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

Hi Berenice, thanks for joining us today. Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?

I remember being offered a graduate assistant position just a few months before I graduated. It’s very much like an internship, but with the benefit of continuing your education and it being paid. The reason I want to share this story is because it had a huge impact in the career I have today.
I graduated with a B.S. in marketing and during my college years I worked as a social media marketer for one of the departments at the college where I got very familiar with Canva. My design skills were mediocre to say the least, but overtime I began enjoying designing more and more. The reason I add this snippet is because when I was about to graduate I was unsure of what I really wanted to do with my life and even though I enjoyed social media, I just felt like I needed more. Which is how I ended up applying to grad school and shortly getting the assistant position.
When I was selected to be the marketing graduate assistant I knew it would come with some new challenges- like working for a different department within the university and learning some new skills (which I was surprised I was still hired for having zero knowledge). I had to learn the adobe software and it’s popular creative apps like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and so many others. I still remember the first day I had to learn illustrator. The department I was working in, I had to oversee two student workers. I was a bit embarrassed when I learned that they knew how to work in Illustrator and I, their boss, did not. But they showed me a lot of grace.
As soon as I opened the app I had zero clue where to start. With my two student workers being in the room with me I had to act like I knew what I was doing but I was failing miserably. After what seemed like 10 minutes I finally was ablet to get an artboard… yes an artboard opened. Then came the fun part… not. I was completely overwhelmed by all the tools inside Illustrator and in that moment I thought I had made a huge mistake. I thought to myself, how will I ever learn the software or much less the other apps in the software. I eventually finished my first design and I can still remember what it looked like to this day. It was just a bunch of squares shaped and colored differently with what I would call an illegal gradient background. You would have thought an 8 year old designed it but nope it was me. I wish I would have taken a picture to record a my first design ever and be able to compare to what I design now but I’m also kind of glad I did not. Everyday was a new challenge. There were days I was excited to learn the different software apps and then there were days where I wanted to pull my hair and just walk out. Luckily, I stayed and persevered.
Two years later, I was finally able to graduate with another degree and with new knowledge, skills, and a new fond passion. I would have never imagined that two years in grad school would have made a huge impact in my life and in my career. What I thought was more buy time was really a discovery season. I discovered a new passion which led me to landing my first adult job and eventually allowed me go off on my own and start my own design business. If it wasn’t for graduate school and more specifically the marketing graduate assistance position I don’t know where I would be. Maybe I would have found design much later in life but I’m glad I didn’t and I thank grad school for that. I thank the first horrible graphic I made; I thank my graduate assistant position because it helped me and challenged me in ways I never would have challenged myself.

Berenice, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Berenice and I am a branding specialist and website designer. I’ve been in business for 5 years.

When I was younger I grew up doing all kinds of things. I loved learning new things, but not school related things, just things that brought me joy. Who would have known that curiosity would have led me down my career path.
Currently, I work with faith driven entrepreneurs. This really can pertain to any business who isn’t afraid to speak out about their faith or is an business that directly works in the faith industry like churches, nonprofits, Christian brands and so on. I love helping businesses thrive online while also creating it as an opportunity for ministry. I believe we’re all given a unique purpose on this earth and I also believe God has given each of us unique gifts, skills, or talents which we can use as a way to positively and impactfully influence the world.
As of now, I help businesses for and non profits create brands that bring their business to live. Through clarifying their audience and their marketing style we create brands that truly reflect the businesses values and overall mission which in turn help them directly connect with their true audience and avoid branding to a general public.
As a designer, I have worked with different businesses but working with people who have values far greater than that of just a thriving business is who I love to work with the most, because we’re not just making a difference in the business world but in peoples lives, in their homes, and in their families.
My goal is to continuing helping business owners grow a thriving business online and if given the opportunity to use their platform to help create a much greater impact; to spread the true gospel of Jesus and why we’re here on this earth.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

YouTube has tremendously spiked in the last two years and has become a popular social media platform and also an educational resource. I wish this was available 10 years ago which it kind of was, but not to this extent. If you’re looking to build your skills or just learn more about growing your business, YouTube is a great resource. I’m actually in the process of creating my own you tube channel with a lifestyle business vlog in hopes to connect with a bigger audience. Another resource that I’ve dabbled in is the The Futur. They focus more on the creative industry helping freelancers, entrepreneurs and agencies build their team and skills, but of course any business could learn from them if they need help branding or marketing their business.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I love this question because honestly there is no right answer. People will tell you to have a plan but often times making a plan will leave you feeling defeated and unsure. This isn’t to discourage anyone from making a plan, because if you’re someone that can only work off a plan than by all means go for it. A plan for me didn’t work because I spent more time creating the plan only throw it out the window and feeling like this dream would never happen. So for me, I just had to start.
When I started my business I simply used what I had. I used the laptop I had used all through college and grad school. It has been through quite a bit, but I still use it to this day. It’s on it’s last leg, but it’s brought me so far and I’m actually a bit sad that within the next year I will have to officially retire it.
Since I had a job right out of grad school I was able to put some money aside in my savings (mostly for personal reasons) but I was able to take some money out of there and use it towards the software I needed like adobe suite, google, Squarespace – for my website, and getting my business set up(cost and fees). Other than that I didn’t need much of anything else. I don’t think I spent more than $500 dollars starting my (at the time) side hustle. I just took baby steps and as I began growing I was able to invest more and more. Now I have a full office with a big computer screen and all and using my laptop only when I travel.
The biggest thing I would tell anyone is to start with what you have or what you can afford. You don’t need all the fancy equipment or top of the notch tools. Just last year I was finally able to invest in a course I’ve been eyeing for a while. I didn’t want to pull the plug until I knew I was committed and knew it would be valuable to my services. I gained a lot from the course and use many of the things I learned to help my clients build brands.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.berenicedesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berenice.designs/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/berenice-martinez-b4a17b95
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@berenicedesignsandmore

Image Credits

All images are provided by Berenice Designs