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03.02.22 - Makeway Culture

Meet the Maker: Ashley Chambers


An interview with our Associate Art Director, Ashley Chambers


Role:
Associate Art Director
Hometown: Rochester, NY
Personal: Has a Black Lab
Favorite Team: Buffalo Bills
Favorite Food: Ice Cream

Who doesn’t love ice cream? Who doesn’t love dogs? And who doesn’t love the Buffalo Bills?! No one, that’s who.

We know you’re going to love Makeway’s Ashley Chambers, who counts all three of those things among life’s greatest pleasures. In this Meet the Maker spotlight, we talk with Ashley about her background, hobbies, and role at Makeway.

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What does a typical day look like for you?

Mostly designing things. I’m really hands-on with design projects—mostly websites right now, but I’ve also done my share of touch screens and a couple of branding projects that have been really fun. And then outside of design, I’m on client meetings or presenting to clients. I also work closely with our other designer, Kelly, and we put our heads together to brainstorm and make creative things happen.

 
How did you get into this career?

I liked art in high school and I guess it was kind of the one thing that really made me excited. We didn’t have a ton of different art classes in high school, but photography was one that we did have. One half of the year was film, so we got to do the darkroom and that was really cool. And then the other half was digital, so we actually got to use Photoshop.

That was kind of my introduction to what else could be done with photography. One of our projects was a magazine cover, so it got a little bit into graphic design, and then when I went to college I decided to stick with it.

polaroid images of Ashley, brown haired woman smiling 
What are your favorite types of projects?

I got to do some branding stuff recently for a client, and that was my first immersion into that type of project. I’d never done a branding project with Makeway before, so that was really cool to be part of that process. It was really in-depth and had a lot of strategy behind it. For the most part, I’m doing websites, which I love because they’re all different.

And with branding projects, I really like the deep dive into learning about the brand and the client in a different kind of way.

 

What do you like most about working at Makeway?

Definitely the team and how well we all work together. I’ve never worked for a bigger company or a big agency, but I imagine the communication isn’t the same. We communicate really well between all the different teams and I think that’s what I like the best. We’re just all looking out for each other and trying to make the process the best it can be for everybody.

“We’re just all looking out for each other and trying to make the process the best it can be for everybody.”

It’s not just, “I’m a designer so I only want the design process to be better.” I want everybody to work well together and we all have that same common goal, which I think is probably unique for a company.

 

How long have you been at Makeway and how has Work From Home been going for you?

It will be four years next week. I was probably the only one on the team who wasn’t the biggest fan of Work From Home at first, and I was really hopeful that we would one day end up back in the office. But my thoughts have changed on that; there are definitely more pros than cons. I like the flexibility of being able to do some chores if you have time at home. And, having a dog, I’ve been able to spend more time with her.

I was sad when we got rid of the office for sure, but I also know that there are plenty of opportunities to still have that community in Rochester with my coworkers. We can still do lunch or go work at a coffee shop—there are lots of different options.

For instance, we wouldn’t really take the time when we were in the office to do something like lunch outings. I feel like we’ve done that more, or at least as much as we could throughout the pandemic, where we’d say, OK, we’re all going to meet at this park and have lunch outside. So I think that’s kind of a cool positive that came out of it.

 

What do you like to do outside of work?

I love exploring the city—I love Rochester and was born and raised here—and there’s a lot to do. There are lots of good restaurants and bars. Something that I’d like to do more of this year—call it a resolution if you will—is explore the creative side of the city, which is really big here. For instance, we have the Memorial Art Gallery and we have all these different local studios. I’d like to take a pottery class or something like that because I think it would be nice to have that different sort of creative outlet.

I also started a business with one of my friends during the pandemic called The Local Current. We’re a Rochester-based subscription box. It’s geared more towards women, and you get boxes delivered four times a year filled with five to six local products. We connect with small businesses, artists, jewelry makers, things like that in the Rochester area.

We pay them for the products, put them in our box, and people pay us for the boxes that we ship out four times a year. Last year we had a full year, so four boxes, and it went really well. We’re going to keep it going this year, and it’s been fun to make connections in the area with all these local businesses.

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We’re super excited that you’ve gotten to know Ashley, who is such a talented individual and a valued member of the Makeway team. As you can tell from the conversation, she is always willing to lend a hand and support all of us here at Makeway. As she notes, we work really well as a team 😎

If you’re interested in talking about art and design, her subscription box business, or the Buffalo Bills, drop Ashley a line to say hi! And if you’d like to learn about joining our team, visit the Makeway website to check out careers or email us at [email protected].