We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Maiello a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
It was November of 2020, just the midst of the pandemic. Me and a friend wanted to go to the new local candle shop in Encinitas called Candles on Tap and make our own candle. We each selected a variety of scents from the wall to create our candle. I chose sandalwood, eucalyptus, and lavender. These are each medicinal scents. I find them calming and get a sense of peace from their scent. When it came time to naming the candle, it was one of those aha moments for me. At first I completely blanked and pondered about it. We were less than a few streets away from Moonlight Beach, which has always been a special place for me. My boyfriend took me there at night and we laid and looked at the moon. I decided to incorporate the name of Moonlight Beach combined with the scent of sandalwood. Hence the name Moonwood. Moonwood Marketing came to me right after I said it out loud. The meaning of Moonwood is powerful and intentional, just like the aromas of the scents I selected for the candle.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I founded Moonwood Marketing with a simple purpose: to empower owners, founders, and SMBs to build their businesses through the magic of authentic branding and marketing strategy.
My journey began in marketing and social media promotion for the iconic House of Blues and continued in marketing collaborations with global giants such as Johnson & Johnson and McKesson. With a background in diverse projects ranging from high-value event planning to groundbreaking PR, I discovered my true calling: helping businesses tell their stories.
At Moonwood, we reject the one-size-fits-all approach and generic marketing roadmaps. Instead, we embrace pure creativity and storytelling in whatever form makes the most sense for our clients. Above all, everything should be authentic and reflect individuality.
Today, Moonwood works with the best and brightest owners and founders in everything from brand strategy deep dives to captivating marketing collaborations and stunning website design. Together, we unlock the potential of your business.
In addition to the event planning services, Moowood thrives by improving the user experience for consumers in the fashion, beauty, and wellness industries.
My clients are primarily women working in STEM. My mission is to showcase the talents of women working hard in the community to improve the lives of others. My clients have noteworthy community impact and that is the reason I choose to work with them. My services are customized based on each specific client needs as I interview and access what they actually need before we start working together.
Moonwood provides boutique marketing and event planning services. In 2024, each package was sold during the specific moon phase such as the Eclipse and New Moon.
The New Moon package includes a 30 day project consisting ofmarketing strategy for Email Marketing as well as account setup and template design.
The Full Moon package includes a 30 day project consisting ofWebsite Development & Design using Shopify or SquareSpace, Copywriting and SEO for 5 pages, Shopify Application Installation and Integrations, Account Setup for Shopify, Google My Business and Google Analytics.
Two of my clients are female engineers working in management at Fortune 500 companies such as Intuit and McKinsey. Last year my client Kylie Taitano, the Cofounder of Code With Her was recognized by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner for the Woman of Impact in STEM Award in March of 2023 as well as by the CEO of Intuit as the first female engineer to receive the Bill Campbell Award. Code With Her provides hands on coding education and workshops to girls from age 6 to 18.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The majority of my work has consisted of event planning or strategic marketing activations combined with inbound marketing such as social media and newsletter communications. During the peak of the pandemic, March of 2020, I was hired off for a full time marketing management position for a medical device company. This role primarily focused on launching eCommerce medical device and wellness products on Amazon, Walmart and Shopify. I launched 10 new products and generated over $100k in revenue in 90 days. My favorite academic course was International eCommerce when I studied abroad in Torino, Italy back in 2013 and received the highest grade in the class as well as the highest grade in my academic career. It came so easy to me. From understanding how to manage customer requests while streamlining product innovation and inventory to metric growth. I began consulting for multiple brands and local businesses in the San Diego area. The majority of my clients have been referral based which I take pride in. The first company I was referred to was a new clothing boutique business located in Seaport Village. While I was working with my client there, I was asked by a customer what type of work I did. She asked “Are you the website person here?” After chatting with her, she gave me her friend’s business card for another clothing boutique located in Carlsbad. Within my first month of business I had two boutique clothing clients. I designed and launched a Shopify store to include their items in order to get more visibility during limited hours of operation and store capacity during covid restrictions.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
As mentioned, I formalized my marketing consulting business to Moonwood Marketing in 2021 after many years of freelance marketing work.
In April of 2022, I pitched a craft and wellness event series for a wellness practitioner in Del Mar, California. It was a beautiful sunny day in Del Mar and I had just finished a marketing and event intensive project for a corporate client in the biotechnology industry. I decided to go for a walk in downtown Del Mar and was looking for a place to have lunch before heading to the beach. I saw a beautiful outdoor patio with a long table next to the Beeside Balcony and figured it was a new restaurant. I walked in through the gate and quickly noticed it wasn’t a restaurant as there was no one there. I walked to the door of the office area and was greeted by a nice lady that welcomed me in. I asked her, De’Anna what her business was and how she was utilizing the beautiful patio space. I remember how shocked I was by her response. She shared with me one of her books which detailed her 25+ year career traveling across the world providing hypnotherapy services to Carnival Cruises and the Marine Corps. I quickly realized her value from her story and was so interested in learning about what she was working on.
We met a few times on zoom after and got to know each other’s areas of expertise. She mentioned how she struggled getting people to come in person and preferred group sessions on zoom. My experience working remotely resulted in a lack of connection and gathering in the community. This insight catapulted the idea of a new group gathering experience for De’Anna to introduce her hypnotherapy services to new or previous customer. The series included a monthly group event offering crafting and wellness simultaneously. Empowerment was the key element for the series allowing the focus to incorporate a healing approach in a community setting. The first event incorporated the concept of the bridge to courage and the journey along the way. De’Anna hired a professional mural painter to lead a painting visualization of the bridge. We started with a group introduction then started a brief meditation on the subject. Once everyone was feeling more relaxed, De’Anna led a group hypnotherapy session. I found this to be powerful perspective and approach to crafting, gathering, therapy and networking. It was a safe place for whatever you wanted to share with the group or keep to yourself. There were several revelations from attendees and they raved about how lovely this experience was. We continued the series for several months after rotating on different themes and crafts such as building your terrariums, jewelry, pumpkin succulents, vision boards and more.
This was a milestone for my career and for my business because I felt empowered by applying my knowledge and expertise with confidence into something of value for not only myself and De’Anna, but for many others. Not only has this partnership resulted in amazing friendship between myself and De’Anna, but also lead generation and brand awareness for both of our businesses.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.moonwoodmarketing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram/moonwoodmarketing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonwoodmarketing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-maiello
Image Credits
Rasha Asfour Photography