We’re looking forward to introducing you to Michelle Parker. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Michelle, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
I wake up and take my son to daycare, which is conveniently next door! Then I come back home, get ready for the day and make breakfast and coffee. Once I’m ready for the day, I head over to my desk in my office room and check all of my emails to make my daily to-do list. Then, I check in with my two designers via Slack and see what they’re working on and what we have going on for the day. The rest of my day is just design work and checking in with clients via Asana. My day ends at 4pm when I have to pick up my son. I turn off email notifications for the evenings so I can fully unplug.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Michelle Marie Studio started in the evening hours and weekends. It was initially just designing logos for friends and family for fun and now it’s turned into me designing brands, websites and collateral for hundreds of businesses. My team and I take a soulful approach to design. We aim to make our client’s marketing feel effortless with design that attracts the right clientele. Our ultimate goal is a slow paced life which allows us and our clients the ability to savor their life while running their businesses. Work/life balance is what we’re all about and having good design can give you that.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I think most people might answer this the same way as me – my mom. When I was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I thought that something technical and math related was what I wanted to do. When it came time to tour colleges, my mom encouraged me to tour some art and design specific schools. I went along with it, but ultimately ended up choosing to major in engineering. Well, one year later and I realized that I was terrible at maths and sciences. Turns out that my mom was right along, design is where my heart always belonged. It just took me awhile to get to that same conclusion myself.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
To be honest, I still feel like giving up a lot. What I think can be so hard about owning a business is the inconsistency throughout the year. But what I think is so special about owning a business is the grit and hard work that it requires. It requires you to not give up, even when you really want to. Whenever I dig down deep and journal, I know this is where I’m meant to be and that keeps me going day after day.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Everyone would agree that slow living is what really matters to me right now. My sole focus is how I can split my time between my family and my work and do it purposefully. I value spending time outside, time doing things I love, time with my son and time to create. I am always striving to my plate that make me happy and purging things in my life that no longer fit.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
Yes, 100%. Some clients make me so incredibly happy and giddy. Some projects that we complete, I just look at them and think “wow we really produced something great”. When that feeling no longer comes is when I’ll know that it’s time to move onto something else. It wasn’t always this great of a feeling but over the years, we have really honed into the type of clientele we want to work with and that has helped a lot. Every project has felt like a perfect fit these last two years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://michellemariestudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellemariestudio/
