We were lucky to catch up with Kayleigh Eilenberger recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kayleigh , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I come from a family of small business owners. My grandfather owned a roofing business he started with his brother that my father eventually took over. He worked by himself or with a small crew depending on the job, and my mother has successfully run a cleaning business for the majority of my life with herself as the sole employee. My parents were my first exposure to hard working entrepreneurs, they showed me it was possible to be your own boss and be successful.
When I was 15 years old my father suddenly passed away which completely destroyed my world, but one thing that pushed me forward was wanting to make him proud. He always told me that I would make something of myself, and that’s fueled me my entire life to work hard so I could prove him right.
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 am a craft bartender by night, freelance graphic designer and small business owner by day. I have worked in the restaurant and bar industry for many years of my life and food & beverage play’s a role in what inspires my artwork. I aim to bring small moments of joy to people because life can be overwhelming sometimes.
At night you can either find me at the Bar Next Door in WeHo or at Bar Chloe in Santa Monica getting creative with cocktails behind the bar. By day you’ll find me running an online shop, taking on freelance clients and vending pop-up markets.
I love helping small businesses by creating cohesive branding and marketing assets that attract their target audience and builds a repeat customer base. My favorite types of small business to work with are you guessed it…businesses in the food and beverage space.
My hospitality background has also influenced me to create art prints, stickers, apparel and greeting cards that are food and beverage related. Food and Beverage brings people together and I think that’s part of the reason I enjoy creating products that are food and beverage themed.
In addition to some new food-pun greeting cards, I recently designed and pressed some new crewnecks. One is a monogram of “LA” to represent the city I’ve lived in for the past 8 years with a palm tree “L” and a wave “A”. I’m excited to create more LA themed products in 2025. The second crew neck has “trying my best” in a simple handwritten script font, and is for everyone out there that is trying their best to get through the game of life. Both have been available at pop-up markets and will soon be available in my online shop and may already be depending on when you’re reading this interview.
Following along on instagram to stay up-to-date with new product and service offerings.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Hospitality as stated in my previous response is a major skillset and area of knowledge that has greatly impacted my journey. It’s provided for me financially, given me customer services skills, and given me a creative subject I’m passionate about in more ways than one.
Determination is a quality I derived out of the grief I had after the loss of my father. I wouldn’t be where I am or the person I am today without this life changing experience. It’s continually pushed me to keep evolving into a better version of myself.
Illustration is a skill that is a major part of my small business, whether it’s for my products or my freelance clients. Illustration has also been something that’s been a part of my life from a young age. As a kid, the Sunday comics in the newspaper were a major source of inspiration for me, I would draw the Peanuts and Garfield in my sketch book and eventually moved on to my own creative ideas.
A piece of advice I’d like to share with others, is don’t let speed bumps in the road of life slow you down, use them to push you forward. Use your own life as inspiration, creating things you have a connection to is much more meaningful than trying to create things just because they’re trending.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron played a major role in my creative and small business journey. It’s a 12-week “course” that helps you recover your creative self. The author is comical and relatable. This book got me to start purposefully journaling and enjoy it, which I tried many times throughout life and couldn’t create a habit of. I also developed an appreciation for affirmations because they were included in my journaling.
Reading this book gave me confidence as an artist and a small business owner, it also set me on a path to keep evolving myself into the best version of myself I can possibly be. I know I will return to this book for a creative and confidence boost throughout my journey, I even plan on starting my 2025 book journey out by re-reading it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bananapressdesign.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bananapressdesign.co/
