pins that also raise money for causes worth the fight. More on that next.
raised from pin sales, sticker sales, and specific design runs. Good design that also does some good in the world? That's the dream, baby.
Partners to date
- Punk Rock Saves Lives 01
- The Trevor Project 02
- Planned Parenthood 03
- The ACLU 04
- Immigrant Defense Project 05
- Al Otro Lado 06
- The Fund for Women & Girls 07
- Better Days Ahead 08
- Rockstar Roller Derby 09
and a handful of others along the way.
Here's how it actually works.
I make art - painting, drawing, digital, graphic design, whatever the idea needs. Stickers are the testing ground. Some things I'm sure are going to kill, and they land with a thud. Others I think have no shot, and they turn into best sellers. The goal is the thing that makes someone stop and go "oh my god, yes, exactly that." Sometimes that's funny. Sometimes it's furious. Sometimes it's just a raccoon. If a design finds its people, it graduates to a pin.
The jewelry exists because I wanted it and couldn't find it anywhere.
Raccoon and trash can designs that read like fine jewelry? Obviously.
Anatomically accurate butterflies and moths? Someone had to do it.
We sell online and take the Sneaky Burrito show on the road. 2025 put us in Portland, Austin, Seattle, DC, Boston, and everywhere in between. But home is always Philly - New York's scrappy little sister, not nice, but kind. It suits me.
The real transaction here isn't "I bought a sticker." It's someone finding the thing that says what they've been feeling but couldn't quite say at full volume. That's the work.
Four years in, the thing I didn't expect is that the trade goes both ways - I need the connection as much as the person across the table needs the thing that finally names it. So thank you for whatever you bring to this table. A funny story, shared frustration, side-eye at the news, whatever.