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Danielle Meadows-Stinnett owns Octane Design Studios and is also a podcaster, mentor, wife, mom of four, and lover of cosplay. A grassroots developer & curator from Kentucky, Danielle has helped brand and launch 100 businesses across America.
She has always had a love for telling stories. Octane Design Studios is a digital marketing firm, woman led and Black owned. “We'd like to think forward and we like to act forward. Our mission is providing tools, knowledge, and empowerment through the realm of digital marketing and visual communication.”
About 35 to 50 percent of Octane’s work is done for nonprofits such as Kerrington’s Heart, where Danielle is a founding board member and marketing director, supporting children with heart defects.
“These children are superheroes in every single possible way, defeating some of these defying odds. One in 100 children are born with a heart defect, and more than 50 percent don't live to see their first birthday.”
Danielle’s work with Kerrington’s Heart is more than graphics and marketing, like her hashtag #morethangraphics represents.
“We want to tell their stories but tell them well…I want to be able to hold your kid’s hand and wish them a happy birthday because every birthday is an absolute celebration of life… I want to be able to come alongside parents when they're feeling the grief or the weight of knowing that their kid may not be able to move on to the next stage…those are the type of things that we talk about, being a company that cares.”
Danielle has created a creative, fun space to work for her team of three. Her assistant Melissa told Danielle that when she comes to work, it's always a fun adventure with something happening each day, and she is excited to be a part of it. This fills Danielle’s heart with joy. “It's like my little piece of Pixar that I always wanted when I was a kid.”
Danielle and her team meet hard deadlines, but they balance that with teamwork and positive energy.
We talked about the ways Black and brown people have been affected by the pandemic, especially women. She believes that corporate America needs to provide more options to women, and she pointed out that women of color can be misunderstood in the corporate world. “Companies really do need to be very tactical about how they're going to create welcoming spaces, in particular for Black women.”
Danielle uses her podcast, More than Graphics, to amplify voices and stories to inspire and evoke change. It’s a platform for women in tech, creatives, and all women in general.
Danielle believes that to create a company that cares, you should ask yourself: What do I care about? Do I really care? “Our actions and our words have to match, and that is the ultimate fact check for anyone who is saying that they care about something. Where does your money go? Where do your hands go?”
She walks her talk by dressing up in cosplay and volunteering with children. She also has a summer internship program where they teach high school students design and technology.
Next week I interview Christine Carino on the Finding Fertile Ground Podcast. Christine is a queer nonbinary immigrant from the Philippines who had a bumpy coming out, being sent to conversion therapy.
