Welcome to the <em>press blog, <em> dash! We're so excited not only to share our long awaited theme shop with you, but our new blog as well! Here, you can expect to find a mix of blogging tips and tricks (covering everything from WordPress how-tos, to SEO tips, to our favorite blogging best practices), the latest industry news, musings about design and development, and essays on entrepreneurship from our founders, Victoria and Lisa.
To kick things off, we thought it might be fun if you got to know us better. Below, learn more about our founders with a fun Q&A we sent to our newsletter subscribers earlier in the summer.
Missed out on the action the first time around? You can always sign up for our newsletter right over here.
What's your blogging back story?
If we want to get technical about it, I totally had a LiveJournal AND a Xanga blog when I was in college, around the years 2004-2006! After I graduated, I decided to go to culinary school, and wrote a Blogger blog about my experiences in such a different learning environment. From there, the blog moved to WordPress and became the site most people remember me for: vmac+cheese. I began vmac+cheese in the summer of 2008, and over 9 years later, it still lives on as my current studio site at victoriamcginley.com/blog. I honestly cannot believe I have blogged for nearly a decade! It’s hard to imagine my life without a blog at this point.
What do you do now?
I launched my design studio in January of 2012. When I look back, I have always been designing — it’s just that when I was growing up, the concept of a web designer didn’t exist, so I never even thought about making it a career! I am a self-taught designer, and specialize in identity (i.e., branding) and web buildouts for digital influencers, retailers, and service providers in the fashion and lifestyle spaces. Fun fact: while I’ve known my <em>press co-founder Lisa since around 2010 or 2011, and we began working together professionally in early 2012, we did not meet in person until the summer of 2013, when I was living in New York City! Since then, we’ve only seen each other in person once, but we talk every single day. The Internet is funny!
Victoria's Fast Five:
First ever blog name?
I think my LiveJournal was the creatively named “Victoria’s LiveJournal.” I can’t remember my first Blogger name! I really think of vmac+cheese as my first ever REAL blog.
Favorite workplace tool or resource?
It’s a toss up between Slack and InVision.
Biggest business struggle?
Carving out time for me to think long term and strategically, versus getting too busy with day to day operations.
Proudest blogger/business accomplishment?
Sometimes I still can’t believe I was able to build a viable business (in which I get paid a real salary!) out of nothing. I’m pretty proud of that.
Favorite offline activity?
Obviously, I enjoy cooking! I also love hitting up those beautiful (yet foggy!) Pacific Coast beaches, dining out in SF’s amazing food scene, and snuggling with my French bulldog Lucy while we watch Real Housewives (NYC and BH are my clear faves).
What's your blogging back story?
Though I never hopped on the LiveJournal train, I definitely had a Xanga blog in college! After graduation, I worked in the publications department for a non-profit and spent my lunch breaks on Google Reader (RIP). The non-profit wanted to bring the website in house, and with some coding knowledge, I raised my hand to take over website maintenance, on this new-to-me platform called WordPress. I geeked out, ran home, and hit publish on my own WordPress site. It became my online playground, where I spent the next 2 years redesigning and recoding it every 3 months. Over 7 years later, it's now an important part of my business!
What do you do now?
Through all the redesigns, people started reaching out for help with their own WordPress sites, and I officially launched my business in April of 2012. I specialize in WordPress development for blogs, and I am a total geek for making things user-friendly, because I know how frustrating it can be when you want to change something on your site and don't know how to do it. Fun fact: Victoria was one of my very first clients! She reached out with a WordPress issue for her site, and we later started working together on client projects.
Lisa's Fast Five:
First ever blog name?
I had the hardest time coming up with a name and was just going to buy some variation of my own name, but “Lisa Butler” is a very common name. (Fun fact: I always wanted to be a makeup artist, and there's a famous one by the same name!) I finally settled on spelling out my initials and fell in love with it, but even that domain was taken. So I settled on “Everyday Elembee,” eventually changing to “Elembee, Etc.” Luckily, elembee.com eventually became available, and I snatched it up!
Favorite workplace tool or resource?
That's a tough one! Toss up between Asana and Slack.
Biggest business struggle?
Recognizing and riding the waves. Business has its natural ups and downs. I can be hard on myself, and I don't always recognize when I just need to take a break.
Proudest blogger/business accomplishment?
Hitting the 5-year mark. I realized recently that I've doing this almost twice as long as any other job I've held! Half a decade feels huge, especially when you see the statistics for small businesses.
Favorite offline activity?
I play flute in what I affectionately call nerd band, also known as the local community band. Our local theater has an awesome discount day, so my boyfriend and I are constantly checking out new movies, when we aren't catching up on Stranger Things, Daredevil, and other Netflix shows. I also love spoiling my Jack Russell/Westie mix Dobby.
