Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Haliski.
Kayla, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey into entrepreneurship began in high school, where I developed a love for photography and started a wedding + portrait photography business. After a few years, I drifted away from weddings, but my love of capturing stories of the people in front of me has lived on.
After high school, I ended up at an international college in Denmark for two years as a student, then worked on staff the third year. Part of my third year included working in the marketing and communications department, where I had the chance to explore other mediums such as graphic design, web design, videography, social media, etc. It was a great opportunity to create in new ways and discover that my love of media went beyond photography.
Following my time in Denmark, I decided to return to Portland (where I grew up), and ended up working as a barista at a cafe for nearly two years. During that time, I started a house cleaning business alongside a house + pet sitting business. Eventually, I ended up leaving the cafe to take on a part-time job as a social media manager and content creator – which again, gave me the opportunity to explore and grow into other areas of design/marketing. I held that position for nearly two years as well, and somewhere within that time, the seed was planted to start my own business.
My passion around helping people understand who they are (identity) and walk out their passions (purpose) in life is truly what has motivated a lot of my growth in the creative field behind the scenes. And the more I learned about brand and branding, the more passionate I became about creating a business that was able to come alongside other organizations to make sure they were operating from a place of identity (brand) so that their audiences could find and connect with them.
So, in December of 2016, I began my business (which, at that time, was named Encompassed Design). And it’s safe to say that I had no clue what a steep learning curve that was going to be. Especially in the midst of running three other part-time businesses – it was a long season of hustling to make it.
I went through the first couple of years primarily focused on random jobs, such as small graphic design projects and a few websites, and charged far too little for what I was doing.
And then my business began to grow over time, largely due to word of mouth and referrals from clients. I added on videography services alongside my web design and branding services, which gave another dimension to client work.
In 2023, I changed my business to Encompassed Co to reflect the shift from design-focused work to branding-focused work. I also ended up bringing on a few team members, which expanded what I was able to offer clients in an ongoing rate.
Over the past few years, my business has shifted more and more to a consultancy level of work, hosting workshops with clients to focus on brand strategy, and always putting strategy before design.
It’s such an honor to work with founders and industry leaders to ensure that their organizations are built on a strong foundation of a clear and aligned brand so they can scale with ease. I have met some truly incredible people and traveled to beautiful places across the world because of this work – and the best part really is learning from their perspectives and innovative approaches to their industries.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been anything but smooth. Having to learn about taxes being self-employed, learning time and project management skills, teaching myself how to design, become a better videographer, client management and communication, wearing every single hat in my business for far too long and being everything to everyone… not charging enough and having to deal with confidence in my own value. My character has been shaped tremendously by running Encompassed Co, because the lines are so blurred between everyday life and running the business. Meaning, the things that I am being challenged by in my personal life always lead to business, and vice versa. Being an entrepreneur is a constant invitation to growth and dealing with imposter syndrome.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Encompassed Co?
Encompassed Co helps purpose-driven founders align brand, culture + strategy to scale with clarity.
My proprietary process of taking my clients through the brand strategy journey includes workshops filled with thought-provoking exercises and an intuitive approach of getting to what truly lies beneath the surface. Finding the gold. Uncovering what’s already there that’s begging to be seen. From start to finish, the goal is to make the process fun and easy for my clients – because the whole point is to land on a foundation that feels effortless and gives them confidence to scale their organizations with ease.
My main offer is brand strategy, which includes identifying brand foundations (purpose, vision, mission, values) people (aka your audience), and positioning (assessing competition and landing on what makes you unique). My services also include branding (naming, logo design, brand package, brand guidelines), web design + development, graphic design (for misc. print and digital assets), photography, and videography.
In addition, I also offer consulting and ongoing creative direction. Some of my favorite projects have started with brand strategy, and moved into monthly creative direction to help keep things on track and lead the way with branding.
Primarily, what sets me apart is truly my intuitive approach. I love to create space for what’s unsaid and unseen. There’s a vulnerability in working with a group of people during a workshop, for example, and inviting people to go deeper with their exploration and answers.
The most aligned brands came from the most vulnerable work of digging into identity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.encompassedco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/encompassedco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encompassedco
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/encompassedco/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@encompassedco
Image Credits
Encompassed Co
