Meet Ricardo Mendoza | Founder, Cynosure Creative Agency

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ricardo Mendoza and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ricardo, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I wish I could say I had a clear thought process and plan to help me make the decision, but I didn’t.

I wish I could say that I knew at this point in time I was perfectly suited to build and lead my own team to success, but I had no idea.

What I did know is that I love digital marketing, and I knew that I could build a company that represented values I believed in. I was motivated by my past success, but also by my past failures. I had started a company 10 years earlier that quickly failed because I had no idea what I was doing. I knew the craft, but I didn’t know how to run a business.

This time around I was significantly more experienced and luckily had some support around me from friends and family, I had some talented people willing to work with me that shared my values, and I had the belief that if we had an opportunity to show what we could do, we would find success.

We did.

What should our readers know about your business?
I run a small diverse creative agency in Los Angeles that works in the entertainment and gaming spaces. I think one of the reasons that my agency has been able to grow over the past few years is that our clients feel comfortable in handing us projects that they know needs to have a high level of authenticity in the campaign. We don’t propose concepts just because it uses some new TikTok feature, or it will be trendy. We build campaigns that we know are going to appeal to our target audience, whomever that might be. Our clients know and respect that.

Everyone on our team has a different background, a different story. We look for talent all over the country that we feel will be fun to work with, and are motivated regardless of whether or not they have the specific technical experience we are looking for. We can teach the trade and refine skills, but we can’t teach the human experience. I think most agencies prefer to hire the other way around.

This strategy allows us to feel confident when pitching on any project because we know there are voices in the room that can speak to the subject matter through their own experiences.

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.
I think that one of the things people take for granted when visiting LA is how big it is. The benefit to that is that there are a wealth of different communities and personalities within the city to enjoy. You can spend a day in Santa Monica, and a day in Venice and have completely different experiences with different people even though they are only a 10 minute bike ride apart.

I think where I would take the person would vary greatly on who they are and what they like to do. I want to know what type of activities do they enjoy when traveling, because this city has it all. There are 100 places to enjoy a sunset, have a drink, soak in some culture, or just have a laugh.

I used to be active on coachsurfing.org, so I regularly hosted people from different parts of the world. Almost everyone wanted to see the walk of fame, and I was a short walk from it. Some would come back thrilled, some would come back underwhelmed. The experience isn’t the same for everyone.

But if I were coming back to LA hypothetically after being gone for 10 years or something like that. I’d probably want to catch an evening game at Dodger stadium to enjoy the sunset and a dog, find an old friend to join me on a hike in the Hollywood area with drinks and dinner after. Make my way over to LACMA, MOCA, or The Broad to see what’s new, and then head over to Venice Beach to see all the personalities and buy some friends some souvenirs.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Building a company is one of the most physically and emotionally draining endeavors someone can go through, and it’s hard to find the motivation to keep moving forward at times, let alone success, without a support structure around you. I’ve been truly blessed that I have been able to count on the help of my family, my friends, my peers in the space, and my team, both past and present for everything.

Website: www.cynosureca.com

Instagram: @ricdoesstuff

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

Twitter: @ricdoesstuff

Image Credits
Evelyn Avila