Jesse’s Story
Jesse was our graphic designer, developing our logo, brand strategy, website, and a thousand other things that lent us a professional polish. I met her years ago; she was a yoga instructor at the studio next door to my old workshop, and she emailed me out of the blue to offer her design services for my furniture company, Madison Flitch. I confused her with another instructor, a guy who helped me carry one of my woodworking machines up the stairs to my workshop, so I was surprised when she walked, bare-footed, onto my shop floor for our first meeting before she taught her yoga class. I worried she was going to step on a nail, ruining her yoga lesson, and tried to shoo her away before she alerted me to my mistake. Thankfully, she remained open to working with me, despite the awkward introduction, because she has been more responsible than anyone for crafting our public image.
Developing strong marketing is important, but very hard: I could make the best products in the world, but my business would fail if I didn’t communicate their value to potential customers. Jesse made a challenging process — developing our brand strategy — easy and enjoyable. We would meet over coffee while she listened to my vision for the company, asking pertinent questions that would lead us to define the best ways to communicate to the people who would most enjoy our services. She created our logo, our catalog, our website, everything that would best convey our concept to our customers — and she did it all with brilliance and timely delivery. She was both artist and hyper-competent business professional.
She had a diverse background: her father was Guatemalan, her mother American. She studied art, literature, religion, and philosophy in college before pivoting to graphic design, finding work at a corporate marketing firm before she launched her own design business. She discovered yoga, transforming herself into a guru teaching at the best studios in town. She reminded me that a varied background helps develop the virtuosic skillset necessary to build something, and doesn’t point to a lack of focus.
She is now one of our brand ambassadors, modeling our products for our website and social media, lending our handbags the same professional polish she provided to our brand image. The beauty of our handbags fills us with awe whenever we finish one on the workbench; because of Jesse, people can see their beauty beyond just us and our small studio.
