Today we’d like to introduce you to Dexter Washington.
Hi Dexter, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In order to tell my story, I always need to dial it back a bit. From where I’ve been to where I am now if you told me I’d be where I’m at today, I wouldn’t believe you. From a rough upbringing where I experienced things that I shouldn’t have to failing schools because I couldn’t focus due to troubles at home. I used to work retail for a good amount of my early 20’s, just thinking to myself things I want to accomplish and how I’m going to get there without any degree or really any experience aside from pushing carts around. That type of work put me in an “I’ll never be able to do anything else” type of mindset, I wasn’t using my skills or my creative ideas and it put a weight on me everyday.
That weight pushed me to take a risk and tap into photography as a venture around 2012, photography was really the start of it all. I learned a lot about business and the “value” of something, and that right there was the shift in my mindset because I was slowly unraveling bad habits and old ways from my upbringing as I proved myself wrong about myself everyday. Trust me when I say it was a lot of inner work to reshape my mind to receive blessings in a way where I accept and don’t self-destruct. I learned that life is abundant if I focus on my goals.
A lot of life-changing things happened in between then and now, but fast forward to early 2021, I started Crafted Studios with a goal to create room to share opportunities and work with people that share a common goal – and of course solve brand and user experience problems at the highest level. In between all of that I joined the Mashman Ventures, a privately held PR firm as Head of Web Design. My recent goal as of late 2021 is to use Crafted Studios to help others break into project management and even UX/UI. Considering we’ve worked with some large brands such as Yahoo, Allegiant Airlines, and FalconX – it would be great if others can leverage some of that experience to their advantage. We’re a group of smart, creative, and strategic people who solve big business problems – but we also love to help others where we can.
I want to be able to say I did impactful gestures when it’s all said and done and I really do mean that. That may be more important to me than anything else because I wish I had this when I was coming up, I would have been more locked into a career path. All we really have is each other, when you look past everything we all are just people trying to make a living – whatever that living may be, there’s always a barrier of entry to get started.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Some struggles along the way have been pushing myself to go further while making sure I take care of myself. Growing up with anxiety & a copious amount of stress took a toll on my body, so it’s important for me to get my rest. The challenge business-wise with this has been creating room for me to be the best leader possible instead of getting caught up in the daily hustle, building a team allowed me to do that. To put it simply, I think it’s in any creative business owner’s best interest to put a team around them so that they can be the visionaries that they actually are instead of wearing every hat you possibly can. That’s a quick way for you to end up worn out or physically sick.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Crafted Studios is a web design and branding studio based in Los Angeles, but with team members both nationwide and internationally. We specialize in preparing businesses for new growth, when companies work with us they’ve usually outgrown their current brand direction or website at both a creative and technology wise. We help them mature into a company that has a creative direction & tech they can rely on for years to come.
With this, we’ve narrowed our position down to a single line ” We help brands focused on growth welcome new beginnings”.
What makes us so unique, I think is that we partner with a lot of different companies – a good amount of our work is collaborative, egoless, and working with some of the worlds best only helps us improve. We’re really creating a strong ecosystem here.
I’m most proud of offering the team and whoever works with us all the same rate. Typically, overseas workers get taken advantage of since the cost of living is a lot lower in other nations (such as Nigeria, compared to the United States). Some people see this as an opportunity to charge 5x the amount of a service just to make more profit without having to come out of pocket as much. We say no to this, it’s very unethical to us and we don’t respect that – so everyone gets paid by the market rate of The United States. What it costs to live in L.A. hourly is what everyone will make.
We have two international members so this is why it hits close to home when we see stuff like that. We don’t outsource, we work as a team because we are one.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was a very to myself kid that loved basketball and art. I was always sketching something when I wasn’t outside, although I didn’t keep up with my art to evolve it – the piece that stuck with me is my ability to see things differently. I always was outside, if there’s one thing for sure, I was a 90’s baby to the core – always on bikes and shooting hoops till dark. I was never the social one though, people older than me at that time always told me to “say something” pretty funny looking back on it, but till this day – I’m quiet, calm, and to myself.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.craftedstudios.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dexterwjr/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dexterwjr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO9k1qmwJnR5E5LYxMoNcXA
