Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Salonek.
Hi Lauren, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It all started over coffee, which (fittingly) is still central to the brand.
During college, I was chatting with a friend in our favorite neighborhood café, swapping life plans and career dreams. Somewhere between sips, she said, “There are so many local businesses who could use your Instagram help.”
That one casual comment sparked what would eventually become French Press Creative.
I started by managing social media for local creatives but quickly fell in love with the design side—building brand identities, creating graphics, and obsessing over the perfect font pairings.
Now, French Press Creative is a cozy neighborhood design studio that helps kind businesses craft brands that feel like home, where every detail invites you (and your people) to settle in and stay awhile.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think any business journey is without its bumps. Mine is no different. Like many others, I’ve overcome my share of challenges. I’ve invested in the wrong things, navigated the ups and downs of COVID, lost clients I really cared about, and fought through an unrelenting season of burnout.
But I’ve always been a big believer that everything happens for a reason. The road hasn’t always been smooth, but I wouldn’t trade the path that brought me here.
We’ve been impressed with French Press Creative, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
French Press Creative is a design studio that specializes in crafting brand identities, Showit websites, and brand messaging for kindhearted businesses. We work primarily with small creative brands, local service providers, and experiential businesses like wedding creatives, flower farms, and cafés.
What we’re best known for is our thoughtful, collaborative process. Clients often come to us unsure how to express their ideas. But by the end of the process—after questionnaires, conversations, & (many) cups of coffee—they walk away with more clarity, more confidence, and a brand that feels like them. I think that’s what I’m most proud of: that our work can give business owners confidence and permission to show up fully and do business their way.
Unlike other studios, we intentionally move at a slower, more reflective pace. It gives us space to listen, ask the right questions, and design with meaning. Because, just like a French press, the best things (especially brands) are brewed slowly.
How do you think about luck?
I’m not entirely sure I believe in luck as much as I believe in serendipitous moments. The kind that don’t always feel lucky in real-time, but later reveal themselves as exactly what needed to happen.
I’ve been fortunate to meet the right people at the right time. I’ve had setbacks—like getting laid-off during COVID that turned out to be the very push I needed to take my business full-time. I’ve had difficult experiences as a client that taught me how to show up better for my own. And I’ve been in the right place at the right time more than once, even if I didn’t realize it until later.
So, maybe, luck *has* played a role. But I think it’s really been a collection of small, aligned moments and the courage to follow them where they lead.
Pricing:
- Brand Design → Begins at $3,500
- Website Design → Begins at $4,000
- Website Copywriting → Begins at $3,000
- Brand Audits → Begin at $750
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.FrenchPressCreative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FrenchPressCreative
- Other: [email protected]
