Making a Difference Through Passion&Creativity: Milkglass Creative - a podcast by Leah Glover Hayes

When Mary Hooper and Amy Stroup were looking for alternatives to the traditional career path in each of their fields, they decided to take their friendship to the next level by going into business together. The result, Milkglass Creative, is a unique blend of a design company and an independent record label, which works with everything from recording artists to authors to lifestyle brands. Since it started in 2010, Milkglass has evolved as Amy and Mary have learned to lean into their individual strengths and be open to new changes and experiences. They both keep busy doing creative work in their respective fields, with Mary running the art and design side of the company and Amy heading up the record label while also pursuing her own music career.

Because Milkglass is a values-driven company, Mary and Amy are also intentional about giving back to the community around them, both through volunteering at Y-CAP and by mentoring younger women in their fields. They’ve learned important lessons along the way about taking time for themselves and only taking on clients that spark their creativity and passion.

In this episode, Amy and Mary explain how they transitioned from being friends to working as business partners, starting Milkglass so they could both have space to be creative and work for themselves (2:41). One of Milkglass’ biggest assets today is the founders’ ability to take on clients who respect their vision, functioning as a truly creative entity and not a “Band-Aid company” (13:24), and Mary and Amy explain how passion and a strong value system make that possible.

Since creativity is part of the job description at Milkglass, Amy and Mary also talk about how they’ve made space to allow themselves to be creative and avoid burnout (22:16), all while being intentional about investing in their own identities and lives apart from the company (26:55). This has allowed them to each finds a tribe of friends and supporters (30:49) and develop their own personal definitions of success, which center around personal fulfillment and wholeness (44:34). Mary and Amy exemplify the magic that happens when you create

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