We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Grace and Mari a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Grace and Mari, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

We met while working at the same job, so a lot of our key lessons are shared. Our last job was very structured, and although some of the expectations felt a bit monotonous at the time, our takeaway was a new appreciation for optimizing processes and communicating effectively. People often think structure and creativity clash, but we’ve found that having clear processes actually gives us more freedom to be creative and keeps stress levels down.

One of the best examples of this is bringing on MJ, a close friend and former colleague, as our project manager. We understood the risk of bringing someone else on so early, but we felt that removing some of the stress of client communication would be well worth it. A year later, we still talk about how it was one of the best decisions we made. MJ is now a core part of our team, and having her handle communication has allowed us to focus on growing the business and pushing our creative boundaries. A lot of our decisions come down to finding that balance between convenience and cost, and MJ’s role has been an absolute game-changer in making that balance work in our favor.

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?

We’re Mari and Grace, and we are the co-founders of Lucca Lily Design Collective, a boutique creative agency in South Florida. Before starting our business, we both worked as senior web designers in corporate roles. Around the same time, we found out we were expecting—Lucca for Mari and Lily for Grace—which meant we got to navigate all the new experiences of motherhood together. It was a really special time for us, and while we had both aspired to start our own businesses for years, it was motherhood and the support and confidence we found in one another that ultimately led us to take the leap.

There was a lot to learn and figure out, but naming the business was, surprisingly, one of the easiest parts. With both of our kids’ names starting with “L,” it made the branding process much simpler—especially since designing for yourself is usually a challenge when you’re a designer!

As we began the journey of making everything official, our similar approach, both in how we work and how we design, meant there was never a slow roll into things—it just took off! Figuring everything out as we went was humbling and sometimes scary, but it forced us to be more willing to embrace change and find gratitude in the little wins. Embracing that mindset has made growing the business together an incredibly gratifying experience.

At Lucca Lily, we focus on high-end branding, web design, and print work, but what we are most proud of is our commitment to building meaningful connections with our clients. We pour our hearts into every project, and that’s reflected in the creative, custom solutions we deliver. Balancing business ownership with motherhood has shaped how we run our studio—supportive, flexible, and always striving to push each other and our work to the next level.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

We’ve researched lead generation endlessly and concluded that referrals and reputation are by far the biggest sources of our leads. We initially focused on creating lists of ideal clients, reaching out to them, and meticulously organizing emails—only to realize that our work truly speaks for itself. While networking does eventually pay off and start to snowball, we’ve learned it requires patience and consistency.

Recognizing this has allowed us to shift our focus away from traditional lead generation strategies. Instead, we invest our energy into building strong client relationships and delivering the best possible experience. In the end, no one can sell our services better than satisfied clients sharing their positive experiences.

Any advice for managing a team?

When we took on leadership roles in our own creative agency, we reflected on our past experiences—both the inspiring and the challenging. How we wished to be treated became as much of a guiding principle as the lessons learned from what didn’t work in previous team dynamics. These reflections shaped the kind of environment we wanted to create at Lucca Lily Design Collective.

We remember times when collaborative sessions felt more like a battleground than a team effort, and that made us want to build a culture where successes were shared, and competition was replaced by unity. One of our guiding principles is surrounding ourselves with good people.

We’ve grown our team with extreme care because we want to make sure that every arm of our business is something we can trust and be proud of. Treating every project like a group project may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we view seeking advice not as a weakness but as a commitment to personal and collective growth. Everything has been a team win, and by embracing that, we’ve found that we’re doing the best design work of our careers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.luccalily.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luccalily.designco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lucca-lily-design-collective

Image Credits

Dainty Blue Photography