We recently connected with Tracie Hang and have shared our conversation below.

Tracie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I honestly hope to be remembered as someone who always thinks outside of the box, someone who’s creatively innovative & always pushing the ideas of “what if…”. It’s a very simple answer, but I am so passionate about being creative in everything that I do, whether its designing for a work project or just plating my dinner! If I can inspire someone to be and think creatively, then that is a huge win for me.

Tracie, 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 always had this creativity in me ever since I was little & my dad knew I would have a career in the creative field when I was in kindergarten.

He would always tell this story – so on my first day of kindergarten there were crayons and paper at every table & before class officially started, we were able to draw whatever we wanted. I drew this whole entire landscape scene of our home with all my family members in it. My dad said my drawing was so detailed, my lines were so straight & my coloring was so clean that it was hard to believe a kindergartner drew it. Pretty much from that day forward, I’ve leaned into my creative/artistic side & my parents have been so supportive of that. Throughout middle school & high school I decided to hone in on a specific skill, which was graphic design. When I went to college, I got BA in graphic design.

I always had a thing for restaurant branding. I get really excited seeing a cool restaurant interior design blend with a thoughtfully creative brand direction. When I graduated college, I specifically looked for design firms that specialize within the hospitality industry. I knew it was going to be hard looking for a job within this specific field, but I was determined. I consider myself really lucky because it wasn’t long until I connected myself with an architect firm who builds & design in the hospitality industry. I joined the team as a graphic designer, where I was able to design & brand out countless of hotels & restaurants. I pretty much landed my dream job straight out of college.

I love graphic design, but throughout my career I also had felt like something else was missing. I began to think about what else gets me excited about the design industry & literally the answer has been with me the entire time, interior design, specifically restaurant interior design. There was always a rush of excitement & passion that I would feel when it came to thinking about shaping beautiful spaces. The idea of creating a special space where people can gather, build memories & to just simply enjoy the present was something that sparked so much joy in me.

I knew I love fun restaurant interiors with really unique visual identity and I thought, if I could educate myself about the interior design world, I could blend both skill sets! That was the dream!

I immediately went on to go do my own research about interior design and taught myself how to use some of the commonly used softwares. I was also fortunate enough to be able to gain real in-field experiences by working with a few interior design firms.

Having the creative capacity & knowledge to design out a restaurant space as well as creating the visual identity is so fulfilling to me. People always tell me to find my niche and stick with it since the creative industry is so competitive. I think I found it.

I get the most excited when it comes to creative direction & design within the hospitality industry.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My side hustle started out in middle school. My mom was the only one working in my family so I felt like I needed to make some money to help support or save up for college. Throughout middle school and high school I was always taking up side projects. I would design out flyers for birthday parties for friends & family and designed merch for any local businesses. Because I did so much freelance design work that I pretty much established an “unofficial” brand for myself. A lot of people knew that I was a creative, so it just felt right to turn this into a career.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Just keep posting your work! Find your style, think about how you want people to view you as & stick with it! I built my Instagram audience by sharing all the things I love (lifestyle, design, food, travel, funny memes, music & other pop culture things) in my own creative and meaning full way. Its all about building connections & how you present yourself online! Show some personality! Theres already so many social media accounts that are so similar, so think about what you can do to stick out!

At the end of the day, people look at your profile to get to know you, to see if they have any common interest & you have about maybe 20 seconds to give a good impression before they decide to engage or swipe away. Honestly, just be yourself & have fun with social media!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://traciehang.com
• Instagram: @tracie.hang