We recently connected with Quiana Wyre and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Quiana , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
A few years ago, I was going through a really tough time in my life and my anxiety was at an all time high while trying to balance my personal and career life. I was trying to figure it out and the best way I knew how was through journaling and writing. In college, I minored in writing and I loved creative and technical writing the best. Creative writing gave me an opportunity to just put the pen to the paper and let whatever I was thinking or happening just flow. It was so therapeutic and it gave me a piece of my sanity back every time. I knew that if I was feeling this way other women around me were going through the same things. Being in your 20’s at the time was tough, and me and all my friends were trying to get through life the best way we knew how. So one day, I remember scrolling online and seeing all these stationery designs with women of color and I was blown away because I had never seen anything like it before. So, because I was a stationery lover and creative, the idea went off in my head to start creating my own products for myself, family, and friends. From there, that is when Melanin Dreamline was born to promote diversity and inclusion within the stationery space by creating journals and planners to celebrate and inspire women and little girls of color through art. I loved designing and creating, but I quickly realized that learning about business wasn’t easy and there was a huge gap of scaling within the stationery industry for women of color.
From that day, I made it my mission to not only promote diversity and inclusion within the stationery space, but to also curate a safe space and learning environment for women who are current and aspiring journal and planner business owners. I knew that in order to make a difference in this space, we needed to come together with other like minded women so we could build something strong, foundational, and life changing. I would always help people that reached out to me about getting started because giving back is what I was raised on and I loved it. So, because I am big on community, I decided to create a membership called Creations Made Simple where we teach these women how to create journals and planners using Canva to build an online profitable business. One of my favorite quotes is African Proverbs, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” At Creations Made Simple, we have created a sisterhood and it is much more than just pretty art and paper— the women here are mission- driven and purposeful women just like I am. They are creating transformational lifestyle experiences through journaling and planning, which is needed in this world where mental health, self esteem, self care, financial literacy, organization, and much more is in high demand. We don’t just create, we also help to solve problems that everyday women and children are going through.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As a little girl, I grew up watching my mother create unique arts and crafts gifts for myself, family and friends. The joy and happiness she gave to people when she created those gifts were unmatched. I would watch her turn money into roses or diapers into customized cakes for baby showers with just supplies and her hands. My mom transferred those gifts to me and I became interested in creating stationery products. I always loved journaling and writing. I remember at 10 years old I wanted to help my mother make her business cards, so I learned how to use Microsoft Publisher and created the first edition of her business cards. From there, I started making and selling keychains for my friends with their favorite artist and quotes because you couldn’t find these things in the stores and the internet was not as advanced as it is now. Then in college, I started working at Fedex office (Kinkos) and that was when I had the opportunity to learn about stationery as a business concept. While working there I learned about paper products, logistics, business and much more. I was responsible for printing, binding, and shipping for micro and macro projects. I learned the inner workings of heavy duty machinery and saw how large projects came together. It was a fun job and work environment. One of my favorite parts was working with customers on customized projects and seeing how excited they were when they picked up their finished print projects. Fast-forward years later, I brought all that back into my life when my anxiety was at an all-time high and I knew that creating my own stationery products for women and little girls of color would be purposeful.
I consider myself to be a creative visionary and I knew exactly what God had called me to do in this space, so I started to write everything down and build from there. I knew I loved designing and teaching and at first I could not figure out how to merge the two, but I knew I had to build something bigger in this space. I think something that sets us apart from other stationery brands is that not only do we create transformational lifestyle journals and planners while promoting diversity, but we also provide a safe space, resources, and a community for people to show up and be their true authentic selves. We believe in the power of journals and planners changing the life trajectory of others because of what it has done for me and so many other people. We want people to tell their stories and express themselves. If you dream it, speak it, and write it you will become it! This same moment that I am having now with building a larger platform and bringing more awareness to women of color stationery brands is happening to me! I wrote this down two years ago! Write it down on paper is the slogan I live by because the transformation from the paper to your life is a life changing experience. It is one thing to think about something, but it is life changing when you write it down, it happens, and then you get to look back and reflect on it. The most rewarding feeling is knowing when little girls or women of color search the internet for journals and planners, they find something that represents them. Growing up I was able to have some of these experiences, but my mom had to create these unique gifts for me because you could not find it!
My goal is to continue to bring groups of creative women together that design products depicting black excellence through art. I am well aware of the gaps within this industry and instead of being upset about it, I am figuring out a way to navigate through it so we can be recognized and represented within this industry. The women I work with have amazing brands and are transforming the lives of many people around the world. It is important to me that we come together to spread positive messaging and this is how we do it. I saw other brands that did not look like me show up in this space and I said to myself oh, we can do that too! They are getting sponsorships from the same companies we use, so I know it is possible. Truthfully, it is not an easy journey, but when you have a strong sisterhood you keep going because the impact is important. As women in general we are not awarded the same opportunities— and specifically as women of color, it is even less— so we have to keep building collectively. We will continue to come together, plan, & execute, because we know the impactful transformation of other people’s lives is bigger than us.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
There are so many things I wish I knew in the beginning, but I would not change the journey because now I can help other people avoid these mistakes. I didn’t really have a plan because this whole journey slowly turned into a business as I started to dream bigger. But one thing I discovered later on was the power of leveraging free business resources and joining networks. I always tell people to get with their local Small Business Administration and Chamber of Commerce offices to find opportunities. I would also recommend not looking at social media as the only means of marketing, as there are many local vending events and farmers markets that cater to small businesses. This helps with building a strong local presence and meeting people who can help you along your journey. Something that is crucially important is learning how to build your personal and business credit profile, as those things are important to scaling and growing as a company to be able to access capital. I also wish I would have spent more time learning about all the grants offered to minority and women-owned businesses to help with expenses.
Some of the best things I did along this journey was attend a Cornell University Entrepreneurship program (that was free for women), participated in a local YWCA program for small businesses sponsored by Ureeka, and joined different workshops with other successful business owners. I think it is important to put a plan together, but I also encourage people not to get stuck and just build off of everything they learn. You will never have it all together which is why I will forever be a student. The biggest piece of putting this all together is to find ways where you can reach multiple touch points by networking and partnering with others.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The biggest thing for me in building a reputation is being trustworthy, transparent, and teaching people what I have learned and educating people on new things I learn. I don’t pretend to know everything because I don’t. Marketing is extremely complex for me because it constantly changes, but I am most successful when I show up as myself and just design in my creative element. What worked for me was just putting out short videos of what I was already doing in my everyday life designing stationery products and motivating people to do the same. I take people on a transformational journey with me as I grow in my business and I am my true authentic self when I do it.
I want to give people real experiences because people can get so lost with all the things that happen online and around them. I continue to merge my purpose, designs, impact, and manifestation together, which allows me to attract the right type of people I need to build with me on this creative journey. I push people to their full potential and I root for people at the highest level no matter where they are in this journey. I treat people the way I want to be treated and provide experiences that I wish I had seen when I was first getting started. We also provide a ton of free resources in our free facebook group and in our membership. We teach each other and grow together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.creationsmadesimple.com/ultimate-template-vault-membership-co-working-space
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creationsmadesimple
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1330744407335240/?ref=share_group_link
- Other: Melanin Dreamline www.Melanindreamline.com Tik tok https://www.tiktok.com/@creationsmadesimple?_t=8Wrx7IRTCsU&_r=1 Linktree https://linktr.ee/creationsmadesimple