Meet Santiago Pareja

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Santiago Pareja. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Santiago, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

To be honest I wouldn’t say I have many “haters” at least that I know of, but I guess the way I persist is by just continuing to create… while I may create for a living I definitely live to create.. I do it just because I find it therapeutic and essential to my well being. The release of self expression and letting it run wild into the world. like a hunter running through the woods the adrenaline and euphoric feeling that is produced while one is in the middle of a work flow, chasing a thought/idea, is something that I constantly chase after. I feel too many people focus on what others are saying or thinking and that is just a vicious cycle of creative block waiting to happen. I try to really only stay in competition with myself, everybody else is either a potential client or collaboration. There is too much to offer this world through creativity to be focused on all the negative.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I get asked what I do quite often. It’s never an easy answer since in my field of work you have to wear many hats as a one person studio. At the root of things. I help people and businesses bring their vision and ideas to life. I love what I do. As a graphic designer for about 15 years now I have had to learn how to be a photographer, video editor, web designer, animator, illustrator, printer, embroiderer and just an overall problem solver for the everyday needs of marketing that a business or person might encounter. I tend to work a lot with the cannabis and music industry but have had all types of clients from military to beauty, to imports, luxury and food industries. At the end of the day no matter the person or client, the job is the same, bring their ideas to life and represent them as best as possible. the goal is for them to feel proud in “showing off” their brand. What I find is most exciting is developing a brand from its roots and seeing how far it goes and to see how the public interacts it. It’s special. It’s a way of creating culture. its way of making an everlasting imprint in society by means of collaborations with others.. it’s just beautiful all the way around.

When I started Cheebs & Company I had no idea where it was going to head I just knew it was time for me to create my own branding, at the time is was 2020, I was traveling across the United States driving from California to Virginia and had already spent the past few years working for myself as a freelancer. I was the creative director for this larger company in south Florida before hand but wanted to travel and see this beautiful country more, so I packed up all my stuff and left to the other side of the country ending up in Washington state for a few years.

Fast forward to 2020 as I was driving through the desert just past Death Valley and these edible gummies were starting to kick in. Thoughts start racing at a million but one thing in particular kept coming back to me “Life is truly Better with a little Cheebs & Company”. Growing up in florida, cannabis isn’t anything out of the ordinary, and the daily sesh was pretty much a ritual between my friends and I. From that car ride everything just started falling into place. designs, ideas, plans. it was like the door I was waiting for finally opened. Since then Cheebs & company has developed into a design studio & creative lifestyle brand. We offer our personal merchandise that we will be updating for 2025, as well as many design, brand development and print services. Our Goal is to connect the world through creativity. whether it be a business to its customers or a musician to its audience. Through our work we have gotten the pleasure to work with some high profile clients as well as many small businesses that continue to grow larger everyday. For this upcoming year we have a ton of exciting collaborations in the works with a few celebs that I know will make waves, unfortunately I cannot discuss those details just yet until products are released.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

3 things I think are most impactful for my journey, wow ok, lets see.

1: knowing and learning how to communicate effectively while being able to take criticism and turning it around into something productive. in my industry there are too many people who only know what they want when they see it, until then they just “don’t like it”. I can’t tell you how many times ive heard of other designers losing clients or accounts because their ego gets in the way. Im not saying this is the reason why ive been able to stay afloat, but I can say nearly if not all my clientele comes fro word of mouth.. it all starts with how you treat people, how you communicate with them and how you can deliver the results they are looking for… at the end of the day yes we may know what looks best, but its “their” company and the one paying should get exactly what they want. Our job as a designer is to give them exactly what they want in the most Professional way possible and try to guide them into representing their brand better if we have better suggestions.

2: Be a sponge when it comes to art, music, content and culture.. Literally take it all in. Any artist can agree that inspiration can come from the tiniest of things. So the more you take in and embrace the more ” creative ideas” that can pop out of ” the nothing”. In this line of work there is ” A LOT OF CONNECTING THE DOTS” it’s how a message gets sent across platforms effectively…. We all know the United States is a melting pot, there are hundreds of different cultures all living together. taking in different cultural reference always helps with reaching the most amount of people. Music, movies even if you don’t know the language, it all can open up so many doors and different states of thought that you previously wouldn’t have put together.

3: Focus on you, what makes you happy, what you love and what you think looks cool! STOP OBSESSING OVER PINTEREST AND GOOGLE IMAGES FOR INSPIRATION….. I cannot tell you how many peoples work all looks the same and its because they are too afraid to just be themselves. This is what will make you stand out. There our thousands of designers as competition, there are sites like fiver and places where they can all get these $5 generic logos, we now also live in a world with Artificial intelligence… The one thing they can’t be is YOU. Its what will set you apart from the rest, then your ability to communicate and solve their problems will keep them coming back. Learn the rules and then learn how to break them in your favor.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I guess a particular challenge im facing right now is finding a good balance in time to create more for my self…. Currently I am running 2 different businesses as well as being my father’s care taker. My father had a stroke recently and cannot walk for himself yet. Both my parents are getting up there in age, now I have no problem taking care of them, the family business and my own design business but it does leave very little time to design and create any type of art for my self. Thankfully there is this long list of ideas for future projects to create that never stops being added too. Currently i have been organizing and planning to set up a new series of merchandise for 2025. Of course with everything in life we must roll with the punches and be there for those that have always been there for us. The universe always has a way of making sure everything works out in the end one way or another, even if it isn’t exactly how we pictured it. Im very grateful for having some of the best clients in the world, they have been more than supportive and understanding during these times. We are still creating magic thankfully and the blessings don’t stop coming in even in the hard times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cheebs.co
• Instagram: @cheebs_co
• Youtube: @cheebs_co

Image Credits

Santiago Pareja