We recently connected with Julio Lugo and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Julio, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I’ve taken many risks in my life, but as a majority of small business owners would probably say, not necessarily big or small but the most profound risk I’ve taken is making the leap from working for someone else to working for myself. There is always that voice of doubt, is this going to work? What happens if it doesn’t? What if I’m wrong? internally, externally, that gnaws at you. Some days its like a megaphone, but others, its barely a whisper. It can be your biggest motivator or your biggest detriment, but those who really harness that feeling and turn it into the former, take things further than most.

Julio, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Julio but most people call me Jay. I grew up in Washington heights, raised by a mother and grandmother who, while we did not have much, always found a way to give to others, and to do whatever she could to help a friend, neighbor, or stranger. This impacted me my whole life and ultimately, before I even realized it, shaped who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life. No matter how that portrait was painted, how it took shape, I knew that the base of that image would revolve around helping my community and being able to give back to the people who helped me become who I am today, and help make a way for those to be able to achieve the same goals i aspire to. I grew up with a great group of friends from a very young age and I’m very grateful to say that these are still my friends to this day, more-so my brothers. From that young age I was always drawn to technology, and design same as one of those fore mentioned brothers; Jimmy. Now while i had a passion to create, and fantasized about what i could create and how that could help others, Jimmy is an artist that could breathe life into those ideas, and with the same desire to create, turn those thoughts into beautiful imagery that can inspire. I proceeded to go through life, day dreaming about my desires and goals, but not really doing anything about it. Throughout the years we would have several discussions about this and our ideas and desires but the everyday demands of life took precedence over being able to fully pursue those dreams. And then a few years ago, life literally shut down. The whole world took a pause, and for me personally, a lot of things changed. I decided to go back to school, I lost my job in the hospitality business, and I was really forced to take a step back and assess what I wanted out of life and what I wanted for myself. Thats when Jimmy came to me and said “I have an idea, lets work on this” and GLM was born. At this point Jimmy was a full fledged designer and working in his field, and I had my experience with running a small business, as I had tried (and failed) a few times before. We collaborated on our ideas, our vision, direction and we came up with something that encompasses what are goals and desires are, and that was being able to create and help other small businesses, especially in our community, be able to keep up with the change of how businesses operate and become or remain successful in this digital world. We can help create these digital footprints for businesses who needed help and exposure, and provide modern design elements to help attract customers and modernize their brand and imagery. Now while the business itself is not revolutionary, I think what makes us different is our drive to go above and beyond for our clients, mostly minority based businesses, take that next step and raise their business to the next level not only by offering design and marketing tools but also developing a business plan to make the growth sustainable and eventually continue to produce more growth in the future. Coming from minority households, in a minority community of Washington heights, we’ve seen a lot of drastic change in our neighborhood, mostly rooted in gentrification. Seeing a lot of these mom and pop, small businesses get pushed out by these larger businesses and corporations, and essentially, removing the spirit, the culture and the people who make our neighborhoods what they are. This is what drove us to do what we decided to do and come together.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Maintaining a relationship with our clients is a key aspect and element of what we do with our business. Things are ever changing and we want them to feel comfortable and confident in knowing that whether we did business last week or last year, we are always in their corner to help them through. We constantly reach out or make ourselves available, we try and stop in as often as possible and encourage them to reach out as well.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve been knocked down several times, I’ve gone through health issues, several failed business ventures and just the overall ups and downs of trying to navigate a life in today’s society. I’ve never taken a traditional approach to life, sometimes to my benefit but also to my detriment. In my twenties I was diagnosed with epilepsy and I struggled to find a way to control and manage my seizures. I went through serious bouts of depression, suffered several accidents and could not live a normal everyday life. That was my reality for almost 5 years, and there were several times i wanted to give up. Several nights i cried, begged why but something kept pushing me forward. Some of the accidents i had went through, should have ended my life quite frankly. But I was still here. And I knew it was because I was meant to do something with it. Thats what lead me to where I am today.