Grassroots Energy, Real Conversations, and Building Through Community
Going sprayed bags that we will hand out for free at the event. Left and Misu Right
April 27, 2025
Our brand is growing through a mix of curated creativity and spontaneous energy — rooted in Portland’s indie art scene, vibrant street vibes, and a love for graffiti, stickers, cats, and color. We’re not building it behind closed doors — we’re building it live, shaped by real conversations, feedback, and creative instincts. (More about how our brand is evolving coming soon.)
The morning started at 8:30 AM — a dog park board meeting, naturally. Sarah (President), Ann (VP), Linda (Community Liaison), and me (Founder) — standing around in the dirt, coffee in hand, dogs zooming around us — laying out exactly how we were going to pull off our first-ever event in under eight hours.
Left to right: Savy, Pepper, Hazey, Misu & Teddy
We ran for last-minute t-shirts and hats.
Breakfast was delivered to my house because there literally wasn’t time to cook.
We cut fresh designs for shirts and finally read the heat press instructions for the first time (what could possibly go wrong?).
First Pressed t-shirt!!
Stickers? SO GOOD!! But a total bust — hardware issues. I had a small tantrum upstairs where only my wife (our VP of Design) could hear. (It lasted five seconds. I recovered.)Good practice, honestly — just another entry for my growing "What Could Go Wrong" list, which is starting to read more like a novel.
"Make Art"
And then — we opened the package of canvas bags. They were way lighter than expected... and our "Make Art" design was printed in white. You could barely see it. Cue instant regroup.
We grabbed some spray paint from my garage and decided to create darker color patches behind the design to make it pop — a total win, because it looked raw, real, and so perfectly Portland. The graffiti-style made the bags feel even more like us. Of course, the spray paint tip was angled — meaning every attempt at a “perfect” circle took on a life of its own. Which we leaned into:
In it, to win it (Sarah, Tory, and Ann)
It was definitely a big happy accident — and negotiating those unexpected moments is part of the creative process. Adapting, shifting, and finding something better than what we planned is exactly who we want to be.
Canvas bag sprayed, pressed and ready for handing out.
Meanwhile, we had to grab the kids, get them into our freshly printed t-shirts, and somehow load the car while kids sat on the stairs, dogs escaped the backyard, and — once again — someone yelled “watch out for the poop!!” (Linda’s dog gets around.)
Remy
Elliot and Aila
By 5:00 PM, with support from so many people spread out across town — Alex, Ann, Thomas (Ann’s husband), Sarah, and Linda — we were finally set up at Last Thursday on Alberta Street.
I stood back for a second and looked around. Our table was covered in colorful tote bags, Louis Rainbow shirts were hanging, bubbles floated through the air, and the whole thing actually felt... connected. It felt good. It felt alive. It felt us. I thought, "Okay, let's go. People love cats. We've got this."
Then I looked up — and realized... wait, where are the other booths?
Technically, everything was open — it was 75 degrees, sunny, beautiful — but the street wasn’t officially closed down yet. Maybe I missed the memo. Maybe it didn’t matter. We were here, we were ready, and honestly... with bubbles, cats, and good energy, the people found us anyway.
We spray-painted tote bags live, pressed t-shirts with a machine we barely knew, and handed out the first pieces of what We Start Creating would become. We received donations for our Sponsor a Kid: Support the Arts program. We met families, artists, and kids who asked real questions about what we’re building. The energy was all around us.
All the highlights of the evening. At least the ones we can talk about.
Our brand is growing through a mix of curated creativity and spontaneous energy — rooted in Portland’s indie art scene, vintage spirit, and a love for graffiti, stickers, cats, and color. We’re not building it behind closed doors — we’re building it live, shaped by conversations, feedback, and creative instincts. (More about how our brand is evolving coming soon.)
We knew we had a big networking dinner to host the very next night. We were desperately in need of sleep. But what we needed right then — what we needed in that exact moment — was to be present. To take in the excitement and the energy. To really feel the partnership we were building. Sitting there with these amazing women — women who had shown up fully, creatively, and with so much heart — I didn't want the evening to end.
Not bad for our first launch day. Not perfect. Way, way better.
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Coming next: The night wasn’t the end of our firsts — the next evening, we gathered for our first Create + Connect Dinner. More laughter, more learning, and even stronger community roots. Stay tuned — I’ll share how that night shaped the next steps for We Start Creating.
#WeStartCreating #SponsorAKid #SupportTheArts #CreativeCommunity #PortlandArt #GrassrootsCreatives #IndieArts #CommunityBuilding #AuthenticConnections #CreateAndConnect