#bethegirl interview with Cristina Londono, founder of Wallnut Studio

RaeFallon-WallnutStudio(24of54) Cristina Londono, founder of Wallnut Studio

Cristina Londono has been working in the design and branding world for almost 20 years now, and started her business, Wallnut Studio in 2007 after working for various design and fashion firms. Since then, Cristina has had the pleasure of collaborating with and mentoring many entrepreneurs, mainly women, from all over the globe! Building brands from the spark of inspiration all the way to launch, success and beyond across different industries and from various locations is what Cristina loves, and well...she is pretty amazing at it! We spoke with Cristina about her business journey so far, how mindset plays a part and she shares some valuable business advice.

What was your business journey like? I founded Wallnut studio in 2007 after spending a decade working in the design and fashion industry. I was seeking a new way to combine my interests in entrepreneurship, business, and design. Heavily influenced by my experience designing textiles, I focused on developing brands that became strong storytellers, where colour, imagery and a solid brand communication was the emphasis. Our work started to get noticed, was published in multiple design publications around the world and got the change to work with incredible entrepreneurs from all over the world. After many inner transformations and lots of design projects, I decided to close the design division of Wallnut and focus solely on Brand Strategy and Mentoring of female entrepreneurs. The shift has been truly rewarding and I couldn't be happier.

How does mindset play it's part? Personally, I have always been fascinated by the world of inner change. Mindset, meditation, neuroscience, and performance. After so many years of observing the same patterns around self-belief and fear in so many of my clients around the different milestones of brand building, I decided to go deeper. Combining my passions, I developed a few courses and services that focus precisely on this. Exploring the inner work of branding. the inner barriers, the mindset, the habits and beliefs that support women in being successful at building a solid brand and empowering them to translate their unique gifts into articulate and enticing offerings!

I like to call it, branding from the Inside-Out!
"There is something about investing and having someone hold your hand to implement changes and take action that I believe is really powerful. I have seen it first hand when I invest in my business as well."

We love that you are all about supporting your partners in their entrepreneurial journey, why is this so important to you? The women that come to me have pretty special gifts. When I support them and mentor them and give them the tools to translate those gifts into powerful brands, the world benefits immensely. They impact communities positively, their offerings delight customers and really do change peoples' lives. I always say my biggest driver is the potential for one of my client's to get stuck. Because if they stop, if they shrink and pull back, we all miss out on their gold, their unique gifts and special contributions to our world.

What are your key service offerings/specialist areas? I specialize in branding and brand experience. I am also deeply passionate about the inner game of branding, meaning, the internal transformations required to align ourselves to our brands and become the captains of our dreams. I offer brand strategy consult sessions, courses, and workshops both online and face to face.

Advantages of engaging a consulting agency? Doing it alone is tough, really tough. A consultant can be just what a company needs to get a fresh perspective on what's needed to troubleshoot a situation or infuse new air into a brand or an offering. In my work, I am always surprised of how much momentum and traction my clients get when we work together regularly. There is something about investing and having someone hold your hand to implement changes and take action that I believe is really powerful. I have seen it first hand when I invest in my business as well.

Favourite/highlight client/campaign that you have worked on to date? This is a tricky one, I have worked on so many brands and brand ideas over the years that many of them hold a special place for me. A couple of months ago I had a client come to me on the verge of burnout and considering selling her business. Her heart was so dry of passion and full of exhaustion. And then we sat down, and worked on the brand consistently, layer, by layer, by layer over the period of a few months To see the sales and her spirit rise up has been pretty special and fulfilling. I will have to say, the favourite part of my work is when I help women connect to their strength and to that inner permission to rise and shine and go after what they want. To see them transform from fear into empowerment and fearlessly go after their dreams has to be my favourite bit! Any business advice you would like to share? I believe there isn't much point in implementing business strategies when they are not joined by internal work from the part of the entrepreneur, in scenarios of small teams or even solopreneurs. I've seen clients spent considerable amounts of money on consultants that tell them to raise prices or implement something merely from looking at the outside, and have then witnessed the strategies collapse. Years of experience have shown me that unless there is internal alignment, (your beliefs, your mindset your perception of your worth), external changes don't really last much. We would love to hear about what tools and resources you use to stay organised?Oh, we use Trello quite a bit, then Dropbox and all our documents are in Google Docs and Google Drive. Love Lastpass for passwords and then lots of pretty notebooks, nice pens and printed calendars from our latest Dream Plan Get it Done planning workshop that really helps me draft goals, launch campaigns and has a visual view of how the work unravels. Thank you so much for sharing your business journey and such valuable advice with us Cristina! We are so on board with what motivates you support and mentor talented women striving to be their best. Follow Wallnut Studio on Instagram and check out the website for more!
TDP x
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