YOU CAN CALL ME KRISSY
Founder, owner, coffee-obsessed graphic designer at InspireMatters.
WHAT'S YOUR STORY?
I carefully filled out and rushed in my first job applications the week before I turned 16 years old. This landed me my first job as a "sales rep" at a young girls' clothing store in our local mall. My managers and family members immediately recognized I had a knack for customer service, as well as the art of the sell. I worked there for two years, continuing with a transfer when I moved to Nashville, TN to pursue a higher education. I studied Music Business for a year, but decided to take a break and figure out what I really wanted to do. I worked various jobs ranging from receptionist to housekeeper to sales rep again, but never really feeling like what I did mattered or contributed to making the world a better place.
Shortly after we had our son in 2013, we realized I would need to become a stay-at-home mom. It was a story as cliché as Rolling Stone’s “you can’t always get what you want.” The girl who applied for jobs at 15 years old, and dreamed of penn skirts and skyscrapers and city apartments, became a stay-at-home mom.
After almost a year home with our son, Emerson, I decided to go back to school. I studied Public Relations and Marketing at Belmont University, and eventually started my first official marketing and graphic design job as an Assistant Restaurant Marketing Director for Chick-fil-A. Experiencing and interacting with one of the world's leading brands in customer service and branding is where I really fell in love with the importance and impact of a brand's visual statement.
How can a person can be instantaneously motivated by the site of the Nike "swoosh" because their neurons immediately whisper Just Do It?
How can a cow on a billboard pleading for life can somehow cause a person to eat chicken?
How can a half-eaten apple, of all things, can make us feel sleek, innovative, and forward-thinking?
I was fascinated by the power of marketing and good design. And I wondered if we could harness that power to drive positive change in the world.
I'm a hiker, outdoorsman, artist & musician. I'm a mom (to both human and canine) and wife, and I try everyday to provide a safe space for folks—the Neurodivergent community, the mental health community, the LGBTQ+ community, the Disability community and BIPOC.
I fell in love with graphic design the same way I fell in love with music and hiking. The difference here is that I found a way to make it my purpose. You see, as humans we are wired for passion. We call them hobbies, obsessions, interests. But it all really boils down to finding that sweet spot where what ignites you, what you’re actually good at, and what people really need all magically intersect.
I founded InspireMatters in July of 2017, and haven’t looked back.
Since that time, I’ve had the honor of working with hundreds of small businesses, artists, clinics, therapists, nonprofits, schools, and a lot of stuff in between.
I'm about inspiring what matters. I am incredibly humbled and honored to do what I do everyday; to get to be a small part of making your inspiring vision a reality. The opportunity to communicate that vision to others. The opportunity to be inspired by you.
Thank you for allowing me.
-Krissy