Meet Lauren Hargreaves | Performer, Artist & Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Hargreaves and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting Simply City Designs was a weird happenstance, I’ll be honest! One night during quarantine, I decided to teach myself how to use Adobe Illustrator, then that turned into making custom illustrations and about a month later, I started an instagram to share my art. Then a few weeks later I opened my Etsy shop with digital downloads of prints and the range of products have developed even more since then! Now I sell stickers, totes, and apparel and it’s quite crazy how it’s all happened. I love it, though, and I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received from friends, family, and strangers on this journey.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m really proud of the community that has been built thus far on Instagram. Since this all sort of started with posting my art on there, it has been very exciting to meet people through there and build this community of artists and business owners that all support each other. One major thing I’ve learned along the way is that literally nothing gets done or moves forward if you don’t make decisions. When you’re working for someone else, they make the decisions and you help execute them. In the case of owning your own business, if you don’t make decisions about your products and the direction of your business, nothing will happen. If you don’t have a creative idea for a post, nothing will be posted on Instagram or social media that day. You call all the shots and you have to be several steps ahead always. That is both exciting and nerve-racking. I want the world to see Simply City Designs as sort of a supportive and encouraging entity. I want so badly for everyone to know how special they are, so I think with who I am as a person, and what I try to do with my products and social media posts, is make people feel good. Whether that be through a sweatshirt with a saying that makes you smile every time you wear it or a sticker on your laptop that reminds you that the best it yet to come, I want people’s lives to feel a little brighter with SCD in it.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family, for sure, has been so so supportive and helpful on this journey. I have grandparents and aunts that have or have had their own businesses. My mom also runs her own consulting business so when I wanted to build this business, there was never a moment that they said, “Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” They were always 100% on board and have helped me a lot, whether it be taking orders to the post office, weighing in on some of the designs, or just overall encouraging me.

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/simplycitydesigns

Instagram: www.instagram.com/simplycitydesigns

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@simplycitydesigns