When a new creative venture is percolating in your mind, it might make sense to move to a more affordable or more nurturing area. Teresa Au speaks to Shannon Maldonado, who quit fashion design and New York to head home to Philadelphia and start her business YOWIE–it began as an online shop, and is now a design studio, store, and hotel. Shannon shares her strategies for finding and fostering community while you grow your creative business.
What you’ll hear on this episode:
Shannon Maldonado (@helloyowie) is Founder and Creative Director of YOWIE, a creative platform, storefront and design studio based in Philadelphia. After over a decade working in design for brands like Ralph Lauren, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and Tommy Hilfiger she moved back to Philadelphia to launch YOWIE. Since 2016 YOWIE has been a brand built on community and one-of-a-kind products, events and service.
YOWIE is a hotel, shop, and cafe located in Philadelphia. Founded in 2016 and named “The Coolest Shop in Philadelphia” by Bon Appétit in 2019, the YOWIE brand has extended its outreach to include interactive design workshops, creative/art direction, product design, and interior design consulting for hospitality clients that include Ethel’s Club in Brooklyn, NY and The Deacon in Philadelphia and Dye House in Providence, RI.
With the recent launch of its hotel, YOWIE is cementing itself as a design destination in Philadelphia and beyond. Nestled on a sunny corner of South Street, a block rich in the history of music, art, and makers, YOWIE is a new place to shop, eat, stay and explore the city of Brotherly Love from an insider’s point of view. Philadelphia native and co-founder Shannon Maldonado hopes guests will venture to the different neighborhoods and cultural spaces across the city and feel grounded in the space when they return at the end of their day.
Teresa Au (@tautastic) is an executive for community engagement at Adobe. Her career spans diverse creative fields, primarily in New York’s fashion industry, as well as architecture firms, and now Silicon Valley tech companies. She has always prized working with distinctive design and the interesting people behind it–from designer Elie Tahari to start-up CEOs.
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