How It Started
I first discovered graphic design in the early 2000s, but I was already on my path to a marketing degree. Still, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It combined everything I loved: fine art, typography and entrepreneurship.
In 2006, after some soul searching (and cold-calling the head of a design program at my local community college), I walked into my first graphic design class. Almost immediately, it felt like home. I’d finally found my calling. No amount of money can buy that feeling of finding the thing you fully connect with and can actually get paid to do.
After working at a long list of studios and agencies with a stint of freelancing at Nike in-between, I knew I wanted more ownership over the work I produced, deeper relationships with clients and a different way of doing things. In 2013, I walked out of my final agency job and founded Branch.
The Last 12 Years
Running your own business is never smooth. There have been times of major growth and others where I plateaued for years. The comparison trap is real. I remember hitting year nine with a rough start. I asked a friend who’d been in business longer than me what advice she could give. She said: “Keep going. People give up right before things get really good.” I’ve held onto that ever since.
What I’ve learned is that when you’re willing to go all in and take a big leap, the universe rewards your commitment and meets you halfway. Even when you can’t predict the landing, somehow things always work out. In my case, all the good things that have happened were on the other side of taking a big, scary risk and trusting that if I stayed the course, it would somehow work out.
Over the last two decades, whether I was working on a Fortune 500 company campaign or helping someone discover their aesthetic DNA, it’s always about the same thing: helping people express who they truly are. I believe that when we align with our truest selves, both inside and out, we create ripples of positive change in the world through showing others that it’s possible for them, too.
The world is better when we each show up as our most authentic, distinctive selves. In all the evolution and growth that’s happening behind the scenes this year, I don’t want to lose the human connection.
Branch isn’t just a studio; it’s 12 years of showing up, learning, growing and serving clients at the highest level possible. And I’m not just a Creative Director; I’m someone who believes deeply that how we express ourselves matters. When we align who we are inside with how we show up outside, transformation happens.
So, that’s me and a little bit more about how I got here.. If you’re here reading this, thank you. Whether you’ve worked with Branch, followed along for years, or just discovered this post, I’m so glad you’re here. —Shauna
