Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Balogh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jenna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

I’ve definitely failed. I think it’s important though, because. every time I fail, I seem to learn something new about myself. One “failure” that I think of often is when I was laid off from my agency job in 2020. The world was shut down from COVID, I got laid off, and I felt like I had failed. But through this “failure” I had a fresh start. Had I wanted to leave my job? Yes. Was my dream to work for myself? Yes. But did I have the confidence to leave the comfortable job I was at and fully believe in myself that I could make it work full time? Absolutely not.

But once that was forced upon me, I had nothing left to do but start fresh. And that’s where Lunar began.

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

My name is Jenna Balogh, and I run a small creative studio called Lunar Creative. We focus on branding, packaging and website design for small/medium sized women-run businesses.

I’ve loved design for as long as I can possibly remember. My most vivid memory is from when I was 12 and I volunteered to take on the poster design in a middle school group project. I had this blank poster board and was overwhelmed with the infinite ways I could display our project findings. I dove into color theory, figuring out which colors complimented each other and which emotion they would evoke. I spent hours on the layout — taping and re-taping photos I had printed out from the internet. It was that night that I started to really fall in love with design, and began to figure out how important the smallest choices could be, even subconsciously, to the viewer.

From there, it’s been 20 years of throwing myself into design, trying and failing (always important) as we all do, to grow. I got a degree in Journalism (Advertising) from University of Oregon, went on to work for a large media company for years, then made my way to my first agency.

I always had a passion project on the side, whether it was creating social media posts for the local Portland bar scene, or volunteering my design services for a charity organization. I always had my day job, and then my passion projects were done in the evenings and weekends – second priority.

After I was let go during COVID, I finally had the push I needed to start my own business. I designed my entire website in a day, created my portfolio, and started reaching out to anyone who would listen. I wanted to work with small, women-owned businesses because that’s what I was (am) and felt passionately about supporting other women in their pursuit to create their own success. I understand the drive to want to make something that’s all yours. Pretty soon I had clients emailing, projects in the works, and I was actually making enough money to support myself.

I started Lunar because at that time, I didn’t have any other options. Lunar Creative is my way of helping other women in their pursuit to do what they love most. To take someone’s dream, break down the barriers, dive into the why of it all, and the passion behind it, and bring that to life visually, makes me feel like I’m doing something right. Most of the time, this is the first instance they’re really feeling like they’re a “real business”. They have the idea and the passion, and now it’s all been visualized. It’s physical. And that’s an incredible feeling.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative, specifically a brand designer, is helping other business owners bring their dream to life. It’s one thing to have a dream of opening a boutique pilates studio, but it’s quite another to drive up to your brick-and-mortar, your logo big in the window, to meet your morning client for their private lesson. Inside your studio, you have a cozy merch corner with your new branded sweatshirts, freshly printed business cards on the front desk, it’s all real. It’s the visual representation of your brand, your completely unique brand identity. And helping other business owners craft that dream is something I’m incredibly grateful for.

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

Delegate, delegate, delegate! There are so many people out there with a passion for that one thing you completely dread doing in your business. Once you’re able to relinquish that control (I know, I know, but “my business is my baby”!) your life will be so much easier. Hate spending hours on Google trying to figure out why your website isn’t showing up on top of the Google SERP? There’s someone who LOVES SEO. Sick of figuring out which hashtags to use (or if they’re even relevant anymore) in your Instagram posts? There’s a freelance social media manager out there ready to boost your engagement. Once you’re able to delegate some of those tasks that you’re putting off, you can focus on the thing YOU’RE passionate about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lunarcreative.com
• Instagram: @lunar.creative
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/lunar-creative/