After 15 years of working for myself in a home office, I felt like it was time to think bigger, be bigger. Believe in myself and plant a flag in the ground. So in August of 2014 I signed a lease on a 1700 sq. ft. warehouse space in the bustling and bursting mecca of Durham, North Carolina. A design studio, a print shop, a creative experience where anyone can get energized and inspired to reignite into the best version of themselves. I closed the studio in November of 2021 with the pandemic having given me some reflection and insight on where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do next.

This is the money, right? The BRAND. The experience, the takeaway someone has when they have interacted with your business. And that takes more than a great logo. It takes follow-through in every area and from the ground up. I designed and built (with the help of so many) every single aspect of the studio experience from user flow to lighting to decor to work flow. When you came into my space you knew it was a space for unbridled creativity. If you saw me online it matched the in-studio experience.

As the years carried on, I started to focus more on the workshops and team-building opportunities the studio afforded me. That was the area that really spoke to me. Mentoring, educating, training. New skills at any age. New direction at any stage of life.

I had teams of 60 from huge corporate entities come in to blow off steam and then families drive hundreds of miles to spend the day together learning a new skill and starting everything from side-hustles to full blown businesses, many of which are alive and well today. Even had a bona fide rockstar and his daughter share some bonding time creating together. I miss this part of the studio more than anything and it is what I would love to create for others at their own companies be it as an employee or a consultant.

Isn't this what a Creative Director should be? A director of creativity. Getting IN the mix as well as overseeing it.