We were lucky to catch up with Lola Adewuya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lola, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Up until a few months ago, I have always run my branding business alongside another full-time role. First it was college. After I graduated, I continued to run my business while starting a full time job in tech. In January of this year, I was laid off from my corporate job and decided to take it as an opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. 6 months in, I can confidently say that I am happier as a business owner. Running a business comes with many ups and downs and challenges. It isn’t always a blast, but I knew that this path was right for me when those challenges still felt rewarding and motivating.

Prior to being laid off, I thought about quitting often. Whenever I had a day off at my corporate job, I would get glimpses of what it would feel like to just run my business. It felt good. But quitting felt scary. I feared that if I became reliant on my business to provide my income, I would grow to resent it and lose my passion for the work. I feared that I would be closing doors in the corporate world too soon, having only been in it for a little over two years. I feared letting go of a part of my identity that I was genuinely proud of and had worked hard to gain. I kept waiting for a sign to tell me it was the “right time” to just take the leap and finally do it. I thought the universe could’ve been a *little* more gentle than a layoff, but it was effective and she sure does have a sense of humor.

What makes me happy about running my own branding business is this:
1) I get to work on incredible missions and see the direct impact of my efforts on growing businesses and leaders
2) I’m in charge of my career trajectory and how fast I want to grow and develop certain skills in leadership, business, and creativity (no waiting for promotion cycles and navigating office politics!)
3) I can build a business model, working style, and company culture that may be unconventional but is what’s best for me and my team

Lola, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m the founder of The Brand Doula, a brand development studio that works with one-of-a-kind companies and leaders to activate bold missions. We specifically work with women founders and leaders who are on a mission to challenge the status quo and are building solutions that reimagine our tools, systems, and ways of living for the better. We bring these culture-shifting ideas to life through strategy, design, and creative counseling.

Prior to The Brand Doula’s launch, I had been working as a freelance designer. Initially, I had set out to gain the skills needed to eventually work at a design agency after college. In the process of working on small businesses that friends, family, and creators online were starting, I became more interested in the dynamics within business and entrepreneurship that my community of Black women were facing. The disparities in resources and knowledge for women of color who wanted to pursue business ownership vs their white counterparts were so apparent. For example, Black women are the largest growing group of entrepreneurs, but are the least likely to be funded by investors by a long shot. They are underresourced in so many ways and excluded from a lot of communities in the startup space where knowledge, resources, and support are shared to help founders succeed. Without that built-in network to guide you, it’s easy to miss things that are integral to your business’s success — like proper branding and marketing.

A year and a half later, instead of applying for those agency jobs, I set my sights on building a studio that would serve these business owners more directly. I wanted these founders to be able to go to a studio that truly understood its clientele and their audiences, one that would take the time to actually educate them and bring them along the process, and one that would ensure those grand ideas that needed to be brought to life were given the chance to reach their fullest potential.

Today, The Brand Doula is still one of the few Black-owned, women-operated creative agencies that puts the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first. Over the years, we’ve sharpened our focus to specialize in (1) working with companies and leaders that aim to bring more inclusive, progressive, and innovative solutions to previously unserved communities and issues, and (2) using experience-led design to build tailored and strategic customer journeys.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I would say my personal mission is to use design and creativity to solve sociocultural problems. I’ve always been really fascinated by people — why we think, feel, and behave in certain ways as well as how we interact with others. I majored in Sociology in college. I loved it so much because I finally had the words to describe the patterns I kept observing in the world. Since learning about the whys and hows of humans in college, I now find myself constantly asking “so, how can we fix this?”.

I want to thoughtfully and creatively design tools, systems, and spaces that show us how to think outside of the box, bring out the best in ourselves, and take better care of each other. Lately, I’ve been thinking about creative ways to combat loneliness in young adults and even started a social meetup company called Promenade with a friend! You can find it at joinpromenade.co

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I would say 2 things:

First, being myself. I know it’s cliché, but what I mean by that is creating a marketing and selling strategy that actually made sense for who I am and my overall disposition. I’m pretty introverted and have focus problems, so it’s never been my strength to consistently post on social media. Earlier in my career, I would find myself struggling in a cycle of trying to keep up with the Joneses online, then getting burnt out, then feeling bad about not creating content. Eventually, I learned how to embrace my natural flow of energy, and it actually attracted more aligned clientele than before. Now, in true introverted fashion, whenever I do show up online, it’s because I have something meaningful to say (or, something fun!). Incoming clients would consistently remark that I had a very grounded energy — confidence, wisdom, and clarity that made them feel safe and secure when working with me. They also wanted to work with someone who found success with more intuitive ways of running a business and wouldn’t require them to fit in a certain mold. Just like dating or making friends, you’ll miss out on the best clients by pretending to be someone you’re not!

Second, professionalism. It feels like a lost art these days, especially with online businesses where human contact is more rare. I personally am a sucker for great customer service and I am far more inclined to patronize a business that clearly takes pride in how they present themselves and is actually invested in creating a great experience for its customers. Despite operating mostly online, I’ve tried to bring everything I know and love about creating quality and highly personal customer experiences into my business.

There are a lot of outdated principles about “professionalism” that I don’t always agree with (e.g. you actually can be funny and professional at the same time!), but I do try to maintain high standards for the way my business shows up along the entire customer journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: thebranddoula.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebranddoula/

Image Credits
Meika Ejiasi