We had the good fortune of connecting with Desiree Stimson-Greek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Desiree, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Yes. Over the years I’ve learned if you don’t take time off, no one is gonna give it to you.

When my business partner, Ru Lin and I first started our graphic design company, we were coming from an agency that had closed down, and we were fortunate to inherit a few of our previous clients. Then, as time went on, we acquired a few agencies with clients that needed artwork. (At the time, outsourcing graphic design was common in many agencies with too much work for their in-house art department.) We were so grateful for the work and were excited to help as many people as we could. However…

Have you ever heard the old saying, “Give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile?” Well, we experienced that first hand, on numerous occasions. I think the first time Ru and I looked at each other, and knew that something had to change, was when we both missed Thanksgiving dinner with our families due to a project with a crazy tight deadline, a client had given us. All the while, our client was at home, enjoying the holiday festivities with her family. Ru and I worked well into the night, even calling our client with questions in the wee hours, actually waking her up from sleep. It was then, that we realized, we were working and stressing more about our client’s job than she was.

The next time Ru and I realized we needed to change how we operated our business was when we were working on a huge project and our color printer stopped working. We had to rush out to a specialty computer store at 8:30 p.m. to purchase a new color printer. Back then, they weren’t only a few hundred dollars, but rather a few thousand! So, a couple hours later, although up and running once again, we still ended up missing the deadline to overnight the final product to the client. And, as luck would have it, the only way to get the product to its final destination was to purchase an airline ticket for it. The courier arrived at my house to pick up the package at 5:00 a.m. and delivered it to the airport. The lesson learned:  While part of our success is our ability to care more about client deadlines than they do sometimes, don’t take on a job that has an unrealistic time line. Family is more important than work.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What we’ve found separates us from our competitors is, we genuinely care about our clients AND their deadlines more than they do. It’s amazing how many times Ru and our account managers have had to help clients meet their deadlines by consistently reminding them with texts, emails and phone calls. That is how we came up with our tagline, “We make you look good.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Unfortunately, many local haunts are closed and some didn’t make it through the pandemic. But both my business partner and I love the City of Fullerton! There are so many amazing restaurants and bars there as well as a wonderful Museum and Community Center. And of course Disneyland is always a favorite for out-of-towners. We both also enjoy South Coast Plaza, Crystal Court, Roger’s Garden and Fashion Island. What can I say? We like to shop!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

My business partner Ru and I wouldn’t be where we are at without our amazing client and mentor, Walt Ybarra. When we first met him, he owned and operated a large and very successful packaging company. We had the opportunity to work on so many unique and fun projects with him, and it allowed us to grow our business immeasurably. Walt truly made a huge and positive impact on our business and our lives. Also, our head copywriter, Narina Gonneville has been a huge part of our success. Her creativity and wordsmith acumen has been one of our greatest assets. We are more than lucky to have found her and added her to our team!

Website: www.dsyl.net

Instagram: DSYL Advertising

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireestimsongreek/

Facebook: @DSYLAdvertising1

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dsyl-advertising-fullerton

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.