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Business Voices is the Juneau Chamber of Commerce podcast focused on the people, ideas, and decisions shaping Juneau’s economy.
Each episode features thoughtful conversations with local business owners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers who are working to build a stronger, more diverse, and more resilient business community.
This show reflects the Chamber’s larger mission: to support entrepreneurship, encourage responsible and sustainable development, improve the business climate, and help make Juneau a better place to work, live, shop, and invest.
Business Voices is a forum for insight, leadership, and shared perspective, connecting the people who care about Juneau’s economic future and the quality of life that makes this community worth building.
Welcome to Business Voices Juno, the podcast of the Juno Chamber of Commerce hosted by executive director Becca Parks. From entrepreneurship and leadership to growth, resilience, and innovation, this podcast shines a light on the businesses and voices helping define Juno's economic future.
Speaker 2:Alright. And welcome back to another week. This week, we are here with Riza May Marvel. Riza. I got it right right before we started, and then I got it wrong.
Speaker 2:From z squared studios, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:And I'm excited. You are now the third podcasting professional that, I've been able to interview on the show. So that's exciting. Can you tell us a little bit about Zsquared Studios and all the different things that you're doing with your company?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I am a brand and web designer and I help small businesses just elevate their brand identity and their visuals so that they can look as professional as they feel on the inside.
Speaker 2:Okay. So what like specific services does that entail? Brand and Webb? Is it graphic design and the back end organization?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I do a lot of logo creation. So especially when you're just starting out in your business, people think that they need a logo to start. Technically, I wanna say no, but it's a good place to kind of make your business feel real. So I do logo design and then I love doing brand identity and just creating a visual set of assets so that businesses can again, feel real.
Speaker 3:And so that when they put themselves out there, they are comfortable and professional and then they could also elevate their rates by having this really professional looking brand and it's a way to stand out as well. And then website design, of course, that's your digital landing space for people to find you, especially if you wanna or if you want people to find you through Google and you don't wanna do like social media or you don't want to I guess do other sorts of like ads or something, then you could at least have a website and at least people should be able to find you through your website. And what's nice about Juno is that we're small enough where you can land on the first page for certain keywords, especially because we don't have too much competition here. So if you put Juno graphic designer, you have a good chance of I mean, I'm I'm I'm up there and you'll just have a good chance of landing with whatever you're doing. So.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've just been researching the world of SEO and there's a lot to learn and it is nice to be in a smaller place where there's not quite as much competition out there. So what about your own brand? Like how did you get to where you are with the company?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. So I'll start from the beginning. I've always loved art. It's been a really big part of my world.
Speaker 3:And I have taken art classes from elementary, middle school. So then when I went to university, I took a drawing class. I actually studied abroad in Australia and super fun. And I took a drawing class, I put one of my artworks on my dorm room and one of my friends saw it and was like, oh, that's really fun. That's really cool.
Speaker 3:Have you ever thought of graphic design? And I was like, no, what is that? So I learned about it and I was like, oh, this is perfect because it's art, but then also strategy. So I really love the idea. And then there's the aspect of marketing as well.
Speaker 3:So I looked into the program, when I was abroad and they did have a graphic design program. So what turned out to be a, it was supposed to be one year study abroad with my degree in psychology. I ended up staying for three and a half years and left with a design and graph or a degree in graphic design. So that's how that started. And then after just living life, traveling a bit, seeing what's out there, I ended up back in Juneau for good.
Speaker 3:I was born and raised here. And I ended up being the in house graphic designer for printing trade company here in town. That was really fun. I learned a lot of business systems from there, learning how to onboard clients, learning how to speak to clients, emailing, proofing. So I learned a lot of great systems from there that I use right now still.
Speaker 3:And then I got pregnant with my firstborn son. And that was kind of a realization for me where I was like, I don't wanna put him in daycare. I wanna just be a little bit more hands on with raising him. So let's just go full time with the freelancing. So that's what I did.
Speaker 3:I went full time and it's been four years, almost five years now. And it's been a blast.
Speaker 2:I hope those art classes that were in the Juno schools when you went through are still there for your kiddo. I know I'm enjoying seeing that for mine. And we have Australia to thank for your business. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know it's kind of funny how
Speaker 3:life just how your life just naturally moves and flows and you end up where you are. And I yeah. Definitely Australia was a big part of me becoming graphic designer.
Speaker 2:What do you think the biggest challenges have been for you moving from working in another company to being a freelancer and having your own business?
Speaker 3:Definitely balancing everything because when I was a in house designer, all I did was design. I, you know, I wasn't doing the billing, I wasn't doing admin, I wasn't trying to get clients. And then now it's like, it's everything. Like if you don't market yourself and talk about your business and no one's gonna hire you. So yeah, just balancing every part of a business.
Speaker 3:I think it looks so easy when you're just an employee and then you do it on your own and you're like, oh my gosh, man, it's a lot.
Speaker 2:Where have you found help along the way? Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I took me a long time. I I knew I needed help with just things that didn't need my creative energy. So maybe that was going, creating the revisions for artwork or revisions for logos, doing things for websites where I just needed to, like, input data. Like, I don't wanna do any of that. So I took me maybe a year to finally find a system that worked for me, where I found some contractors who can do that stuff for me.
Speaker 3:And then just kind of finding the process of where do I need to be creative? I need to take that on so that my work looks like me. And then I hand off all the other menial tasks to my VAs.
Speaker 2:That is nice. I like to do that with parenting too. Yeah. And what's that experience been like being able to balance being home with your kiddo? Do you how do you do that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It took me a very long time to kind of figure out a system that works. So when I first had my son well, okay. No. Before he was born, I was very naive.
Speaker 3:And I thought, oh, you know, I'll fit it in between naps. Like, he'll nap for an hour here and I'll
Speaker 2:nap for an hour there. And then I had him and I was like, oh, he only naps twenty minutes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That sucks. So there is a lot that I just didn't realize. And then I didn't realize he'd be so clingy and you just needed more hands on. And I was so used to working for my nine to five.
Speaker 3:I'd work in the morning from nine and then we were off at like four. So that was kind of where my brain was at, where I was like, okay, let's work in the morning and then I have the afternoons off. And that wasn't working because he was just so needy and it it's like, okay, we gotta switch. So I ended up doing it where in the mornings, now I have two sons. Mornings we'll play, we'll do the park, we'll do something fun, some quality time together.
Speaker 3:And then once it's twelve, we'll have lunch and then 01:00, we'll I'll put the youngest down for his nap. And then by that time, the oldest is he has some quality time with me and he lets me sit on my computer for a little bit. You know, maybe that's forty five minutes, that's an hour, but it's like some kind of time where I get to do a little bit of admin work and then eventually I am dropping it off to my dad who is retired. They just live down the street, so I'm very lucky with that. So then I get at least two to three hours, maybe four hours if I'm lucky, just uninterrupted time and because you can't work with your kids in the house.
Speaker 3:Or maybe if you have, like, someone helping, like, you have, like, a mother's helper, like, that's perfect, but you just can't. It's so hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I am I'm sure there's other people listening too that are having flashbacks to the pandemic and not escaping that and just having to figure it out, which people did. But, man, it takes a toll.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And there's nothing better than having family nearby that can just step in and help. That is the best. Is that part of what brought you back to Juno?
Speaker 3:Yes. Definitely. I especially because I after I graduated, I was like, okay. Do I stay in Australia or do I go back home? And I just felt so alone over there.
Speaker 3:Just not because I was the American over there, and I I don't think I was ever gonna step away from being that. And I just needed some home, some fam some people that knew me from the beginning. And then also just Juneau, we're so unique here. It's it's not super busy. It's you can go hike up a mountain and then come down, eat at a restaurant.
Speaker 3:Like, we're just so unique. So I I knew I had to come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I feel that way every time I step off the plane, just like, here we are. Mhmm. You told me recently that you also have your own podcast. How did that get started?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So with having a digital business, service based business, there you have to have some kind of content out there. And I was so sick of social media where you record, you make you're making something for like two hours and it's like a ten second reel and then you get like five likes. And then it's like, did that do anything for me? So I was just sick of that hamster wheel.
Speaker 3:So I was like, okay, what can I do that is a little bit more long term, that's searchable, that people can feel like they can know me and trust me? And for me that was a podcast. So that I I do the podcast that gets turned into a blog post and then both of those two together really help my SEO. So that's what that's what's been working for me. And I also feel like when people are hearing your voice, they know you, they feel like they know you, they feel like they can trust you.
Speaker 3:And it's just a little easier to land clients that way than from just people randomly scrolling on social media and it's really passive. Podcasting is a little more, they're they're listening to you because they wanna listen to you. So I I like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I definitely have podcast hosts that I listen to and I you become so familiar with their voices. They feel like friends. It's a little unnatural at times. Do you have a favorite podcast that you've done where you go back to it and you're like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:That that was a good one. I should go back and listen
Speaker 3:to them. No. I can't really think of any, but I guess I just I just love talking about the creative process and kinda helping business owners DIY their brand or their website. So that's really what I focus on helping people who are in that DIY beginning stage so that they can feel like they can look a little bit more professional, but then they don't have to pay a designer. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So and I'm curious about that too. Of your clients, do you have a relationship or a work history, and you don't have to give us details, but that really made an impact on you? Or were you made a real impact on them? Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I did one for I created a website for someone who's doing private tours through a car, like an SUV. And I he was so excited when the website was finished and he had like he has such a big vision and I could just tell like from having this website done, it's like, okay, my business is real, people can book me, like this is how I'm gonna make income, but then also like make relationships with the people that are booking with him. So but that's kind of with every client where they leave feeling like I my business is now a little more elevated, and now I feel like I can go out there and be confident and sell myself. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What do you do? Does it always happen that way? Or are there sometimes roadblocks in the process? Like, I think as a I would not consider myself in the creative industry that I feel that way a lot. Like I'm at work and I just get stuck on the creative projects.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Definitely. Some projects, if I'm creating a logo, for example, some projects I from start to finish from the mood board to ideation and then like creating it, it's flawless. And my creativity is just really high and it works really well and like everything's going the same. Everything's going flawlessly.
Speaker 3:But then of course, sometimes there are times I feel like maybe this is more times than less. But I have to just think about the composition of something or something's just not looking right. And I take the time to get away from my computer because you can just sit there and you're moving things a little bit this way and then a little bit that way. All of sudden it's been two hours and you just move things around. So it's like I gotta get out of here.
Speaker 3:So, I like to go for a walk and just look. I just observe, look at nature, maybe look how the flowers are growing or how I sometimes even if I'm like looking on Netflix, I'll look at the typography of each of the shows and kind of, just there's a lot of good typography on there. Yeah. So and then how it like depicts the show and then the movie or I'll go to the grocery store, I'll look at the labels and kind of see what colors work well together, what fonts look good and just how certain graphics are treated. And then maybe I'll spark something in me and be like, oh, okay, I think maybe like that thing has a drop shadow.
Speaker 3:Let's come back and maybe this is what that needs and maybe needs a drop shadow somewhere or some kind of yeah, special treatment.
Speaker 2:Have you always had that level of observation? Like, that part of you when you were a kid?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Definitely. I am naturally an introvert. So I've always been a listener and observer more than I have been a speaker.
Speaker 2:And do you have a favorite logo? Like, when you walk through the grocery store, is there one cereal box that calls to you?
Speaker 3:I can't think of anything right away. Oh, well, I will say I've always loved stuff where like the FedEx logo where it has a little arrow in there. So I love it when there's little details. I love little details where they kinda turn your brain. You're like, oh, I never noticed that.
Speaker 3:Or like that yeah. Like, that's super cool.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of my my dream shopping trip or even a dream show would be to just walk through the grocery store with a bunch of graphic designers, like logo specialists, and just analyze everything that's in there. I think it would be really fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you as you get farther along with your business, how long have you been in?
Speaker 3:Full time. This is my fourth year going on my fifth year in September. I have always ever since graduating from university, I have always done a little bit of on the side for clients and people around Juno, but full time,
Speaker 2:four
Speaker 3:years, five
Speaker 2:years, almost. Do you have plans for growth? Like, what's what's next?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a good question. I would love to just be able to a be able to make money that's consistent. Because right now freelancing it's like up and down and we have seasons like right now summer is slower. And that's just how it is because everyone's running their businesses in the summer. We're very tourist driven.
Speaker 3:So just to be able to have consistent revenue is my goal right now. Not quite sure how I'm gonna get there yet, but we'll see.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's an interesting to think about the flipped seasonality and how our summer tourism business is driving different businesses that some of the support industries during the off season. Well, I certainly hope that there are ways. Do you find there's a network of other graphic designers in town that can kind of help figure that out? People that are at different points in their careers or their business life?
Speaker 3:You know, I don't talk to too many graphic designers here, but there's like a large just like in the Internet world, there's so many people doing it. I'm part of a couple of Facebook groups where we chat about it. I actually I yeah. I do I have a coach who's this group coaching and kinda just helps with ideas for how to scale and such. So that helps a lot.
Speaker 3:But definitely collaborating with people and chatting with people helps a lot even if they're not in your industry specifically, but maybe they're just service based in general. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun talking to them.
Speaker 2:I mean, I appreciate that at the chamber events. I feel like I learn a lot about office dynamics and back end management just from chatting with other business owners and other leaders, not necessarily just owners. Did you have that in your family at all? Are there any other entrepreneurs? Are you the first one to jump into this side of it?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm the well, in my immediate family, I guess I'll say I'm the first. But also when so I'm Filipino and my family immigrated. My dad was 19, but before his family immigrated, I don't know if you remember Giovanni's, but that was my dad's uncle.
Speaker 2:No way.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So he had that. So there you go. There's some entrepreneurship there.
Speaker 2:Definitely in the family, judo entrepreneur family even. Oh, that's great. Thinking way back to schooling and kiddos now, you said you always had that sort of introverted listening, looking. What do you think encouraged you to I mean, you said you met one person who kind of said, Hey, I think graphic design might be your path. Do you see that in kids now or even in your own kids, like things you're watching for to be like, you might want to check this out.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So my youngest, it's funny how different the personalities are. My youngest, he and I did this yesterday, he had a marker in his hand and he was just like marking all his stuffies. Okay. Take that away from you.
Speaker 3:But he just thrives with any with any kind of pen or marker, like all of our a lot of our rugs. Marks all over the rugs and like the chairs. And we had this really nice baby changer thing. He drove over that. So I
Speaker 2:was like, oh, I think you're gonna be an artist. Well, we also had Juno cleaning on here a couple weeks ago. Maybe I can you guys can collaborate on something. I just lost my train of thought because now I'm thinking about messes on carpets and all the things that happen at home when you're trying to work from home. My next question would be thinking about our kids growing up and getting into the business and all of the discussion about AI.
Speaker 2:How are you working that in and how are you confronting the new challenges that AI is introducing, but also the incredible opportunities, especially as a sole proprietor of using it in your business. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Yeah. AI. I I think when people think of AI and design, they think of putting a prompt in there, and then they get out a poster and then that's it. And you can see you can tell when something's AI and AI logo and AI poster, there's like some kind of there's some vibe to it where it it just looks AI. And a lot of I've talked to a couple other graphic designers who have who are wanting to make the shift and not wanting to do graphic design anymore because they're like, oh, AI is gonna just like take it over and all this stuff.
Speaker 3:But I don't believe that at all. I think it's just the next shift that we need to make. I remember the professors at school would talk about when they did graphic design, they're like cutting pieces out and like laying it with glass on top and they're taking photos with like a camera. And we do that digitally now through like Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator. So everything they were doing shifted digitally to what we were doing.
Speaker 3:And then now it's just a shift with AI where it just changes the process, but it also saves so much time. So I'm not I I don't use AI to give me a final output. It's more elevating my process to make it faster and streamline it. Like before, you had to if you wanted to remove the background, you're physically going in there with like the pen tool on Photoshop and then tracing it and then erase the background. Now you can click a button.
Speaker 3:It's like, oh, amazing. Like stuff I don't need to spend my time doing, I could get the output I want or things like if I wanted to take a portrait image. So portrait, it's taller and then, taller than it is wide. And I wanted to put it across something that's kind of more landscape. So let's say it's like 11 inches wide, eight and a half inches tall.
Speaker 3:So it has that that landscape feel. If I wanted to run that portrait photo across the bottom of that page, it I'm not gonna stretch it because it looks weird. Yeah. So maybe I would do some cutting out of the photo, maybe, like, create a separate background for it, blend it in or whatever. But now I just extend the bounding boxes of the photo, extend it to where I want it to lay on the page.
Speaker 3:I click a button and it generates the image around the image. It looks like one image, and I'm like, oh my gosh. That saved me two hours. Yep. And then it it's it works for my clients because they're not paying me two hours just to, like, expand an image to the edge of the sheet.
Speaker 3:Like, it's there's so much you can do with it, and I think it's only good things.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I like the comparison to previous digital tools that have been introduced to us and not being afraid of them. Like, the businesses that embrace them are gonna move forward. It'll be fun. I think about classes we ran five years ago on digitization and how outdated some of that is.
Speaker 2:If we're still doing this in five years, you have to come back on and we'll see how much has changed.
Speaker 3:I know it's fast. Technology is fast. I mean, imagine if so when the internet came, imagine not having a website, like in times right now, like you're not gonna if you don't have some kind of online space for people to land on. So you just got to move with the times.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Okay, well, I think we are pretty much out of time. So if is there anything else that you want people to know? Things that you can offer things that you're doing that people should give you a call or how do they get in touch?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have a website zsquaredstudio.com. I'm actually about to do a rebrand. So that's fun. I I'm doing a I already have a DIY your brand course, but with this rebrand for my business, I'm gonna record everything so you can watch me rebrand and then you could take that course and then do your own rebrand. So there's that happening.
Speaker 3:Hopefully, I get that done within the summertime here.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so fun. I will definitely watch that. Is that on your website proper? Is it on Pantheon or any of those?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's on my website proper. I'm still I'm actually adding AI tools to it right now because I do have that course open, but I wanted to incorporate AI because there's just so many fun things that you can do with it.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, I'm excited for that. Again, this was Riza May Marvel. Did I get it right that time? Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay. Good. On Business Voices, and we'll see you again soon.
Speaker 3:Yes. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Business Voices Juno. Subscribe everywhere you listen to your favorite broadcast. Share the episode and learn more about the Juno Chamber of Commerce at junochamber.com.