Meet the .1%
Apr 28, 2020
.1%. That number stopped us in our tracks. Only .1% of advertising agencies are founded by women. And Brooklyn’s Shion Studio, just happens to be one of them.
We connected with Founder and Creative Director, Katie Steward (pictured above with Shion COO, Eunice Ahn), about where her inspiration and resolve come from.
RC: Tell us about your company.
KS: We’re a design studio for inspirational brands in pivotal moments of growth. Right now, we’re focusing on helping female-led startups get their business off the ground with custom branding. We have a spring promotion in place specifically for female founders: https://shionstudio.com/springpromotion
RC: What’s your background in the industry?
KS: I started out working as an art director at large advertising agencies. A little over two years ago, I left that world to start my own studio. The goal of my studio is to build brands with intention, artistry and balance. Working on an organized schedule, keeping our designs custom and strategic, and making sure the experience is enjoyable for everyone involved.
We work out of The Wing, a women’s workspace in Brooklyn. It’s important to us to be advocates of other female founded companies, and to dedicate a good amount of our time to working with these companies to bring high quality design to their businesses at an early stage. A company with good strategy, design, and consideration has a better chance of getting funded and growing.We want to help that happen for female-led businesses.
RC: Any advice for aspiring female founders out there?
KS: Go for it. Oftentimes, what holds us back as women, is just the fear of failure. It’s worth taking the risk, working hard, and seeing what happens.
RC: What have some of your challenges been?
KS: There are a lot of challenges as a woman business owner that arise everyday. One that I do think is important to mention, is that while we need to support other women-led businesses, we should not isolate ourselves to only work with other female founders. 68% of businesses are owned by men, and the challenge is to get our networks to work together so women-led businesses can grow in the market as a whole.
RC: How do you stay motivated?
KS: By maintaining a daily routine, and bouncing ideas, thoughts, and feeling off of my business partner. I also started working with a career coach who has been really helpful in guiding me towards some manageable goals, and growing my business.
RC: Anything else you’d like to share?
KS: We host a podcast called In The Making, that explores what it’s like to be in the process of building something you believe in. Whether it’s a company, an album, an art gallery, or something else entirely, we’re talking to people about what they’re making, why they’re making it, and how it’s going. We’re growing our founder community by telling these stories, and we’re always looking for new people to interview and talk to. https://shionstudio.com/podcast