If it’s got something to do with making your website do all the things.
I’m your girl.
Hey, I’m Gem, the web, branding, systems and planner nerd behind Create & Bloom Strategy + Design. I work with small creative business owners and entrepreneurs to craft, develop and crystallize an online presence and voice for their products and services.
I have been working in marketing, graphic design and building WordPress websites since 2013 – I am totally self-taught and I love helping creative business owners make their products and services shine.
I became hooked on illustration and graphic design whilst studying for my fashion design degree when using design software to illustrate and design clothing details. Whereas designing websites came about as a happy accident when I started an art blog and membership community called A Place for Creation, a few months after I started a business selling my illustrations (Mantra + Moon). Whilst rebuilding the site (probably about 15 times before I decided it was “finished”) it finally clicked that I love the chase of figuring out the hard stuff and getting right to the heart of what makes a website tick with seamlessly integrated systems, branding, marketing and simple usability.
Whilst on my illustration business venture, I built and grew the creative community, launched #bigartboost and honed my web, graphic, marketing and illustrative skills then started to work with clients on their websites, branding, marketing strategies and helping others create a business they love through the power of planning.
Create & Bloom Core Brand Values
Strategic & Aligned
Be strategic and offer a smooth route to clients that feels aligned to their business values and how they want to live their lives.
Always be Learning
Keep learning new systems to stay on top of new tech and marketing systems.
Keep the excitement
Work with clients whose business goals and ethos excite me.
Create & Bloom
Create planning tools to help clients build and crystallise their messages but allows the “behind the scenes” to grow and develop alongside their business goals.
Why I do this & How I got here
Having my own business was in my blood from a young age. I have memories of making “face cream” out of random things from the garden and pretending I had a shop. (Think plastic pouch and staple packaging. Haha) The fire stayed with me right through college and university, but even after business classes inside my Fashion Design degree it wasn’t enough to point me in the right direction.
After graduating back in 2009, I continued drawing, making and developing my creative skills whilst working full time. Then, when the time came to start a business in 2012, I felt like I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and I didn’t feel like had the support I needed to get there – unlike nowadays where you can find thousands of courses online.
I even took myself back to college after graduating from University, to start a whole new career path that led to me working a corporate job that I hated. I think this only made me more determined to learn more about business and marketing whenever I wasn’t in work. I became obsessed with spending every minute outside of work, working on my skills and picking up sporadic freelancing jobs. The journey of a creative trying to figure it all out while holding onto the hope of one day quitting the nine to five that you never wanted to sign up for is damn tough. But, it finally happened for me in 2015.
I put everything that I had built and learned in the last three years into practice and started helping other artists and designers set up a creative business and craft a voice through their marketing and website inside my membership community, A Place for Creation.
It soon became my mission to help other creatives and business owners STAY positively creative, be happy about it and map out a path that worked for them with a boatload of tech and marketing help along the way.
Sure, my route here could have been a lot smoother but, I guess if it was plain sailing, I probably wouldn’t be doing this right now. Everything happens for a reason.
I am a big believer in grabbing hold of your creative flair with both hands and leading it in a direction that suits you rather than letting other factors (or other people) steer it for you. – If it’s not lighting you up, then it’s going to drag you down a rabbit hole of doing what you don’t love, for someone else.
Fun Facts
- I studied Fashion Design at Leeds Art University.
- That same illustrative adventure I mentioned above eventually turned into an online gift shop and then further developed into mantraandmoon.com.
- I won an award from Theo Paphitis for Mantra + Moon.
- I lived in and ran my business from 3 different countries before moving back to the shire (Cheshire, UK)
- I became a mum in April 2020 to a little girl who is absolutely awesome.
- I am a super duper massive Harry Potter geek. – I’m in Ravenclaw and my Patronus is a Mountain Hare 💪 #HP4LIFE
- If I’m not shopping for stationery that I don’t actually need, you’ll find me spending time with my little family or playing video games (if I have time) or working on another creative idea and being a total workaholic.
- My favourite author after JK Rowling is Gabby Bernstein. Both of these ladies have changed my life in so many ways.
- I have a weird obsession with maps – If it has a map on it, it’s likely I will either want to buy it or just stare at for ages dreaming of distant lands.
- I have a huge interest in astrology, esoteric philosophies, poetry & meditation.
Crafting visual voices for creative business owners is my speciality.
So, if you want to start taking your business to the next level with a brand that you love OR if you are in need of a brand refresh, I am here to help you get your ideas off the ground.
If you are ready to crystalise your online presence and voice with visuals and a home that makes your products & services shine, here is how I can help:
My Latest Instagram Posts
You can find me @gemmalouise.k
