We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shantraya Gustafson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shantraya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

After graduating college in 2018, it was hard landing a marketing job due to not having any internship experience. I honestly gave up and started using my minor degree in business and landed a job in accounting. Queen of Relations started back in 2020 during the pandemic. My best friend worked for a small blacked owned restaurant and he was looking for someone to run their social media page. My best friend asked me did I know how to do so, and connected me with the owner. I explained to the owner that I’ve been out of school for a couple years now and never ran a social media but I knew how to. He put his trust and faith in me and asked me can I run their social media pages. We sat down and went through the contract and I got started. After a couple of months, he started to see an increase in views and followers and explained to me that I was really good at it and I should think about opening a business. I sat and thought about it for awhile because I never once in my life thought about opening up my own business. But Hey! why not? I went out of town and gained inspiration and thought what my business would offer. It was scary but exciting! I began doing PR and talking with news stations for my client and thought this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So funny story is a lot of people get confused why i chose “Queen of Relations” they thought it was a relationship business helping couples but no. Queen of Relations – Branding and Web Designs stands for communicating your brand to your audience through social media, websites and more! I am not a relationship coach, but my brand is the queen of relating your brand message to your desire audience and making sure everyone know who you are.

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

Queen of Relations is an agency where we offer services such as social media management, web development, and branding for those who want to start or rebrand their business. I got into this industry from taking a class in college which was intro to marketing, It sparked an excitement rush when I seen all the things you can do with marketing. This lead me to apply for the Journalism school and taking interest in Strategic communications where I learned how to build a website, write in unique ways like story telling and more!

What set us apart from other is that we transform your brand and web design to showcase the client personality and what its business stands for. Each website that we create is unique and literally shows that brands personality. Most of our clients come to us for Web design, that is what we are known for. None of our website look alike and very unique.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source has been word of mouth and social media. A lot of my clients have students or other business associates where they are looking for help in the areas I offer. Word of mouth has been my best friend and I thank all of my clients for referring me and bringing me new clients.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My professionalism and the person who I am. I’m very open and understanding. My clients and I have our own relationship where we trust and understand. I’m also the sweetest and funniest person ever. I make my clients feel like they are talking to a friend while keeping it professional. They can text me at any time with ideas, questions or concern and I’m there. I help them with other fields that I may not offer but I know how to do due to having a degree and a minor and taking a lot classes and trainings. My mission and goal is to make my clients feel as comfortable as possible because creating a website or trusting someone with your social media can be a lot and can cause frustration. That’s where I come in, I explain and translate in a way that they can understand and I’m there every step of the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.queenofrelations.com
• Instagram: Queen of Relations
• Facebook: Queen of Relations