At Bella Crew, Suzanne Young's passion for marketing and film turned a hobby into a career.
Young had a background in the arts, including dance, music, and film, from an early age, and majored in film in college. She also attended school for computer science, from which her marketing expertise arose.
“I turn my hobby into a living,” Young said. “This is how I make money and support my family, but there is never a day that feels like work because this is exactly what I want to do. I love this world that I live in.”
Bella Crew has been overseeing the branding and marketing of the newly opened Kearns Food Hall since its construction phase for about two years.
After graduating from graduate school, Young worked as a national brand developer for several years, developing sites with entire brands. However, as an artist, she did not feel fulfilled working her eight-hour shifts in her private room. Ms. Young said the fact that she was figuratively and literally stuck in a box decreased her productivity, which ultimately led to her being fired.
“I’m good at activating vision,” Young said. “Because I look at things from a broader perspective. And it's harder for me to be stuck in a box where I feel like that's the worst thing an artist can do.”
While most people would see this as a bad vacation, Young saw this as an opportunity to finally realize his vision. She wasn't given the space to be creative and explore new ideas, so she decided to make it herself, which is now her Vella Crew.
For about seven years, Young steadily grew his business. She accepted many clients from different business fields. Through it all, she began to form an idea of the ideal customer that would best suit herself and her business, including food, fashion, and entertainment.
It wasn't long before Young was able to increase brand awareness and select clients that were more in line with his vision.
She brought her husband Philip on board to help grow the business. However, his career had nothing to do with marketing or movies.
At the time, Philip Young was a supervisor at Costco. What he had was a background as an athlete, a competitive player. His competitive spirit drove him to become an expert in the film industry.
“He has an athletic mindset,” Suzanne Young said. “When he decides he wants to do something, he puts his all into it.
“I'll brag a little bit because he's like a bit of a savant when it comes to movies. I think the way he learns things is exponentially faster and how his eye sees things through the lens of a camera. He just knows his stuff.”
Bella Crew continued to grow and eventually helped transform Kearns Bakery into a newly opened food hall.
With such a large project, Philip and Suzanne Young wanted to ensure they could give Kearns Food Hall the best possible attention, so they brought Bella Crew on board for the project. They were able to build a studio inside the food hall instead of the garage studio they had previously worked in.
Vella Crew's next step is to make the most of their studio space. This serves as a physical sign for your brand, but it also allows others to use it for creative purposes.
“In this creative space, we get a lot of attention and attention,” Suzanne Young said. “Having a space at Kearns is also like giving back to the community in that we create this space for other creators. It's not just for us.”
