After the pandemic hit a lot changed for me. The biggest thing was becoming a mom. Suddenly my priorities changed and my goals shifted into something new. I had to re-evaluate my life and business as a whole. What made sense? What wasn’t working anymore and what actually made me happy?

I had to take a look at my business and question everything. My messaging, who I was targeting and looking into my future with a growing family all came into play. One thing that kept coming up, was my business name.

This has probably been one of my biggest insecurities. Ever since I settled on the name Emmygination, I had my doubts. On one side I was in love with it (or the idea of it), but on the other I felt very unsure. But still I kept using it because I couldn’t make up my mind.

My Issue with Emmygination

Did you know that when I first started my solo career, I started a design studio with my husband called Kemy Studio? It was my first ever business name. There came a point where co-working with my husband was difficult because we both had different passions, so we decided to start our own things. When thinking of a name, my husband actually came up with the pun Emmygination. Partly because I love Disney and also because it has this magic like wonder to it. I instantly loved it and thought about how perfect it was for me to both blog lifestyle things and be a design studio.

The problem was, I always thought it sounded like a Disney blogger. I also was worried people wouldn’t be able to pronounce it since it’s a play on words (aka a pun). But I kept it anyway because I just needed to get a site up and running asap.

There were instances where I heard people mispronounce “Emmygination” on Instagram when tagging me on Stories and it made me cringe. So that was always on my mind… the other thing that just wouldn’t leave me alone was the fact that I couldn’t see myself going by this name when I turned 40, let alone 50.

There was no way I was still going to use a name that I wasn’t 100% behind for the next 5-10 years. And so I decided to do this re-brand.

Introducing: Emmy de León Studio

In all transparency (and because I’m a Libra), I’m a super indecisive person. I went back and forth between coming up with a completely new business name or just using my own. Ultimately I went with my maiden name because it just seemed the easiest and most personable approach.

Probably one of the biggest reasons I used my maiden name vs my oh-so easy to pronounce married name (Jones), is because it highlights my heritage. “De Leon” for those who do not know Spanish, means “of the Lion” and I’ve always LOVED it. I have loved the “brave” meaning behind it and how cool it is and sounds. In fact, I used it as the middle name for my son and his nickname is Leoncito (Baby Lion).

All of this to say, when it comes to branding, using your name is just fine. I like to think that because my name sounds a tad exotic, it makes me more interesting — like an artist! Plus, at the core of my business, I like to be personable. I don’t want to be a faceless brand, I want to be approachable and like a friend you collaborate with on your dream.

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