Welcome, Hyedie!!  I met Hyedie near the tail end of grade 3 when I switched elementary schools after a move.  Hyedie was one of my first friends in the class and when I moved, yet again, after grade 7 we both cried and cried and cried…so sure that we would never see each other again.  Thanks to Facebook, our paths crossed again a few years ago and Hyedie has been back in my life as friend and fabulous graphics designer!  Look around!!  She designed this all and with the help of her friend, Malena Andrade who did the html coding, she brought my vision to life!

Without further ado, let’s chat with the lovely Hyedie Hashimoto!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, I want to go back to your childhood – our childhood! – and the things you enjoyed doing in your cute pig-tails!  What were your hobbies as a child?

Wow, I had so many! Things that stand out are, drawing, making paper dolls and designing clothing for them, playing the piano, playing outside with my sisters, riding bikes, reading novels … needless to say I was very rarely bored.

The majority of your pastimes then were artsy in nature!  I remember at one of your birthday parties, one of the activities was making jewellery with modelling clay that we then baked.  It was always fun and craziness when you were around! 

What led you to a career in graphic design?  How did you KNOW this was what you wanted?

I knew in my final year at University, working towards finishing my BFA, that unless I wanted to pursue a graduate degree to become a teacher or prof or toil as a stereotypical starving artist for years, I wouldn’t be able to make a career out of ‘creating stuff’ unless I got into the commercial side of design. Which at the time seemed like the ultimate act of ‘selling out’, but now looking back I’m glad I made that decision.

So after graduating, I started taking a few desktop publishing courses and then mostly taught myself the software required to become a graphic designer. I then chased down any design work I could get my hands on and slowly started to build up a portfolio.

 

 

 

Back then, I was so hungry to get my career started that I worked really hard to learn, network and gain as much experience as I could.

It sounds like you’re happy with the decisions you made, and that you’ve chosen a side of art that suits the kind of lifestyle you’d like to enjoy.  What IS your life like?  Like, on a daily basis – what does your day look like?

If I don’t have any client meetings, I’m at my desk clicking away on my computer from morning till evening.

I usually wake up at 8:00 and end up in front my computer at 8:30 where I’ll go through emails, catch up on Facebook (until my URL blocker kicks in at 9:00am) and start planning out my day.  Unless I have some deadlines in the morning, I’m eating my breakfast at my desk and slowly easing into the day.

After my lunch break I’m ready for most productive time of the day – the afternoon!

Most days I have a nice balance between having to think hard and use my creative side to design new marketing material or event collateral from scratch and then doing more technical work like resizing ads, photo editing and copy layout.

I work from home and I’m lucky to always have my three coworkers with me, my two dogs and CBC Radio.

Your dogs are adorable and I know how much you love them!  I love our Skype meetings when they’re hanging out in the background.  The other day when you said you gave them something to chew on so you could Skype with me in peace, I thought “Hey!  I do that with my children, too!”  OK, and I have to ask about this URL blocker, because I think I need this, too! 

I can’t live without my website blocker on my browser (I use Chrome Nanny (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cljcgchbnolheggdgaeclffeagnnmhno) that blocks Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and a bunch of other websites. When you don’t have a boss that might catch you web browsing, it’s so easy to end up spending 45 min or more looking at useless stuff!

Did anyone else know about this??  I’m jotting this down as something I need to look into.  You’re absolutely right – when you don’t have a boss looking over your shoulder, it’s a little easier to lose track of time on these sites.  There’s so much pleasure for me in working from home, but there are also things to consider!  Got any other good advice for home-based business owners?

For me having dogs really helps me balance my work and my life. They help me break up my day because they need their bathroom breaks and at the end of the day they need the evening walks (they start getting restless at 7pm).  I know it can’t always be feasible for everyone to have a dog, but working from home, a dog will make you get outside and sometimes that can be the best way to quickly recharge.

That’s something I’ve never thought about but that is so true.  We all kind of need something, or someone, to rip us away from what we’re doing…especially when the lines get blurry between work and home…like, when they take place in the same building!

So, speaking of the rest of life…what do you like to do outside of work?  Still have hobbies?

I guess I’m still like the kid who had a million pastimes – I have so many!!  I still love drawing and painting, although I don’t do that nearly as much as I like. I love devouring food, design and bicycle blogs. I also enjoy hiking with my dogs and going to the park and playing fetch with them.

My biggest hobby right now, though, would be my Cupcake Rides (http://www.cupcakeride.com/blog/). During the warmer months in Toronto, I organize bike rides where a group of girls (sometimes I organize co-ed ones) start at a bakery, fill up on baked goodies and then ride across town to another bakery to eat more sweets!  It’s my little fun way to try to encourage more people (especially girls) to take up people powered transportation and reduce our carbon footprint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Toronto we are way behind Vancouver, in terms of bicycle infrastructure, but despite not having a lot of bike lanes I want to show people that it’s not that scary to ride in the city!

What a unique idea!  Cupcake rides!  That just sounds like a lot of fun!  I think it’s wonderful that you’ve managed to combine so many passions in one project…baked goods, bike riding, and environmentalism.  Oh, and writing since you maintain a blog about it, too!

Before I let you go, I’d love to know…what is one of your hopes or dreams for 2012?

To grow my business even more!!

Well, I hope that for you too!  I’m very proud of the drive and determination you have put in to making your passion a viable business plus maintaining your hobbies on the side. 

Thank you Taslim! And thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to collaborate with you on your new adventure. Being able to graphically bring to life your vision for your new project has been really gratifying and fun!

I hope you are as happy with it as I am!

I am thrilled with my new site – working with you is so magical.  I love when I ask “Can you do….” and you always answer “Yes!” and present me with several options that work well! 

Readers – be sure to visit Hyedie and check out her design portfolio at http://www.happyd-designs.com, or join her adventures with Cupcake Rides at http://www.cupcakeride.com/blog/.