What do I do at e.g. Creative Solutions?

What do I do at e.g Creative Solutions? Great question!

Honestly, I have a hard time answering this, and the irony is not lost on me. 

Recently, I’ve been working in different offices, visiting businesses for various projects, and also just generally meeting new people! Inevitably, the dreaded question comes up; what do you do? 

If you’d asked me in 2016, the answer was, “I’m a forklift driver.” If we’d met again, I would have said, “I’m an intern cosmetic chemist.” The next time, I would have told you, “I work as an electrochemical engineer.” Then, “I work in the aerospace industry.” 

In 2022, I would have proudly said, “I’ve started my own business, mostly I do copywriting, but I do a bit of illustration and design too.” 

Last year, I would have told you, “I’m a picture book illustrator, but I also work in marketing.” 

…and these days, when people ask me, “What do you do?” I generally laugh a little and say, “I get around…” 

I suppose, to really simplify it, I have a creative business and I work in the marketing industry. 

This is what I mean about irony. I guess it’s like builders and their houses, I’m very proud of the projects I’ve worked on, helping other businesses with their marketing, but marketing myself is so much harder. 

If you know me as a picture book illustrator, this whole other career might come as a shock to you - don’t get me wrong! I’m still a picture book illustrator, and I love that side of my business, I love being an artist and I love art! But, to put it very bluntly, I have a mortgage and it can be really hard to pay all of my bills as an illustrator, so having diverse offerings has meant that I have a lot more security (plus, I enjoy the variety, and my illustration and design skills beautifully compliment my marketing work). 

I never want to complain about the illustration side of my business; I feel so lucky that I get to do this work for a job - it’s everything I dreamed of as a child! But it is a tough industry, and even in the few years I’ve been involved in it, there have been a lot of very sad changes as some people have started using generative AI. 

Anyway, the experience I’ve gained from working on creative projects like picture books, and also designing books, plus my pervious experience working in start ups and getting stuck into design, copywriting and marketing projects, all eventually led me here… 

I’m not sure exactly where here is, but I can tell you that I help businesses with paid advertising, designing assets and creatives, social media management (and content creation), SEO blog writing, and so much more. 

I often say that I help businesses stand out online, and in print. 

I love working with all kinds of businesses and can take care of marketing projects end-to-end, from strategy, through the design, creation, the implementation, all the way to the management and maintenance. 

Of course, I also enjoy jumping in smaller projects, just contribution the design, or the copywriting - one of my favourite things about working as a contractor in this space is working with other marketing experts and learning from their experience too! 

All this to say, hi! I’m Ella, I’m a marketing specialist, graphic designer, picture book illustrator, artist, and small business owner, and I’m really looking forward to sharing more about the projects I work on, or maybe even working together soon! 

One of my favourite things about being a creative is visiting schools around Christchurch and answering questions about my job!