Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Garrett.
Monica, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Southern California, and by that, I mean I’ve lived in so several LA County cities that saying ‘SoCal’ captures it best. When I was 14 my family moved to Charleston, South Carolina.
My interest in design began at an early age and it expressed by me keeping inspiration journals compiled of images from magazines. When I was younger I aspired to be a model, but stopping at 5’0, that dream ended fast. I had this connection with making pretty things and having everything ‘styled’. I had this desire to style everything. Maybe it was a bit OCD but it was definitely more about design and balance to me.
I did well in my art classes and took my first graphic design class in high school. I was hooked. Since it was 1999, and the class was new, so were the computer programs we used to design in. I started in PageMaker and if anyone knows what that is, my hat goes off to you!
I studied Advertising at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida my first year of college. That year, I took a trip to New York and attended a Women in Advertising Conference which amped my desire to be in the field. Everyone I spoke with there said they studied Art in school. So I went back to South Carolina to study Art and Graphic Design at the University of South Carolina, (the other USC) to really challenge myself.
I always had the urge to move back to California as I never felt ‘right’ in the south. I received my degree from California State University, Long Beach and wanted to jump into work fast. I’ve had some dream jobs and not so dream jobs, but what I learned ultimately, was that I wanted to be my own boss.
I started my first business at the age of 26 in a studio apartment in Long Beach. That business focused on wedding and event invitations and I eventually opened a shared retail space in Long Beach with 3 others in the wedding industry. After 5 years, I closed the doors to that business and took on a new path.
I scored a job as an Art Director for a local magazine in Orange County called OC Family and I loved it, most of the time. But I knew I wanted to do my own thing again and then I opened the Margaux Agency.
The Margaux Agency is a modern marketing agency whose mission is to leverage branding and digital marketing tools to increase sales for our clients. These days I work as head honcho managing the everyday and our subcontractors. Our approach is creative in its execution and strategic in accelerating growth for our clients.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road, at all! I think that is one of the thrills of being a business owner, honestly.
You will fail but you must learn from those failures. I don’t regret anything I have done with growing my businesses. I’m always learning from myself and others but you have to know when to step away from all the noise.
There is a plethora of information out there, it is easy to get overwhelmed and lose track of your goal. Now, I love offering consulting services to other business owners. Helping them avoid the same mistakes.
Margaux Agency – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
“Everything has changed. It’s time we change the way we work too.”
Ten years ago, online marketing was an afterthought for entrepreneurs. Today, it’s the most important aspect of growing your business. With the ever-changing digital technology, social media and instant access to almost anything, it means our clients are online too. The need for marketing to connect strategically, emotionally and honestly is more crucial than ever.
With complete strategic branding, digital marketing, and lifestyle-focused social media, the Margaux Agency is reinventing the way entrepreneurs market themselves today.
We love working with entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses on rebranding their company and changing their strategy for marketing to grow their online presence.
We love a local-first approach. Our services are designed to be locally relevant but globally adaptable. We start by solving problems we see in our local context but develop services that can be adopted in other regions and be adapted to be locally relevant in
those regions.
The local-first approach enables us to adequately solve problems for a specific demographic that we have direct access to, can analyze and engage with. This is in contrast to generic solutions or “something for everyone” for remote problems or users we may only partly understand.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
For me, one of my proudest moments of my career so far has been being one of the 40 Under 40 by the LB Post in 2012. There is so much talent coming from Long Beach to be recognized as an industry leader was pretty cool. Having my community acknowledge me for my work was awesome!
Pricing:
- Strategy Session – $999
- Brand Identity Package – $3000+
- Website Design + Development – $5000+
- Social Media Management – $500/month per account
Contact Info:
- Website: https://margauxagency.com
- Phone: (562) 584-0444
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margauxagency/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margauxagency/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/margaux_agency
- Other: https://modernentrepreneurs.club/
Image Credit:
Nola Fontanez
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
