Hawaii WBE Feature: Brand Consulting, Art, and being a Working Mom

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. This month we are spotlighting WBEs from Hawaii, and we have Stacey Leong with Stacey Leong Design. Welcome.

Stacey Leong: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm. How are you serving folks? What do you do?

Stacey Leong: Well, I’m a graphic designer. We’re a branding and graphic design in Honolulu, a design company in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Lee Kantor: And what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in design?

Stacey Leong: Yes, I have. I went to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, Concentration in Graphic Design. So, I’ve been doing it all of my working life.

Lee Kantor: And then, is your firm specialized in the Hawaiian culture, or is your design for anybody in the world? Like, who do you serve as clients?

Stacey Leong: We predominantly design for people in Hawaii. I mean, we could design for anybody, but that’s really our forte is that we’re, you know, able to graphically express the native Hawaiian culture and concepts and values authentically with modern and classic sensibility.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share for folks who are unfamiliar with some of the components of Hawaiian design?

Stacey Leong: Well, Native Hawaiian is a very unique culture. And it’s a very much appreciation for where we live, our honua, our earth. So, it’s very land based, which we call aina. And a lot of what we draw upon is our surroundings. So, these islands, when people visited, they just see it for its beauty, but there’s just so much more that it’s very deep culture. And we take all of these elements that have to do with the earth, and our surroundings, and the people, and the love that we have for this land, and we put it together graphically.

Stacey Leong: I know it’s hard to explain just verbally, but visually, it can be very strong, very calming and peaceful and beautiful, of course. So, there’s a lot of ocean and flowery things, but yet also imagery of our people and how we express our aloha or our love.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, is there a niche that you work with? Do you work in specific industries?

Stacey Leong: You know, we do not. But we happen to work with a lot of the native Hawaiian organizations because of our ability to express their culture authentically. But we have a lot of nonprofits that we do stuff for, educational institutions. We do some government work as well, and also some finance, and real estate. So, it’s kind of like all across the board.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice or tips for folks who maybe they’re not leveraging design enough in the marketing and branding of their business? Are there some do’s and don’ts when it comes to design?

Stacey Leong: Absolutely. I mean, first of all, I think that people need to value graphic design a bit more and how integral and important it is. So, a lot of times, we would work with a client, and a lot of times they may think that they can just do it themselves. So, that’s tip number one, is that they’re not trained and they can’t do it themselves.

Stacey Leong: Which I know for a lot of people, it’s hard to swallow because all of these tools and resources are so available to everyone nowadays. Whereas, before when I started out, these tools and resources and computers were not available, so not anybody could do it. But now, people feel that they can. And we as a professional, we would like to say you can’t. We’re actually trained. We have years of experience to do so.

Stacey Leong: So, to find a design partner that resonates and understands their company and business and gives them that level of service that they need to help their company grow and thrive is really important.

Lee Kantor: And that’s an important point because, graphic, it’s more than just picking the right colors, right, or a pretty design? Like it has to integrate with your values. It has to do a little more work than just look nice, right?

Stacey Leong: Exactly. It’s very strategic. We like to say that, you know, we’re not necessarily just graphic designers. We’re problem solvers. Designers find many ways to solve problems for them, for our clients. So, we hope that people look at us as problem solvers, that we’re able to do something.

Stacey Leong: So, say, for example, they’re not able to get to their target audience in a specific way. We really dive deep into demographics and looking at statistics and research to help us build a better story for them. So, it’s not just creating pretty pictures. It’s not at all like that.

Lee Kantor: And then, storytelling is important when it comes to marketing and branding. And for folks who have never done it before, when you’re working with a client for the first time, what are some of the questions you ask to kind of bubble up maybe some of the stories that they’re really trying to communicate?

Stacey Leong: You know, what we really try and do with our clients is we try and find what makes them special. How are they different? What makes them unique? Because that’s really what you’re trying to do, not just to tell your story. It’s how to tell your story in a way that engages people and makes that connection, but at the same time, what makes you unique.

Stacey Leong: Because I think it’s just human nature that we’re always looking for something different to gravitate towards. You know, it’s not always being the same. People don’t always necessarily want what everyone else is doing. So, it’s like how can we find that specialness and exude it to the world?

Lee Kantor: So then, what makes your firm unique? What are some of the unique characteristics of your design firm?

Stacey Leong: Well, like we said, in Hawaii, I know that it sounds a little strange, but there aren’t many firms that do what we do, which is we’re able to visually, I guess, represent the native Hawaiian culture. And I really want to say Native Hawaiian culture, a lot of things that people see, especially on the continent, they may not be created by Native Hawaiian people or really approved by them, that it could be more of a tourist way of looking at things. So, not many agencies can do what we do, so we stand out in that way.

Stacey Leong: And I think another thing that our clients absolutely love about us is we’re such task masters and that we believe in customer service, it’s one of our next highest level that people come to us for. And because we have so much heart that we really tell our clients that we’re a part of their family and they’re a part of ours, that their success is our success, and that we don’t want to fail, we want them to succeed. And I think that our clients really understand that and they can see it through the work and everything that we deliver for our clients.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share? You don’t have to name the name of the company, but maybe how the problem that they had when they started working with you and how you were able to take them to a new level.

Stacey Leong: You know, we have so many stories. I can’t narrow it down. But I’ll just tell you about one of our clients that we’ve been working with them for just as long as we’ve been around, 20 years. And that really means something to us is that loyalty that they keep coming back to us. And, again, it’s showing the Hawaiian culture in a way that they can feel proud of and that they love to share what we’ve done to everyone because they’re so proud of how we’ve able to tell their story.

Stacey Leong: And one of the things that really makes us happy and we feel like we have a feather in our cap is that, when they look at the design and other people see it, that they know that our company has done that for them. And so, they seek us out because of that, that they see the work that we’ve done for them, that we’re able to give this feeling of, I guess, love and aloha and pride in what they see. They feel that it’s not just beautiful, but it represents their culture in a way that other people just aren’t able to do it.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to be part of the WBEC-West community?

Stacey Leong: You know, it’s not easy being a woman business owner in Hawaii or anywhere. And I felt that being a part of an organization that furthers women’s, I guess, experience and their level of excellence is really important. And we’re not only a women-owned business, we actually have no men that work for us fulltime. And it’s not by choice. It’s just that, I think, women work together in a way that it’s almost like we don’t even need to speak to each other. We just know what to do. We’re all hands in know what to do. It’s just very synergistic. And I just love being a part of any group that supports women.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you create balance in your life between your work and your family?

Stacey Leong: That’s one of the hardest things, I think, for any human being. I think it’s really important that women learn to take care of themselves because, you know, when you’re a mother – and I’m a single mother and I also actually take care of my elderly mother – a lot of times, you don’t put yourself first. You put other people’s welfare above yours. And when you’re a business owner, that’s just another component to it.

Stacey Leong: But I think to be a good business person that you actually need to carve out time to take care of yourself. Because if you don’t, it’s just like that whole thing that, you know, when you go on an airplane and if something’s failing and they tell you to put on your oxygen mask first then you put it on your child, I really believe that people need to do that in their lives daily, that they need to take care of themselves. And if that’s like taking a 30 minute walk in the park, having a swim or meditating, I think that’s just really important to do those things.

Lee Kantor: Now, are there any projects or initiatives you’re working on right now?

Stacey Leong: Yeah. We’re working on a bunch of great projects. We’re actually working with this company that’s been around in Hawaii for over 100 years. Their name is Kamaka Ukulele, and they’re one of the first ukulele makers. And we’re just so honored and thrilled to be working on their new branding campaign for them.

Lee Kantor: And then, when you attack something like that, what are some of the the things that you do to help them tell their story?

Stacey Leong: Well, they’re actually very revered in Hawaii and they have a amazing story to tell, so it’s so easy. So, one of the things about their company is they’re actually the most humble people in the world. So, they don’t like to brag about themselves, so the task is how to lift them up and share without having a braggy type of persona. And so, we have to do it in a very tasteful, classy way.

Lee Kantor: And I’m sure a lot of other businesses try to do that. They don’t want to sound braggy, but they still need to communicate their value. So, are there any advice for someone who is trying to thread that needle, how to do that in an elegant manner?

Stacey Leong: You know, I think one of the best ways is what we call testimonials. You have somebody else do it for you so you don’t have to say it yourself. And they have so many people, past customers that play their ukulele that they can just shine a beacon of light on them, that they don’t have to do it themselves. But we can use other people’s words to do it, so testimonials go a long way.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more about your firm and have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what is the best way to find you?

Stacey Leong: The best way they can contact us through our website, it’s staceyleong.com, S-T-A-C-E-Y-L-E-O-N-G-.com. They can visit us. We have Facebook and Instagram.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Stacey Leong: I appreciate you guys having me. Thank you so much. Mahalo nui loa.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.