Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana James Mwangi.
Hi Dana, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I actually started out as a graphic designer who became more interested in the health of my clients’ businesses than just the graphics alone.
When I would design for them, I’d start asking questions: Why did you name your business this? What makes you different? Why are your prices what they are?
I realized the healthier a business was, the easier it was to design for it. So I had two choices: I could just take design requests and stay out of it, or I could start combining my design services with brand strategy to make sure my clients actually win. I chose the second path, and that decision changed everything.
In 2012, I launched Cheers Creative from my apartment. I was newly married, a mom of one with newborn twins on the way—and still decided to build a business from home. I’d be on my laptop with babies crawling up and down my legs, determined to create a practice where good design met emotional intelligence. I wanted my clients to have brands that looked good, worked good, and talked good.
At first, I was doing brand and print design. But as my clients grew, I realized protecting a brand doesn’t stop at the logo or business cards. How a business shows up online matters just as much. So I moved into web design—and that’s where everything took off. Being a web designer who deeply understands branding is rare, and it helped me stand out fast.
Since then, I’ve led and created website projects and brand strategies for nonprofits, industry leaders, and YouTubers with millions of followers, as well as for people just beginning their personal brand journeys. Along the way, I began speaking and leading workshops on design and branding, and that part of my career took on a life of its own. I’ve always been a teacher at the core. Sharing what I know and helping others think bigger is my purpose, and my businesses are the vehicles that carry it out.
That work caught the attention of Grow with Google, and I was selected as their Digital Coach for Memphis and later for the entire state of Tennessee. I was one of just 20 entrepreneurs nationwide hand-selected by Google to teach digital skills to Black and Latino business owners in their local regions through the Grow with Google program. It was an incredible honor and a major turning point in my career.
Today, I run Cheers Creative and lead The Brave Brand Circle, my online community where I teach entrepreneurs how to build their confidence, think bigger about their voice, and use AI alongside real brand strategy. Cheers Creative has become a bit of a lab. When we make a change to a client’s website and it leads to $34,000 in speaking engagements in one year (and that’s a true client story), I take that insight straight to my community. I don’t just tell my Brave Brand Circle members what to do. I show them what I’ve done and why it works.
My career has gone places I never imagined! And to think, when I first started out, I just wanted to be able to replace my junior graphic designer salary in corporate. Imagine if I had thought even bigger from the start!
You know, as a creative — especially someone who started out in graphic design — I know other creatives will feel this. You tend to think the only way you can provide value to a client is by manually creating something or completing a service with your hands. But over time, I’ve learned that creativity can earn income in so many different ways. I want other creatives to know they can do it too.
You can be a creative who consults. A creative who gets paid to speak. A creative who runs a paid course or community. A creative who lands brand partnerships. (I got my first paid brand deal at 40, and it was with an email marketing platform that Cheers uses for many of our clients!)
Once you realize the output from your head is just as valuable as the output from your hands, you’re never the same after that. That’s when you truly understand what you’re capable of.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, but it’s been meaningful. I built this business while raising a young family and figuring out entrepreneurship in real time. I eventually accepted that “work-life balance” isn’t something you achieve once and keep forever.
I remember hearing motivational speaker Lisa Nichols say that balance doesn’t exist—but work-life harmony does. That line changed the way I move. Having a growing family has pushed me to build a business that has automation and systems so it can run without me.
After having an internal meeting with one of my new web designers, he said to me, “I’m really impressed at how organized your business is.” You would’ve thought someone had just handed me an award. Because after years of wearing every hat, hearing that meant everything.
Like many entrepreneurs early on, I undercharged because I thought lowering my prices was an act of kindness. But it wasn’t kind to my business or to myself. I had to learn that the best way to serve clients well is to charge what the project actually requires—to price for excellence, not fear.
Once I learned how to communicate the value of my work and became deeply dedicated to my craft, everything about my confidence and client relationships changed.
There have also been emotional stretches where visibility has been uncomfortable. When your work starts getting noticed, you’re no longer managing just your company. Now you’re also managing opinions, projections, and expectations.
I got my first piece of press just two years into business. Something I said about logo design was quoted in Forbes, and then more coverage followed. It felt like a rain of press — exciting, but also overwhelming. I didn’t have the systems, structures, or pricing confidence I have now, so that early visibility hit fast and hard. It taught me that exposure without foundation can be a blessing and a lesson at the same time.
I’ve also had moments where people tried to publicly take shots at my success. It taught me to observe opinions without absorbing them — and to keep showing up for the people who need what I have to give. No matter what’s happening online, I stay committed to posting what helps my audience, not what defends me. It’s hard sometimes, but I remind myself that leadership means teaching through the noise, not reacting to it.
And here’s the other thing I had to learn: what I’ve experienced is one of the main reasons many people avoid personal branding altogether. But the truth is, even if you try to stay faceless, if your work makes people feel something, someone out there still won’t like it. Choosing not to build a personal brand won’t shield you from criticism. It just means fewer people get to see the good you’re actually doing. And that’s what will hurt you more.
The more visible I become, the more grace I’ve had to give myself to stay human and imperfect through it all. Being seen doesn’t mean you have everything figured out; it means you keep showing up anyway.
A few years ago, I thought the things I loved most about my business would stay the same forever. But life and business don’t work that way. After the pandemic, a few major changes in my personal and professional life led me to a breaking point. The weight of what I had built—and the way I had been overperforming and overcompensating—became too heavy to carry. Under that weight, I let everything go.
I started over with Cheers Creative from the ground up: the products, the services, the collaborators, the clients—everything. It was a complete reset. And honestly, some people probably wondered what the heck I was doing. When you’re known in your industry and you walk away from almost everything, people notice.
But starting over turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. As I began connecting with more women’s business groups, I realized that what I went through wasn’t failure—it was a natural part of growth. So many women in business go through a season where everything familiar falls apart, and what’s left is the truth about who you are and how you want to lead.
On the other side of that reset came new projects and new relationships that fulfilled me in ways I never imagined. One of those projects was a full-scale website for a YouTuber with over three million subscribers. It was beautiful work, and the results were immediate. I remember sitting with his team, watching their Google Analytics spike in real time, and I said to myself, “Girl, don’t you ever again say what you can’t come back from.”
Another project I’m incredibly proud of was leading the branding and website design for the Mid-South LGBT Chamber of Commerce. They offer support, advocacy, workshops, and networking for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and professionals, and it’s also an ally space.
I showed up as an ally and led the project through Cheers Creative, working alongside Chamber members every step of the way. The chamber community truly became like family to me.
To see the chamber’s new website change how they operate the organization — from offering new membership tiers to signing up members on the spot at events — has been incredible. I’m now a member myself and serve on the Education Committee, helping create trainings for LGBTQ+ professionals who don’t always get access to professional development in the workplace. I’m proud that my work with the Chamber didn’t just create a beautiful brand; it helped protect a community and keep them connected.
And then something else happened after rebuilding my business. I was invited to join the Program Advisory Committee for the Graphic Design degree program at Remington College here in Memphis.
When I toured the campus and saw the design classrooms and studio, I was blown away. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. To now have a voice in shaping course curriculum and resources for the next generation of designers feels full circle!
I think about those college years when I was juggling school, motherhood, and freelance projects, doing whatever it took to create something better. Now I’m sitting on an advisory committee shaping what design education looks like for the next generation. It’s humbling. It’s wild. And I’m so thankful for where I am.
The radical clearing I experienced taught me something I’ll never forget. Rebuilding doesn’t just show you who you are. It brings the community that fits who you are on the other side of that transformation. There was always someone solid, a colleague, a mentor, a friend, who reminded me how good it feels to be supported the right way. Those relationships don’t just pour into me — they also keep me mindful of how I show up for the people who show up for me. I’ve met some incredible people who are masters at what they do. Whenever we get together and start talking strategy, it feels like fire. I’m deeply thankful for those relationships.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Cheers Creative is a remote brand strategy and web design studio that helps businesses show up online with confidence, precision, and power. We specialize in brand development and custom WordPress websites for entrepreneurs, public figures, and organizations that are ready to be seen as leaders in their space.
What Cheers is known for is the way design and emotional intelligence work hand in hand. The goal isn’t just to make something look good, but to create online homes that tell the truth about who a brand really is and help it grow from that place. We create online experiences that feel like you on your best day, while making sure the strategy behind it helps your audience say “yes” faster.
I’ve been in the design industry long enough to know that visuals alone aren’t enough. The words, the structure, and even the rhythm of a website should build trust before a visitor ever fills out a form. At Cheers, we walk clients through a homegrown process built from years of experience—covering messaging, design, and launch support—so they leave with a website that truly helps them build momentum in their business.
We’ve built sites and branding for nonprofits, government initiatives, educators, and YouTubers with millions of followers. But what I’m most proud of is how our work gives every client, big or small, a sense of ownership and pride in what they’ve created.
What sets us apart is how personal our process is. We don’t use cookie-cutter questionnaires or out-of-the-box, impersonal templates. We ask thoughtful questions, study how your audience thinks, and design with intention. Our clients often tell us that working with us feels like therapy for their brand, and I take that as a compliment. I also take it seriously, because branding is emotional work. If branding is meant to make the public feel something, then it’s only right that the person creating it feels something too. Getting to the truth of a message isn’t easy. It takes patience, empathy, and a willingness to sit in those emotions until the story feels right. I have that patience.
While Cheers Creative focuses on done-for-you branding and web design, I created and lead The Brave Brand Circle through my personal brand — an online community built for entrepreneurs who don’t want to do business alone.
I started The Brave Brand Circle for three reasons:
First, I wanted business owners to have a place to build stability through accountability, especially in a time when the economy and the online space can feel unpredictable. Second, I wanted them to learn brand strategy and immediately put it to work. I’ve found that people are most likely to apply what they learn when they’re creating something they need immediately. This is not a place where you just learn theory; you learn implementation. That’s why this membership isn’t filled with random assignments or busywork. Every lesson and every live masterclass helps you build something in your business that didn’t exist before. And third, I wanted to teach the side of branding that people rarely talk about: the backend. The systems, documents, automations, and operations that make your business run are just as much a part of your brand as your logo or content. Inside the Circle, we work through both — the public-facing side and the internal engine. And when it’s time to take those bigger leaps, like raising your prices or pitching new opportunities, you don’t have to face it alone. You can take that leap right there in our office hours, surrounded by people who understand what it feels like to grow in real time.
Before they know it, members have built brand assets that didn’t exist before — systems and tools that help them get paid faster, show up more confidently, and run their businesses with direction and purpose.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Most people don’t realize I’ve built my remote brand strategy and web design studio, Cheers Creative, right here in Memphis. A lot of the opportunities I’ve had on a national level, including speaking engagements, partnerships, and press, all happened while I was still right here at home.
I’ve worked with clients across the country, led national workshops, and received calls from major organizations—all from my desk in Memphis. That’s what happens when you mix great work with great storytelling. You can’t just wait for people to notice you; you have to make it easy for them to see you. Visibility comes from discipline and consistency, not talent alone.
Now, as Memphis expands into creative industries and innovation, I’m proud to be part of that story. I’m one of the people who believed in the city’s creative power long before it became the conversation.
Contact Info:
- Website: Cheers Creative: https://cheerscreative.com — Personal Website: https://danajamesmwangi.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/danajamesmwangi
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danajamesmwangi
- Other: The Brave Brand Circle: https://danajamesmwangi.thrivecart.com/brave-brand-circle/
Image Credits
Stephon Ballard, Picture This Memphis
