Malini Gupta

I think it's my passion, my passion for art and design that keeps me going, because when I find a good client and when clients appreciate my work and I deliver, it's just a high that nothing can replace. I love helping my clients that way. And then with my books, it's again a high that I get when the book is bought by colleges and universities and museums across the world. I'm like this timid girl from India who never really had a voice, and I found my voice over here in America. It's my education, it's my passion for my work that keeps me going.

I remember when I had just come to the U.S., I was talking to my instructor after class because I never really understood their accent, and I would ask them to talk to me a little bit slowly when they were talking to me one-on-one. I remember him telling me - he was this big-name designer in the U.S. - he said, 'Malini, you are an amazing designer.' I had never heard that from anybody. And he said, 'You just need to have the confidence in yourself, and I know you will succeed.' That was just like an eye-opening statement for me, because for an instructor and a designer of his caliber to say my work is good and I need to have confidence, I was like, okay, well, if he thinks so. And then I ended up getting the awards, and then people started buying my books, and I was like, okay, yeah, I think I am. That's something that stuck with me, and I still remember it.

I think do it if you're passionate about it. Do it if you think you can succeed in this. I think there's a lot of competition now with AI, with Canva, with DIYers, and it's an industry that's going to take a hit, for sure. So if you think you're talented enough to stand out from all of that, then yes, go for it. But we do need a lot of women - women need to have a seat on the table. I really think it's such a male-dominated industry. I would say, yes, go for it, but do it with a little bit of, like, okay, maybe this might work, maybe this might not work, and have a fallback plan.

AI is definitely the biggest challenge. There's clients who come up to me and say they were going to design their logo using AI, but they came across my website and really liked my work, so they thought they'd give me a chance. I hear it all the time - why should I give you thousands of dollars to design a logo when I can just give a prompt to AI and it can deliver in 10 minutes? But it's not the same. I am a book designer, a book artist. Storytelling is what I do. When I'm designing a logo, I'm telling the story of their business to their ideal client, and that is something AI cannot do. But AI is also the biggest opportunity, because I can use AI too. When I'm trying to come up with keywords for my websites, I just ask AI and it will suggest things. I ask for help with page titles, and all of that helps with SEO. So I can use it to my advantage and use it to work for me. It is a challenge, it is a blessing, and it is a curse.

I think working hard, being 100% committed to whatever you're doing. If I'm working, I'm 100% into it. And when I'm with my kids, I'm 100% - I would like to just be present with them. If I'm in the kitchen making something, I'm very passionate about cooking good food, and if I'm doing that, that's what I'm doing. Whatever you do, do it well, is my motto. Give it your all, and maybe you will succeed, maybe you won't, but at least you have tried.