Simplicity and joy are at the centre of everything Sasha Mei does. The Toronto-based creative and co-founder of Yu + Mei, a community collective and supper club, connects people over the most fundamental elements: good food and conversation. It’s fitting, then, that when Sasha took on a freelance role in 2020 and needed a place to showcase her portfolio, she turned to Squarespace, an all-in-one platform that’s seriously easy to use. “It seemed to be the most user-friendly website builder,” she says. “I can use it all by myself; I don’t need any help. As someone who works predominantly on her own, being able to do something myself is very important.”

Now, as she aims to grow her supper club in new ways, Mei continues to lean on Squarespace’s best-in-class design to represent the aesthetic elements of her business. Below, she talks about the unique duality of her creative process, how she measures success in such an imaginative industry and why Squarespace remains a true support for her business.

How would you describe your creative process?

“It’s not one concrete thing. If I were to describe an average of what I do creatively, [I’d say that] I invest a lot of time both digitally and physically. My digital creative process involves a lot of scrolling, saving and looking for inspiration elsewhere. Physically, I like to go on walks, which allows me to ruminate and get inspired by my surroundings. I think it’s a healthy combination of working inside the box—seeing what has already been produced—and then getting outside the box and going on my walks to think differently.”

How do you define success working in a creative field?

“No one’s really going to tell you that you did a good job. No one is going to promote you as a freelancer. It’s on you to really hustle, but I always think about how my younger self would perceive me. If 15-year-old me would aspire to be who I am now, then I consider that success. For every opportunity you get, you have to think of a time when it was only a figment of your imagination. If it’s reality, then that’s a success.”

How does Squarespace help you increase your online presence and showcase your work?

“In terms of social media, I’m mostly active on Instagram. So in order to not have all my eggs in one basket, it’s important for me to have my Squarespace website and increase my online presence and diversify my range. It feels like a medium that’s truer to me. Plus, it’s an always-on factor even when I’m inactive on social media.”

How does Squarespace help support entrepreneurs like you?

“There’s a feature for everything on Squarespace. I don’t have a shop at the moment, but it does provide that opportunity. All of the features make me think of how I could expand in the future: Do I want to sell things? Do I want to monetize my content? Those are opportunities. They make things possible that I wouldn’t have necessarily considered just on my own.”

How do you see your business evolving in the future, and what role does Squarespace play in helping you achieve your next business goals?

“I plan to create a Squarespace website specifically for the supper club. I can have everything supper club and Yu + Mei related on a website so I can send the link and the community can explore and interact with all of our past work. I feel like having a website really does legitimize things.”

 

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Credits:

Video: La Clic
Production: Jeanne Bouchel