Taking the Plunge: Laurel Black - Balanced by Design

Imagination, style, and humor are three words that come to mind when I hear the name Laurel Black. Whether creating branding for an international firm or letterhead for a local non-profit, she brings qualities of imagination and practicality to her work.

Then there’s Laurel’s sense of humor. In meetings, her professional demeanor is one of attentive listening and appropriate questions, and yet, one can almost see the twinkle in her eye and know that a touch of levity is about to shared.

Like all artists, she usually lets her work speak for her, except when Taking the Plunge!

Laurel Black

If I had to limit myself to one word to describe what I’m about, it would be hard because most who know me know that I seldom limit myself when it comes to words. They might choose words like verbose or smartass. But let’s pretend there’s a gun to my head: I choose – balance. When I am in the process of evaluating/analyzing/making choices, the questions that comes up regularly for me is “Where is the balance?” This to me is at the core of meaningful communication.

I have become sensitized to false dichotomies. We are too often presented with opposed choices that aren’t really opposed, such as art vs. science, or jobs vs. the environment, or healthy food vs. delicious food. I think this contributes in part to the current dysfunction in our government. Framing choices as mutually hostile allows partisanship to turn into power tripping.

So, the other word for me is independent. I reject simplistic ideologies that boil things down to manipulative sound bites however seductive they may seem. I try to maintain an objective distance that allows for clear understanding. It’s not easy, and sometimes I’m unsuccessful, but like everyone else, I’m a work in progress.

Who are you? List 5 nouns that define you!

Definitely “curious” is number one. The rest are:

Aspirational – Compassionate – Intuitive – Creative – Intelligent

(I’m working on them.)

What have you done that you’re most proud of?

Birthed my daughter and my business. They’re my proudest efforts so far,

and both still in development. As am I.

If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be?

I would have started working on fitness and health earlier. If allowed more than one thing, I would edit some early poor relationship choices. And I would have trained myself to be better at learning new things. Actually, I suppose I could do that now.

On a personal level, what drives you crazy? What gives you joy?

Crazy: People who don’t understand that responsibility is the other side of the rights coin. These are the ones who complain about poor government services AND their taxes. They also leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot.

Joy: The opportunity to help others express their value to the world (in other words, my work). Supporting people and organizations of worth is when I feel most powerful.