“What if we can change the expectation of how we do this thing? Together, we can go so much further than going alone.”
These are the opening lines from our brand video created at a pivotal moment in 2022. We were moving into the first true space that was all our own, the team was expanding, and the work we were doing was changing rapidly. Through it all, the sentiment…”we’re in it together”…had been a common thread that has grown stronger year after year.
HatchMark was started in 2015 as a one-person design studio. There was no big announcement or growth plan. One day, with a new website and social presence, I simply flipped my email from @veroniquezayas.com to @hatchmarkstudio.com. It felt ‘bigger,’ but it was really just me, working for myself and with freelance clients I genuinely loved.
Over the years, the team slowly grew as the work increased. Since then, I’ve learned how to grow a team and a business, but I never imagined it would be what it’s become today. And I’ve certainly not done it alone. Every single person who has ever been part of this team has helped shape what HatchMark has become. But there are two moments that changed the entire trajectory of this agency.
In 2019, Liz Dupaw responded to a job posting for a Graphic Designer, and we clicked. She took the leap, leaving a steady corporate job for a tiny but mighty design studio. It was the first time I felt like I’d found a creative right hand. Someone who was just as excited about the work, cared as much about the business, and was a sponge for everything she could learn. Since then, Liz has grown from a task-focused graphic designer into a strategic Creative Director. Today, she leads a team that consistently produces some of the best work I’ve ever had the privilege to put my name next to. Together, we’ve built a culture and team that excels through real collaboration, craft, and care.
In 2022, Logan Singleton came onboard as our first Project Manager. Armed with a hefty marketing background, he was a natural fit for agency life, but neither of us could have predicted what would happen next. I remember the day he asked for my thoughts on beginning to expand services. “If you can make it happen, we can do it”. With one of the most impressive work ethics I’ve ever seen, Logan took it upon himself to build out our marketing capabilities in a way that has completely transformed how we serve our clients. That initiative fueled our shift from a creative agency into the full-service branding and marketing agency we are today. Logan now leads that strategy and guides the work as our Marketing Director.
If you’ve worked with HatchMark, you already know how much we talk about partnership. It’s the word we reach for again and again with clients and collaborators, and how we show up for every engagement.
What’s happening next follows that same sentiment, just made official closer to home. Liz and Logan haven’t just been employees, they’ve been key to growing the agency for years.
I’m incredibly proud and excited to share that Liz and Logan are joining me as Partners at HatchMark.
They have both been deeply involved in every part of this business: running it, growing it, shaping our client relationships, and dreaming about what comes next. They care about it and are as excited for “what’s next” as I am. Making it official means we get to keep building this together, with more brains, more ideas, and more heart and grit in the room as we continue down this path together. It ensures we’re here to grow…and to stay…for the long run.
HatchMark has always been about more than one person. Now, more than ever, it’s about the people who’ve poured themselves into it. The teamwork, the wins and lessons, and building it together along the way.
Here’s to going further, together. Onward!
-Veronique
