Hidden Gems: Meet Chris Corridore of Corridore Creative

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Corridore

Hi Chris, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story begins a few years into my career as a graphic designer. One morning, I showed up to work and got pulled into my boss’s office. I was shocked when I heard I was being let go. I was devastated as I didn’t see it coming. My wife and I were a few months away from having our first daughter. 90% of the company would end up getting laid off shortly after me.

After careful consideration, I decided to become a freelancer so that I could play the field and discover what area of design I wanted to focus on. This meant I could also be home with my newborn daughter. I spent the next few years being a stay-at-home dad/freelancer, which turned an awful situation into something better than I could have ever hoped for.

As time went on, the opportunities in my area became less and less and I started to get frustrated. It was time for another move. I wanted to start working in NYC which was about an hour and a half commute from where I lived. It was a goal I had been putting off for a while and now that my daughter was pre-school age I felt it was the right time.

I was nervous and not very confident that I was even talented enough to step foot into Manhattan as a designer. I hooked up with a recruitment agency, and two weeks later, I was commuting to 30 Rock and working for NBCUniversal. I felt like a fool. I had put working in Manhattan on such a large pedestal, that I thought it was out of reach for me. Over the next year, I worked on projects big and small for some major brands, including a packaging project for Target that is still on shelves today.

Then, my wife calls me up one day while I’m in the city. She got laid off, 8 months pregnant with our second daughter. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I thought. “Don’t panic,” I said to myself. We’ve been through this before. We know what to do.

On my last day of that particular gig, I got home, ate some Chinese food, and my wife went into labor. 28 hours later, my second daughter was born.

Work slowed down a bit after that until it came to a screeching halt when COVID hit and everyone stopped hiring freelancers. It was an extremely stressful time, as it was for so many people. My wife had gotten a good severance package, but it felt like a ticking time bomb. We were getting closer and closer to its expiration date.

Slowly work started coming in again, but it wasn’t enough. COVID had taken its toll. Manhattan wasn’t the same and those opportunities dried up. Then, a miracle happened. My wife got hired at a new company. Her first day of work was the SAME EXACT day that her severance package ended. You can’t make this shit up.
It was time for another change. Now with two kids and a giant dog, we were outgrowing our tiny NY home and needed more space. COVID had put a lot into perspective for us and we realized we wanted something different for our young family. We started looking at houses in North Carolina, amazed at how much more we could get for our money. So we said if my wife could stay working remotely and I found a job down there, we would go. Those two things happened faster than we expected and before we knew it, we were heading 500 miles south to start something new.

I was at my job for a little over a year before I got burnt out and decided to leave. My mental health was at an all-time low and was something I could no longer put off to deal with another time. So I came full circle back to freelancing so that I could get my mind right and shake off the stresses and traumas of the past few years.

Ultimately I decided I wanted to work for myself again, but this time I didn’t want to be just a hired gun. I want to go and confidently seek out my clients, and offer them the service that I’m most passionate about – which is branding. Over the past year, I’ve been learning about what it means to be an entrepreneur. I’ve been meeting the coolest people along the way and for the first time maybe ever, I feel like I am part of a community. It’s been a wild ride to get to this point, but I have no regrets. Every hardship along the way has turned into an insight about how I want to show up in life and the opportunity to live life on my terms.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road, but nothing good comes easy. The biggest struggles were the layoffs, COVID-19, and the mental/emotional tolls that they caused. But ultimately, they were all blessings in disguise that led me to exactly where I want to be, helping the people I want to help.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Corridore Creative?
I believe that branding is the most human thing we can do in business. It’s about standing up and saying “I saw you had this problem and I built a solution just for you.” My mission is to give top-tier brand strategy and design to entrepreneurs who are seeking a higher purpose.

It’s easy to make our brands about us and feed our egos. The truth is our brands are never about us. Brand building is always about the people you serve. You’re asking them to part with their two most valuable assets, time and money. This should be handled with the utmost respect.

I want to help entrepreneurs build their brands because there’s a group of people out there who need them. And a rock-solid brand foundation can help them connect with audiences faster and more efficiently.

I’m not your typical freelancer or agency. Think of me as the Chipotle of branding. I offer a small menu of quality services and a transparent process. This focus lets me deliver awesome results to entrepreneurs who want to express their brand with maximum impact. Just like Ron Swanson said, “Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing.” Branding is where I can be most useful.

I’m really proud of practicing what I preach. I know a lot of theory, but until I went all-in on my business I didn’t really understand what it FELT like to build a brand or business. Actually doing it humbled me and taught me so many lessons that I want to use to help other entrepreneurs.

So if you want to really understand what your brand is, how to communicate it with maximum impact, and bring it to life so that it sticks with your audience, I would love to help you.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
The city we moved to in North Carolina is amazing and a lot different from living in NY. It’s beautifully maintained, family friendly and there’s always lots to do. The people are as warm as the weather.

What I like least about it is that our extended family is not here with is yet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.corridorecreative.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriscorridore/