We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Cefaly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
All great stories start with a slice of quiche and a good latte, right? Well, that’s pretty much how Design Hive got started. My business partner Lauren and I were two teachers who first crossed paths in the quaintest corner of a Los Angeles elementary school. Lauren was the new science teacher and I ran our school’s tech program. Our teaching collaboration led to a friendship that has lasted almost 15 years now…
Fast forward through years of teaching, a couple of school swaps, and even some globe-trotting adventures, but we never lost touch. I guess you could say we had the same career, but different trajectories. It was really our commitment to innovative teaching and learning, and our love of working with people that eventually pulled us back together to co-teach.
In the summer of 2018. we hosted creative, hands-on STEAM workshops for families in mid-city LA. Our sessions were sold out. It was super gratifying to see something that we designed and built having an impact on a larger scale than we had ever experienced. We even had former students come take our workshops. We didn’t know it then, but that really was the impetus for Design Hive.
That fall we went to work in our respective schools, running STEAM programming for K-8 students, but we were feeling restless. Inspired by our summer success, we started to dream bigger. We envisioned a place that wasn’t just a lab or studio, but a community hub. A place where kids could get their hands dirty with art and STEAM projects, where neighbors could meet up and get creative together, and where parents could dive into sensory play with their tots. As we were making a plan for our business and defining the model, we knew we had something different and special- something for everybody. Our emphasis on emerging technologies and process art made unique, but a commitment to our community would make us a strong business.
We hosted pop up events in different spaces around LA, but soon decided we needed our own space. We looked in every neighborhood from Santa Monica to DTLA to the valley, but it was our little mid-city neighborhood that captured our hearts. We stumbled on our current studio space almost by accident, but fell in love with it immediately.
Our brick-and-mortar studio and our programs are not just about filling a gap; they create a space! A space where everyone, young and old, can come together, learn, and have a blast.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Explore the intersection of creativity and technology with Design Hive! Our workshops and classes are designed to ignite curiosity and foster innovation, providing a vibrant community space where kids and adults can engage with design, process art, craft, and technology. Whether you’re looking to dive into process art, tinker with emerging technologies, or collaborate on exciting projects, our sessions offer enriching experiences that cater to beginners and seasoned creators alike. We design and install maker spaces for K-8 schools, implement STEAM in and after school programming, and host workshops and large scale events for companies and corporate partners who want to incorporate hands-on activations.
We address a crucial gap in traditional education: the integration of creative arts with technical and scientific disciplines. Our workshops not only enhance STEAM skills but also foster soft skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. Schools and parents love us because we provide a valuable extension to conventional education, making learning an enjoyable and engaging experience for students.
What really sets Design Hive apart is our community focus. We’re not just a workshop space; we’re a part of the neighborhood. Our studio is a place where local families come not just to learn but to meet, share, and grow together. We pride ourselves on being highly inclusive and accessible, ensuring that everyone, regardless of skill level or background, feels welcome.
One of the things I’m most proud of is our ability to adapt and innovate. Whether it’s tweaking our curriculum based on participant feedback or incorporating cutting-edge technology into our workshops, we’re always evolving. Seeing the impact we have on our community—inspiring students, supporting schools, and providing a creative outlet for adults—is incredibly fulfilling.
To those new to our hive, we promise an environment where you can learn, explore, and create in ways you never imagined. Whether you’re looking to introduce your child to robotics, sharpen your own crafting skills, or just have a fun afternoon of art, Design Hive is your spot. We’re more than just a learning center; we’re a community builder, fostering connections through the universal language of creativity.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Absolutely! A standout moment of resilience in our journey with Design Hive occurred during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many others, our business was hit hard by the restrictions and uncertainties that came with it. But this period also highlighted our capacity to adapt and innovate under pressure, traits that are at the core of why we started our business!
We officially established our business at the end of January 2020 and signed the lease on our mid-city studio on Valentine’s Day. We had set the date for our official launch for March 1, and worked tirelessly to get our new storefront space ready. We were both still full time teachers at the time and Lauren had a new baby. We spent early mornings, lunch breaks, evenings, late nights, all around the clock getting our space ready. I don’t think we slept for 3 weeks.
But we did it! We opened on March 1, we had an amazing launch party and then less than 2 weeks later we were facing the very real possibility of having to shut down all programming, a daunting prospect that threatened everything we had worked so hard to build. Financially it was heart-breaking. We used our savings to open the business- no loans, no grants, no gifts from friends or family, and now we had no money coming in from the business. We didn’t even qualify for any PPP loans (we actually never did due to the date we established the business) and we got a tiny little bit of money from EIDL, but it was promptly rescinded. I, like many other new businesses in 2020, felt like we were hung out to dry. We saw neighboring shops and businesses similar to ours fail between April 2020 and January 2021. It was disheartening to say the least.
So, fueled by copious amounts of coffee and the determination not to let our dream fade away, we transitioned to virtual workshops. However, we knew that simply moving our existing content online wouldn’t be enough. We needed to ensure that the interactive and hands-on nature of our workshops, which were central to our ethos, translated well into a virtual format. We quickly learned the ins and outs of successfully running an engaging virtual workshop, invested in better equipment, and redesigned our curriculum to suit an online format. This wasn’t easy; it required rapid up-skilling and adapting our teaching methods. We introduced kits that participants could pick up or have delivered to their homes that contained all the materials needed for the virtual workshops, ensuring that the tactile, engaging element of our classes remained intact.
We actually never stopped going into our studio. Even though we couldn’t have guests, we wanted out neighbors to see that our lights were still on and activity was happening. We assembled free art kits that we left at our front door and waved as our neighbors stopped by to pick them up. Those small gestures went a long way in building our now close knit community.
That experience taught us invaluable lessons about the importance of resilience and adaptability. It reinforced that with creativity and grit, obstacles can become opportunities. We emerged from the pandemic with a stronger, more flexible business model and a clearer understanding of how vital our role is in fostering a love for learning.
In the face of adversity, resilience propelled us forward, helping us to not just survive, but thrive and expand our vision beyond what we thought was possible.
Any advice for managing a team?
For us, managing a team means being accessible, supportive, communicating openly and being open to communication and feedback.
For us, communication is key. We strive to set clear expectations and as much as possible ensure that each team member understands their roles, responsibilities, and the goals of the project. We have regular 45 minute meetings once per week to check in and cover lessons and programming. We have a shared document we all work off it for employees to go in and enter info, questions, comments, peaks and valleys for the week, etc, that we review before each meeting. This gives our team a place to register their needs and gives us a guide for the agenda. It also keeps the meeting from getting derailed so that all can benefit from any important information that needs to be shared. Sometimes comments and stories are for meetings, and sometimes they need to be saved for a happy hour, so we like to have happy hours for our employees, too.
We regularly recognize classroom or activation success for our instructors. We do shout-outs in meetings and thank-you notes, and we regularly refill a balance on our employees Starbucks cards.
Lastly, we strive to maintain a supportive culture that empowers our employees and promotes learning. We hold professional development sessions that not only reinforce our methodologies but provide opportunities for team members to learn new skills. Many of our employees work for us as students or are recent grads, and we always celebrate their moving on to a new full time positions outside of our organization.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.designhivela.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designhivela.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designhivela.
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jencefaly/
- Twitter: https://www.x.com/designhiveSTEAM
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@designhive4603
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/design-hive-los-angeles-3
Image Credits
Lauren Arshad
Jen Cefaly
Joakim Blomdahl