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

Bethany, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of my company is to cultivate kindness and bring joy to Moms with colorful, happy designs and products.



For the past decade, I had the privilege of traveling the world as a professional speaker and emcee. I traveled extensively and would sometimes be gone 2-3 weeks out of the month or come home from one trip just to leave again the next day. I knew life was going to look a little different when I got pregnant with my son in 2019, but I didn’t realize exactly how different. Not only did I have my first child, but the pandemic successfully shut down my career as a professional speaker.



I can’t describe how difficult and lonely those first days of motherhood in a global pandemic were. I struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety and felt isolated from my support system, and I had just lost a career I had worked so hard to achieve. I loved the precious time bonding with my son, but couldn’t help but think it wasn’t meant to be this way.



It was during those tender months that I turned to art as my therapy. I would stay up hours nursing my son and drawing on my iPad. I took courses and remote learning provided during the pandemic and slowly started developing a skill set for design and illustration. I downloaded TikTok and started to learn about how people could turn their art into stickers. I know how lonely those days of motherhood can be, and I wanted to spread hope and happiness with something as small as a sticker.



In January 2021, I launched my small sticker business with only 6 sticker designs. Once my son turned 15 months, I decided to go back to school for graphic design and multimedia. Online classes meant my son could play behind me while I turned on my laptop to tune into class. 



Slowly, my business grew. It took two and a half years, and having another child in August 2022 to finish my certificate. I went from having 6 designs to over 100. I also expanded into new products including glass cups, tote bags, greeting cards, and more. I also branched into freelance graphic design, where I am able to help small, creative businesses build their branding and visual language through logos, websites, and more. 



The mission has always been the same–to spread light and encouragement to mamas who might need it that day. I make products with mamas in mind and hope that they feel special and loved when they use them.

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?

My name is Bethany Bayless, I am a graphic designer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, CA. I own a small product-based business called Wildwind Lane, as well as a service-based business helping creatives achieve their branding and website dreams.

But I wasn’t always a graphic designer. I worked over a decade as a professional speaker and emcee, as well as a personality creating content for larger brands. During that time, I learned so much about the importance of a strong brand and voice in your industry. I was able to have hands-on experience with various brands and help them create content that set them apart.

I always knew I wanted to start doing that same work for myself, but I wasn’t sure where to start. I desperately was looking for help when it came to branding and building a small business. I had no idea where to start and felt so lost. That overwhelm led to me not doing anything to develop my own brand.

My life changed radically with the birth of my first child and the pandemic, and it led to me going back to school for graphic design and multimedia. I was so eager to learn how to develop that strong brand identity and voice, as well as practical tools like graphic and web design. I was so grateful for the opportunity to learn from amazing professors and internships with very practical real-world experience through online learning. It also allowed me to stay home with my son, and eventually my daughter as well.

I am so excited to not only be able to share my products with the world, but also come alongside small creative businesses to give them the help they need in identifying their brand, developing their visual language, and provide beautiful, practical tools like websites, logos, and more for their business that they can be proud of. I know from first-hand experience how difficult it can be to feel lost in the world of content creation and standing out as a small business. It is so rewarding to see these things click for my clients and provide them the design solutions they are looking for.

Since branding is so personal, I approach design as a collaborative effort with my clients. I don’t want the website to be my style, I want it to be fully theirs. I pride myself in the communication it takes for a client’s vision to transfer in the branding I create for them. I want them to be obsessed with their visuals. Years of practice (and lots of awkward mistakes) have led me to develop a new way of getting on the same page with my client. I love when I show a client their new website or brand strategy, and they say “It’s like you got into my head and created exactly what I was thinking!”

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

My products all started with a sticker.

I was learning how to draw and create designs using Procreate on the iPad, and I wanted a way to share them with others. The pandemic led to a lot of TikTok doom scrolling for me, but I somehow got on the sticker-making side of the algorithm. Amazing creators shared their step by step experience making stickers using a printer, sticker paper and a cutting machine like a Cricut.

I already had a Cricut and went ahead and bought the rest of the supplies. There was a lot of trial and error to figure out how to get the stickers just right, what materials to use, etc. I finally was able to start manufacturing small sticker batches in my home, and I would attend craft shows to sell them.

Attending craft fairs was such a game changer for me. I was getting real-time market research. I saw what designs did well and resonated with my target audience. I would also get an idea of what they intended to use the stickers for–water bottles. I realized my stickers weren’t waterproof. They did okay at first, but the ink would bleed when put in the dishwasher. I knew I had to up my game and start outsourcing my stickers so they could be the best quality possible. I have done that with every product I have sold. Taking customer feedback and responding to my audience’s requests made a huge difference in not only my product design, but quality as well.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I think it is important to provide multiple ways for your customer to find you. I started on Etsy and my own website, and noticed that each one came with its own set of marketing rules. Where Etsy was an algorithm that provided organic foot traffic, my website was traffic that I would drive from social media, in-person events, or word of mouth. I think both are necessary and have different strategies to be successful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildwindlane.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildwindlane/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanygrace/

Image Credits

Nikki Giblin Photography