Anyone who knows me knows I always watch my morning news. So, I knew Candace Johnson’s work before I knew Candace Johnson. For years, the West Philadelphia native was the producer behind Fox29’s morning show (and other Fox series outside Philly), creating the same, successful formula Good Day Philadelphia still follows today. (She also worked on the set of Bad Boys II, where Willard Smith — Will’s father — became her mentor.)
Like when I was at Mitchell & Ness, Johnson’s career filled up her life. All her innovation, those long hours took their toll. When she left the news in 2021, she needed a break. Once she stepped away, she found love — and, just hours after that, creative inspiration: The Touchy / Feely card game.
She tells the story this way:
I was hanging out with a group of friends at a party. I met a guy, and he asked me if I wanted to hang out that night. I had a date with someone else that night, and so did he. We both canceled, went out with each other — and we ended up falling in love on that first date.
The evening was beautiful. It felt like an opera, a very romantic opera, the way the date laid out our conversation, the connectivity points. It was honest and true in every good way possible.
And so when he left the next morning, I wasn’t working. I had the morning. I felt calm — the way you feel the morning after you’ve made love. And so with that energy, I wanted to create a project that gave the chemistry and the feeling of a good date experience when you get to walk away hopeful and reinvigorated and like and just giddy.
Eight hours later, Touchy / Feely, an intimacy card game, was done.
Touchy / Feely has four levels of 20 questions each that you ask the person you’re playing with. That person could be a new friend that you feel an instant connection with, or a lifelong partner, or even a youth (kids tend to master level one, Candace says). There’s no winner or loser, only connections to make. Each question helps the players get to know each other better. The game’s slogan is, “Every great conversation starts with a good question.”
One year after Candace came up with it, Touchy / Feely was on the market. You can pick one up in select local boutique or online.
I love the product, but I also love the story. It’s proof you can reinvent yourself, be successful in more than one act. Candace says, “I’d been accomplished so early in life: I thought that was something to constantly run after … But then when you have everything, the question becomes: What does anything mean?”
“I wanted to create a project that gave the chemistry and the feeling of a good date, when you get to walk away hopeful and reinvigorated and just giddy,” she says, “the UNO of intimacy.”
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