Check Out Alexis Jenssen’s Story

After graduating from Art school in Portland Oregon, I began Alexis Jenssen Art & Design, where I spent time creating logos and doing commission work as a side hustle while I worked my corporate 9-5.

In 2010, my mother and I opened a beautiful gift shop in Southeast Portland where we worked with some amazing local artisans and craftspeople. I discovered very quickly that my small business’s bliss was in the operations, the development, the branding, and the design.

Over the next few years, I began a transition, I wanted to learn as much as I could about small business operations, branding, marketing, and development so, in addition to our business, I started directing a non-profit and took on more side design jobs, building websites and creating content for local businesses.

My family moved to North Carolina in 2017, our youngest was only a year at that point and I hadn’t planned on bringing Alexis Jenssen Art & Design with me, but after meeting so many great local producers through my management position at the Apex Farmers Market, I decided to revive my business here in NC as the Bowerbird Agency.

In retrospect, I’d say I’ve had just the right amount of bumps. If you would have asked me this a few years ago…I may have had a different answer. Ha! I’ve been immensely fortunate to have support from my incredible husband and kids to make this dream of mine a reality. Initially, I was mostly working after hours, for trade with friends, family and neighbors, all with a hand me down laptop at my kitchen table. These were long days, and short nights. I was honestly teaching myself how to use the tools I needed to create with as I went. I’d take on a new client and teach myself what I needed to know to get that job done, adding to my base of skills along the way.  I learned SO much through this process of trial and error, through my failures and amateur mistakes. I believe I’m better at what I do because of that “bumpy” path.