Meet Stacey Millett and Richard Shay of Willhouse in Ventura

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Millett and Richard Shay.

Stacey and Richard, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We met in 2009 at a bar, a true modern love story. Our relationship grew quickly because of our shared love for the arts and being creative. By 2010 we were working together and then later officially formed Willhouse. Prior to that fateful night we were pursuing our careers.

Stacey began her career with a passion for art and photography, after attending a photography school she dabbled in sports journalism and fashion photography.

Wedding and Lifestyle photography soon became home and still remains a large focus of her career. In 2009, when Richard and Stacey met she brushed off her art and design skills to assist then lead on graphic design for the duo. In addition, Stacey runs create workshops for both the public and private events such as bridal showers and corporate events.

After a curious attempt at a San Francisco film program, Richard moved back to his hometown of Ventura to focus his studies at Cal Lutheran University and graduated Magda Cum Laude in Multimedia. Richard spent 11 years working at a magazine in Malibu and now leads the tech side of our business. Rick can be found most days building websites, taking photos, laying out print ads, jamming to music and drinking espresso.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
When Richard and I began this journey it was a nice moving incline and because we lived within our means we were able to comfortably grow and transition to being self-employed.

Presently we are trying to navigate the balance of personal and professional. It takes great poise in running a business, there is always work to complete and it can be hard to shut down at the end of the day. Richard is getting out on his bike often and making the gym a priority and Stacey hikes and volunteers a few hours a week. Once you hit a level of success it is about maintaining the entire package and that includes your whole health.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Willhouse story. Tell us more about the business.
Together, we make a well-rounded pair, design and technology perfectly married, and two people that believe our success is measured by our client’s success. We are most proud of our ability to give back by mentoring and serving our community. We are truly happy people that feel like we are just getting started and have a lot of to share and a lot more current and future clients to help.

We are dreaming of the future of Willhouse and the canvas looks something like a large building (preferably historical) that is a bit of a greenhouse meets computer lab with a photo studio and large workshop space. It would have a beautiful kitchen, and a large outdoor space for both garden and pets. Our passion is being creative but also creating a community. We love to visit with our clients as they become like family and Willhouse headquarters someday will be a reality.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
To quote the queen Oprah “I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity.” We both worked tremendously hard and made great sacrifices to open doors to our careers. I think the luck struck when we met and this organic thing occurred that we just started slowly working on each other’s projects and it just grew until we made the full step into a partnership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.willhousecreative.com
  www.willhousephotography.com
  www.willhousefamily.com
• Email: willhousecreative@gmail.com
• Instagram: willhousecreative
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willhousecreative

Image Credit:
Willhouse

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