Branding is for Everybody

A night with Megan Hayes and Kimberly Reilly of Everybody Water

Join us at Donna's beautiful Venegas and Co for an evening with the co-founders of Everybody Water and their fascinating journey to entrepreneurship, social consciousness and the skills they have learned along the way.  We will enjoy learning Everybody Water's secrets to best practices in brand development and design.  Megan and Kim's unique approach to business  with a mission has been instrumental to their success in grass roots marketing and success.  
Everybody Water is a new local, women-owned social impact company based in Cohasset, MA that is on a mission to elevate awareness and build a community of businesses and consumers determined to end the global water crisis. Everybody Water sells premium water in a 16.9 oz. carton, supporting clean water projects for people around the world who don’t have access… permanent solutions that have an enormous impact on peoples’ lives, especially women and girls. As mothers and entrepreneurs, partners Megan Hayes and Kimberly Reilly wanted to find a way to give back to a person’s most basic need, water, and have it in an eco-friendly package.  They are building a community of people and businesses who want to do the same!

The carton is 100% recyclable, the paper is made from trees from certified forests by the FSC, and the cap is derived from sugarcane.  

When:  Tuesday, Feb. 4

Time:  7:00 pm

Where:  Venegas and Co

477 Harrison Ave, 2nd floor

RSVP:  jill.palese@gmail.com

Please bring wine or snacks to share with the group!  

Design Salon is growing!

Please join for the first meeting of Design Salon 2- South Shore with Organizing Guru, Corinne Morahan of Grid and Glam  

Salonistas, if you live on the South Shore and have been trying to attend a Design Salon meeting in Boston, there is a new group forming!  It's a great way to build your local community of design professionals, entrepreneurs and ladies nearby.  We'd love to see you at the first South Shore meet up.

When:  Thursday, November 14th

Time:  6:30-8:30

Where:  VW Design Loft

132 Front Street 2nd Floor

Scituate

RSVP:  sales@violandiandwarnerinteriors.com

Space is limited to 40 people.  Please RSVP to reserve your spot.

Salonistas, You're Invited

If you happen to be free tomorrow evening, this is a wonderful event, hosted by Boston Magazine!   You are likely to meet some great new and like-minded Bostonians.  Hope to see you there.  Please RSVP on eventbrite.

Cheers, Jill + Jill

Tastemaker and Tastemaking Spring Mash Up with Leah Palone, Senior Marketing Director and Abby Bieglaus, Lifestyle Editor at Boston Magazine and Marni Katz, Style Writer, Curator and Blogger

The delicate dance between a designer and style "broadcaster" is critical to our line of work.  Creating a product/service, then talking about the same product/service means building strong brand identity and maintaining relationships with partners who have the range to create buzz.  Designers need marketers, style editors and bloggers... and vice versa.  If you are a small business, you likely have a tiny budget for PR and fancy promotion campaigns.  Luckily, Boston in filled with generous, creative women who dig building the community of designers and makers; connecting those who make with those who curate.    

Please join us on Tuesday, May 1st at Lekker Home for a panel discussion with some Fabulous ladies of Boston Magazine and Style write Marni Katz for a little spring refresher on sharing your product with the community.   Feel free to share photos or examples of your work. 

Leah Palone, Senior Director of Marketing, Boston magazine

Leah leads the marketing and brand strategy for Boston magazine, Boston Weddings, Boston Home, and bostonmagazine.com. Leah is responsible for the development of new programs and sponsorships. Additionally, she is responsible for leading corporate community engagement and media partnerships to support organizations within the Boston area. She has a passion for food, her home and family, Boston, and creating exceptional experiences that bring brands to life. Leah lives in Swampscott, MA with her husband Mickey, seven-month-old daughter Phoebe, and Goldendoodle Stanley aka Stan the Man.

Abby Bieglaus, Lifestyle Editor, Boston Magazine

Prior to becoming the Lifestyle Editor at Boston Magazine, Abby was a freelance wardrobe stylist in the area working with such clients as Converse and Levi's. 

Marni Kaufman Katz, Curator/Art Consultant at Webster & Company, Correspondent at Boston Globe, Freelance Writer at Boston Common, Interiors Boston, Modern Luxury Wedding and  Blogger, @Style Carrot     

Jill Palese, "one of the Jills" and co-founder of Design Salon and Founder of Call To Action Design, C2A, will be the moderator for this panel.  

When: Tuesday, May 1st 

Time:  7:00 pm

Where:  Lekker

1313 Washington Street

Boston, MA  

RSVP:  Jill.palese@gmail.com

Please bring wine and snacks for the group

Spring Strategy Session With Kim Dawson

Kim Dawson, The Sassy Strategist, will give your business strategies a thorough spring cleaning!  

Salonistas, it's easy to feel frustrated this time of year!  Reaching your financial goals, struggling to find customers and clients, seeking the best way to market yourself and your brand, dealing with a long "To Do list" and no budget to hire help.   These are the challenges that every creative business owner faces.  Kim will challenge you to look at your business strategy much the same way that you design your projects so that you can discover great solutions to get your desired results. In this presentation, you will learn 3 key strategies for taking control of your business for beautiful, successful results. 

If you'd like, please send Kim Dawson kim@kdawsonco.com some advance questions that are vexing you and your brand.  

About Kim:  Kim Dawson is a  Business Strategist specializing in helping small business owners connect their entrepreneurial passion to smart, effective strategies in order to achieve the results they deserve, such as more money, more time, more impact and long lasting success.  Her specialty areas include revenue generation, pricing, scalability,business development and growth and branding. 

Before becoming a consultant, Kim was co-founder of Atalasoft, a software company based in Western Massachusetts, and owned/operated a health and wellness company, The Wellness Workout. Kim earned her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting & Business Administration, and a Master’s degree in Nutrition.Kim recently joined the Advisory Board of Abundance Farm, a food justice farm and outdoor classroom focused on promoting food justice, community, and outdoor education of the natural world. Kim previously served as an advisor and Chief Operating Officer of Boston Business Women, a professional membership organization focused on supporting women entrepreneurs through community, wellness, and career development. Kim is currently a member of the “Dream Team” of BostonSpeaks, a communication, business, and leadership training company.Kim is the host of ‘The Sassy Strategist Podcast‘ and is launching her first book in 2018, “From Passion to Profits: The Sassy Strategist’s Guide To Building Your Business.”

When;  Tuesday:  March 20

Where:  Lekker  

1313 Washington Street

Boston, MA  02118

RSVP:  Jill.Palese@gmail.com
Please bring snacks and wine to share with the group

Marketing Sh*t

A Night with Christina Fagan, 
CKO of Sh*t That I Knit


Please join Design Salon and Christina Fagan at Neoscape on Tuesday night.  Christina's shit is ON FIRE!  She has managed to make knitting very cool and has turned her high end knitwear into "a thing" by using a catchy company name, along with clever instagram tricks.  Christina, a Boston area native, has taken her passion for knitting to a whole new level.... the marketplace
is loving Christia's sh*t!  

Sh*t That I Knit is a knitwear company based out of Boston, MA. Our Founder and CKO (Chief Knitting Officer), Christina, learned how to knit as a 10 year old from the CMO (Chief Mom Officer) in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. As we head into our third season selling knit sh*t, we now employ a group of women in Lima, Peru who are much better knitters than we are. Because of companies like ours, they can knit from home- enabling them to take care of their children while bringing in income to support their families. 

Sh*t That I Knit was founded out of a serious love of knitting and a minor love for joking around about the word sh*t. We like to keep it light, but to get mushy for a moment, it's because of people like you, supporting small business and insane entrepreneurs, that we get to live out this dream life everyday. 

Thank you for supporting our dreams - we sincerely hope you love your knit sh*t as much as we love making it!! 

When:  Tuesday, January 30

Time:  7:00

Where:  Neoscape

23 Drydock Ave  Suite 710W

Plenty of parking in the spaces!

RSVP:  Jill.palese@gmail.com

Please bring wine or snacks to share

Photo Styling for Outstanding Social Media

Please join us on Tuesday, December 19 for an evening to learn about photo styling for Social Media.  Our panelists specialize in Food, Fashion, Interiors and lifestyle and will share tips for successful imagery.  If last minute holiday gifts are on your mind, Katheryn Yee, our moderator and founder of The Everyday Co. will open her pop up shop an hour before we meet.  Stop over and see her!

When:  Tuesday, Dec 19 

Time:  7:00 pm

Where:  Neoscape

23 Drydock Ave, Suite 710W

Please Bring holiday wine and treats to share with the group

RSVP: Jill.palese@gmail.com

Style Director Joss and Main, Donna Garlough


Donna is the Style Director for Joss & Main, a wee little home-decor site with 20 million members (and some pretty amazing products). She lives and breathes color and pattern, lamps and linens, chairs and chandeliers. Donna transforms ideas into photos, pieces into looks, aspirational into attainable. She has Champagne taste, but is also a little bit cheap. Except when it comes to Champagne. And hotels. And toilet paper. 
Donna's work and words have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, InStyle, Glamour, Real Simple, Country Living, the Huffington Post, SheKnows, Brit + Co., About.com, and now, Self Styled, her new book book launching soon. 



Fashion Stylist, Aricia Symes-Elmer 

Aricia Symes-Elmer, founder of Unfoldid is a style expert and professional wardrobe consultant serving the greater Boston area.  Aricia earned a double degree in International Business and Asian Studies from University of Vermont and an MBA from Stern at New York University.  Aricia has traveled the world working on a variety of roles in fashion.  These roles include everything from coordinating designs, sourcing, manufacturing and shipping in China and Europe for a New England-based shoe company, to working on the privatization of the largest chain of women’s clothing stores in Croatia.  

After her work overseas, she started her own personal styling business, Shift Your Style. Aricia has worked in print, modeling, fashion show production and corporate events throughout the country from Las Vegas to New York.

Aricia's experience includes work as a style contributor on CBS/WBZ-TV, contributing style feature writer for Northshore Magazine, the exclusive Stylist and Personal Shopper of the Northshore Mall, and the Resident Professional Stylist for Assembly Row and Linden Square Wellesley.  Some of our clients include companies such as Boston Consulting Group, TripAdvisor, as well as on-air personalities and corporate executives.

Interior and Lifestyle Photographer, Joyelle West

Joyelle West has been a busy girl. She has an impressive and lengthy client list, including Homepolish, Joss &Main, Remodelista, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Home, Cosmopolitan, and AllModern. Her work has been featured widely in publications and blogs, including Design New England, Houzz, Design Sponge, Rue Daily, Architectural Digest, Domino, and Apartment Therapy.  When not photographing, she's outdoors somewhere in New England, usually hiking or climbing. She loves Instagram and has been known to inadvertently use an embarrassing hashtag. You can see her work on her website www.joyellewest.com and she's currently photographing a book Self Styled, due out in Spring 2018. 

Lifestyle and Food Blogger, Kate Bowler (@domestikateblog)

 

Kate is a Boston-area based lifestyle blogger behind Domestikatedlife.com, where she writes about food, entertaining, style and family. Kate's work has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, The Improper Bostonian, and many other digital publications. In addition to managing her blog, she is the co-President of the Boston Bloggers Association and is currently working on her first cookbook, due out in Fall 2018. 

Lifestyle Product Company Founder, Kathryn Yee, Moderator 



Kathryn Yee, founder of The Everyday Co., a stylish and sustainable Boston based lifestyle brand.  Kathryn will be our moderator for the evening.  Stop by to say hi to Kathryn at the holiday Pop Up Shop at 19 Drydock Ave M-Th 10-4.  Kathryn will also be open an  hour before the Design Salon event!

 






About Our Host

Established in 1995 as a visualization firm, Neoscape has evolved into a full-service creative consultancy with studios in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco. Over the years, our team of passionate and curious problem-solvers has created integrated visual campaigns for some of the biggest companies in commercial and residential real estate, hospitality, and travel. Our objective is to create immersive storytelling experiences for our clients that spark understanding, kindle vision, and ignite buy-in.

"You Make It Possible"

Creative Coaching Night with Elaine Totten Davis

Salonistias, you already know that you have the creativity and desire to achieve success as a designer.  But do you ever feel like you could use someone by your side to help you push past the blocks that hinder your work?  We all have that little voice inside our heads that sometimes creates doubt, fear and anxiety that gets in the way of accomplishing all of your goals.  

Please join us at Venegas and Company's new south end Showroom.  Owned by Donna Venegas, this Five woman Design Firm and showroom has become the leader in custom cabinetry in Boston.

On April 4th, we will meet Elaine Totten Davis of You Make It Possible who will work with us to listen, guide, advise and challenge us to figure out what we truly want for our professional lives.
For more than two decades Elaine worked in advertising and publishing. Working with photographers, art directors, designers and writers, she gained a deep respect for the creative process and for the unique qualities of creative professionals, and learned up close how their work affects their personal and professional lives.
Elaine's coaching process includes:
 ▪ Drawing people out and getting them excited and focused
 ▪ Inspiring positive energy
 ▪ Inspiring people to fall in love with who they are and their own unique happiness
 ▪ Giving my whole heart to stand behind you and support you to achieve your goals
   Elaine earned her Certified Professional Coach (CPC) certificate from iPEC – the Institute for ProfessionalExcellence in Coaching. iPEC is accredited by the International Coach Federation, and is the first and only International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited coach training school to include in its curriculum all of the training needed to qualify as a Master Level Coach.

 Please join us!

When:  Tuesday, April 4th
Where:  Venegas and Company- 477 Harrison Ave #2A
RSVP:  Jill.palese@gmail.com

In the Company of Boston Creative Women

5 Kick Ass Women Who Get Shit Done

Design Salon has no shortage of creative, fantastic, entrepreneurial, gals who are making a difference in the Boston Design community.   The evening's discussion will be a continuation of Grace Bonney's book In the Company of Women-Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists and Entrepreneurs.  Please join "Designing Women" Barbara Vail, Haley Mistler,  Joyelle West, Nicole Baas, Sonja Haviland as they share their creative careers, tips, etc.  This is a great networking opportunity and we love to see new faces.  

 Tuesday, January 24

7:00

Where: Lekker
1313 Washington Street, Boston

RSVP:  Jill.palese@gmail.com

Please bring snacks and wine to share

Barbara Vail 

Interior Designer 

Growing up with an auctioneer for a father, I was taught that everything has a story -- that pieces don’t just take up physical space, but that they mean something because of where they were found, when they were found, or whom they were passed down from. 

 

My formal education reflects my interest in both interior design and the wellness of the human body. After completing my degree in Nutrition, I moved on to study Residential Interiors at Boston Architectural College. This background has helped me to approach projects holistically, as I create or redesign spaces in a way that is attentive to the impact those spaces will have on the people living in them. 

Haley Mistler 

Graphic Artist  

A Boston-based freelance graphic designer and budding illustrator. Designing professionally for over 9 years, she's had the pleasure of working with many companies of all sizes to create beautiful visuals. In graphic design, she especially loves branding work. In illustration, she moves away from the computer, using pen, ink and watercolor to make images by hand. Haley is a graduate of the New England School of Art and Design.

Joyelle West 

Photographer 

Her clients include Homepolish, Joss & Main, Remodelista, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Home, Cosmopolitan, and AllModern. Her work has been featured widely in publications and blogs, including Design New England, Houzz, Design Sponge, Rue Daily, Architectural Digest, Domino, and Apartment Therapy. When not photographing, she's outdoors somewhere in New England, usually hiking or climbing. She loves Instagram and has been known to inadvertently use an embarrassing hashtag. You can see her work at www.joyellewest.com, and she's currently photographing a book Self Styled, due out in Spring 2018. 

Nicole Baas 

Photographer 

She’s one of the few left and right brain gals in the neighborhood.  It's difficult to believe that Nicole graduated with a business degree and a focus on accounting/finance/economics.   Her work boasts that of a fine artist with a finely tuned style...not a numbers gal.  Nicole worked in advertising until 2013, when she launched her own wedding and lifestyle photography brand.  Now, currently in her 4th year of business, her unique trademark nature inspired look is in the process of transitioning to commercial and editorial work for retail, lifestyle and interior brands. In addition to photography, Nicole, with her naturalist's eye, is about to launch a floral photography business in collaboration with a local floral designer. 

Sonia Haviland 

Interior Designer

After working with top firms in the industry on both coasts, in 2015 Sonja launched the eponymous design firm. Sonja’s studio creates signature spaces through custom interiors and project management.

Her extensive background and versatility as a designer, enables Sonja the opportunity to work across hospitality, retail, commercial and residential spaces. Her commitment to her clients and partners along with her enthusiasm and flexibility creates designs that are innovative and thoughtful. In 2014, Sonja was honored with the Rising Star Award for excellence in retail design and a 2013 VMSD Designer Dozen recipient.Sonja holds degrees in Studio Art & Art History from Gettysburg College and Interior Design from the Parsons School of Design.