We were lucky to catch up with Laura Patterson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

We decided to be ridiculously creative…the H is for Heather and the L is for Laura. The line in our logo represents our tagline, “Blurring the line between communication and creativity.”

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?

Prior to meeting, Heather attended The University of Texas at Austin, where she was included in the 5 percent of applicants selected for the competitive “creative advertising sequence.” While attending UT, she consistently made the Dean’s List and was elected to be a member of the Communication Council and Yearbook Staff. In the Introduction to Advertising course, her radio commercial was chosen as “the best” of 500 students. During the summers and school year, she applied her skills in the real world as an intern at Kolar Advertising, Cortex Interactive, Piland Design and Design Technics.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Creative Advertising, she moved to Dallas, where she began her career as an Art Director with McCann Erickson advertising agency. At McCann Erickson she worked on accounts such as Texas Instruments, 7-Eleven, Texas Tourism and La Quinta Inns & Suites. She also played a key role in winning new business pitches, one of which was Attorneys.com. The Attorneys.com commercials received a Gold National ADDY, Silver National ADDY and an AAF National Citation of Excellence and were recognized in Creativity magazine. Two years later McCann Erickson bought TM Advertising (formerly known as Temerlin McClain). At the larger combined agency, Heather was selected to help with the Rich’s department store new business pitch, which they ended up winning.

After three years in Dallas, it was time for a change of pace. The Big Apple was just the place. She accepted a job as a Design Consultant with Kate’s Paperie, a prestigious stationery shop, where she assisted customers in designing custom printed invitations and stationery. Luther Vandross was one of her many clients.

The summer after my junior year I began an internship as a design assistant with Interactive Associates, a local multi-media design company. When the internship ended, they liked me so much they asked me to stay on as a print designer my senior year.

Upon graduation, I accepted a job as one of five designers with Second Baptist Church (“SBC”), the fifth largest Protestant church in America according to an article published in Forbes magazine in 2003. Shortly thereafter, Heather joined me as a designer at SBC, where we both had the opportunity to work with various SBC ministries and Second Baptist School creating a vast array of work including corporate identities, advertisements and publications including the bimonthly church magazine, Second Edition, which is distributed to over 40,000 homes citywide.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Consistent good work. HL Creative has grown organically with all of our clients being won by referrals from other customers who have been happy with our services.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hl-creative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hlcreative/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLCreativeHouston
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hl-creative/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HLCreative04
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJhkBGDufqq76cbqbmuioKA