Shcarra Benn

I started Creative Leo Designs while I was in college at the University of Akron, where I studied Interior Design, Graphic Design, and Organizational Supervision. For about 13 years, I worked in the field with those who have developmental disabilities while running my business on the side doing event planning. In 2017, I was faced with my employer not seeing my worth, and I realized I was running their company and I already had my own. So I took the leap of faith to pursue my company full-time and try to push it. Then COVID happened, and we had to pivot from full event planning to graphic design and commercial printing. Now my typical day includes having creative calls and discovery calls with clients, designing, print production, and deliveries. We work a lot with funeral homes in the area doing memorial tribute items. My education from the University of Akron, with those three degrees coupled together, has really allowed me to scale my business and pivot during COVID, because I was able to use my graphic design to get me through by designing through COVID. My educational background has allowed me to pivot, expand my business, grow, and add other layers to it.