Artist, designer, and communications strategist Blake Stenning talks about the path from managing his own business to managing his own career

Blake had the benefit of knowing very early in his teens what he wanted to do: to become a graphic designer and someday run his own studio. And that is exactly what he did. Soon after college, he and a partner started a successful design communications firm with clients ranging from non-profits and tech startups, to Fortune 500 companies. For the next 13 years Blake found fulfillment managing the agency’s operations and developing relationships with clients. But he eventually found himself at a crossroads and decided that he wanted to take on new challenges by transitioning his experiences and skills to work within a mission-based organization. In 2014, he sold his half of the business to his partner and took a sabbatical to begin planning his next steps. Today, he is happily serving as the Director of Communications for a nonprofit based in Washington, DC but admits that the transition from business owner to employee in a new field was a process that required patience, introspection, and a lot of exploratory conversations.   

Although he’s now in a different profession, he’s still an artist at heart and when he is not hard at work, he can be found laying down guitar tracks for one of several lo-fi indie rock bands that he’s a part of, or experimenting with fine art photography. Blake and I met up for coffee to talk about his journey and his advice for people thinking about their own career transitions.

How did you choose communications as your next step after working as a graphic designer?

When I ran my firm, I was often involved in strategic branding and campaign planning sessions with our clients, and was always really interested in this part of the process and how an idea could be told across multiple mediums, not just visually through graphics. I also loved the collaborative and problem-solving aspect of communications. However, the more time I spent running a business, the further away I was from the process of bringing life to an idea. In addition, the types of projects that the firm was bringing in were becoming more web-based, and many of the tactile elements of the design process that I found so appealing – paper texture, mixed media, special printing techniques – were no longer considerations that needed to be made. Although I did find the technical challenges of designing for web to be stimulating, it wasn’t as rewarding from an aesthetic standpoint. At the same time, I was becoming more interested in the strategic plans that my clients brought to me, and it was then that I knew a career change was imminent. I started thinking about the elements of my work that I liked: collaboration, creativity, strategy, and how I could transfer that experience to something else, but it certainly didn’t happen overnight.

What was your process for transitioning to a different career?

The number one thing I did was to have a lot of conversations with people, which helped me to really nail down what I liked about the actual day-to-day work I had been doing, but also the kind of mission that motivated me. In addition to my firm, I was a juried artist at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, and was exhibiting my personal photography as a member of the Multiple Exposures Gallery there. I was also an active board member of Photoworks, and was doing a graduate fellowship with Arlington Cultural Affairs. All of these experiences really inspired my passion for community-building and creative placemaking. I wanted that to be a part of my next chapter except there aren’t many, if any, jobs out there with the title “Creative Placemaker,” so I had to invent my own path. Interestingly, the organization I now work with advocates for affordable housing, which is all about community-building. The work I do there is very rewarding.

What is the biggest habit or shift in your life that you attribute to your success?

For me it has always really come down to mindset. The early experience of running my own business taught me to always think toward finding solutions and keep challenging myself. The world around us is always changing: jobs, relationships, technology.  You can’t control those changes, but you can control how you respond to unexpected situations.

What advice would you give to people thinking about a career transition?

Careers are long and you never quite know where they will take you. Being open to possibilities and being adaptable is key for me. Know that there will be “set-backs”, but there are also always solutions or alternative routes. One of my mentors said he wakes up every day just knowing there will be a challenge he won’t have the answer for, but he has the confidence that he can find the resources to find a solution. For me, those resources are usually found in conversations that help reveal options. I talked to a lot of people when I was switching careers and that gave me ideas I hadn’t even considered. More than anything else, you just have to get out there, act on what interests you, connect, and share.

You can connect with Blake on LinkedIn, see his photography on blakestenning.com, and check out his band Joseph Airport on Bandcamp. (It’s cool!)