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

Cayla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

I feel good about the trajectory of my career because it taught me everything I needed to know to get where I am today. But if I could change one thing, it would be to collaborate with colleagues and clients in-person a lot more. However, with the pandemic restrictions over the last few years, in-person opportunities were few and far between with predominantly remote positions. Initially it was a struggle, but I eventually figured out my own rhythm for collaborating with clients as a remote designer.

Being forced to design alone in a highly collaborative field allowed me to introspect and explore my own personal brand as a designer, and made me realize my sources of inspiration. Ultimately, I am grateful for the newfound skills I gained from the challenges.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a graphic designer specializing in web, branding, logo, and print design. As an artist, I always dreamt of making a living in a creative field so I worked hard obtaining a design degree and specialized in business and corporate development.

Over my lifetime, I traveled across 54 countries which allowed me to adapt and work with all kinds of people from various backgrounds and cultures. I have designed websites with developers in India. I collaborated with an international team of designers to develop an award winning app for Santa Monica College. And collaborated with a business based in Sweden to design a marketing and sales print campaign.

I am passionate about design because it gives me the freedom to engage any idea I imagine and the ability to create unique designs the world has never seen. Under a clear set of guidelines, it is unbelievably exciting to see how spectacular I can produce designs and push the limits within the project parameters.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think the biggest issue non-creatives struggle to understand about me is that I’m not only creative professionally, but also in spirit and growth. People always say life is a non-linear journey, but I believe mine is more so than most. As a child, I was blessed to be surrounded by a family of creatives who inspired me to eventually study both traditional art forms and photography as a young adult. Many of which would eventually be showcased in art shows and exhibitions. During and post-college, I traveled, studied, and performed traditional dance and drumming, which culminated into filming a documentary short about my training in West African dance in Senegal that was screened at an International Film Festival. And afterwards, I studied and worked as an actor and taught English as a second language in Thailand and Ukraine.

Every form of creativity taught me something different that I incorporated into what would eventually become my passion and calling: design. I blended my unique skillset and experiences into my personal brand of graphic design which now allow me to create websites, branding, logos, typography, motion graphics, videos and apps to the absolute highest quality.

Change, creativity, and culture are constant themes throughout my life and career. So to answer your question in one sentence, I was born into the creativity. My grandmother is a painter, my mother is a writer and dancer, and now I am a designer and all of the above to add to the lineage.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of working as a creative is that there is never one solution. I am able to design the most beautiful things I can imagine, but there will always be more to learn and expand my mind. The process of experimenting with design yields an endless cycle of exploring new ideas. It is exhilarating.

Not to sound cliché, but it really is the journey and not the destination for me. I find it unbelievably rewarding to hold a physical work of art I personally designed, knowing the journey it took to get from a minuscule spark of imagination to a fully completed piece of art. With every work I create, I revel in each brushstroke on canvas and each innovation on the screen. It is truly magical to design at the peak of what is possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://caylapenenberg.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cayladesigns/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cayla-penenberg/

Image Credits
Anna Penenberg