When Creativity and Christianity Collide
I’m happy to introduce the readers of Christian Women Living Magazine to a dynamic young couple with a head for business and a heart for God. Chaunce and Shaelin Blake will be an inspiration for you whether you’re struggling to start a business, express your creativity in a Christian way, raise a young family or just need to hear a testimony of answered prayers.
Stephanie Kelley: Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Shae Blake: Hello! My name is Shae. I co-run a design house with my husband & we have two beautiful baby boys (2 & 1) that get into everything. I love to write, produce music & design websites and videos. My favorite part of any project is connecting with people. When you get to know people you can put their heart and soul into the project and it makes you want to do even better than your absolute best.
Chaunce: Hi! My name is Chaunce. I am the founder and lead designer for Proarc Design House. I have a beautiful family that I thank God for. I enjoy designing for clients and I always make sure we provide the best products possible to fulfill the vision they may have.
Stephanie: Please share your testimony.
Shae: Well, I grew up going to a small church in Michigan. My parents were very actively involved in church and every church event you could think of. I loved it. But when I went away to college everything kinda…fell apart. I got into a lot of things that did nothing but hold me back. It took three years before I’d fallen so far down that pride didn’t matter anymore. So I went back home, and eventually moved to Texas with my cousin not long after. I changed my life, got back into church and sought God, and met my husband!
Chaunce: I grew up in Houston, Texas in a single parent home. My christian mother did all she could to raise me the right way. As a child I spent most of my time building, creating, and reading books about drawing. That interest carried on throughout middle and high school where I won awards for painting, sculpting, and drawing. But with every success story there are many mistakes along the way. In 2012 I got into a lot of trouble in college that deterred me from my art. It took many years for me to start my art again, after dropping out of college 2 years later I enrolled in The Art Institute of Houston at the beginning of 2015 where I studied Design & Technical Graphics (Engineering Drafting). After studying for 3 years I started my career in the workforce designing many different types of products from large LED signs around Houston, Websites for large corporations, branding packages for businesses and many other marketing collateral. In 2017 I met my beautiful wife, it was love at first site. We were married in 2018 and started our family. After the pandemic hit I lost my job, with 2 children to provide for we had to trust in God and started Proarc Design House. God has been good to our family in 2020!
Stephanie: When did you first become interested in videography, production and corporate branding?
Shae: Really I love writing and creating. Chaunce is the mastermind when it comes to branding. I love the way his mind works. He thinks of these technical aspects that just make everything flow so neatly together – it’s crazy to watch him do his thing! Seeing his passion drove me to do anything I could to help him get it out there so that others could experience his passion. He’s truly an amazing artist.
Chaunce: I started with art at a young age and the passion to create only got strong through the years. I feel closer to the master creator, God, whenever I am allowed to create projects for clients. I truly love what I do and I am very excited to have my wife part of what I love. She is amazing at keep me on track and I thank God for her.
Stephanie: How did you break into the “business” of doing corporate branding and marketing?
Shae: This is more of a Chaunce thing. I did set up some social media and helped design and put together our websites and portfolio. You know, back-end things. Chaunce is the face of branding and marketing, for sure.
Chaunce: We started with very small projects for clients on a budget-friendly basis. As we built our portfolio and clientele we were blessed by the same people we did small projects for on their budget. Their businesses grew so our business grew as well.
Stephanie: If you could offer one piece of advice to a start-up company regarding their branding and marketing, what would it be?
Shae: Don’t be cheap! It’s so easy to go with the lowest price you can find, but you have to look at what you’re getting! Quality matters. Legality matters. People tend not to understand the legal side of design and a lot of rip-off artists will prey on you for that. Look for someone legit. Honestly, you’ll be a lot better off.
Chaunce: Choose the right designer. I believe that if the design comes from a person not driven by money but driven with a passion to show the beauty God allows us to experience you will feel the heart of the designer in the design. The message that the brand resonates has to be honest or people will feel certain emotions towards your brand, even if it is subconscious.
Stephanie: Do you feel as if your business merges with ministry? And if so, please tell us about a time when you felt God using you and your business for His glory.
Shae: God is definitely our foundation. I’ve noticed this trend where people downplay their spirituality to up-play what they do. “I’m not a Christian artist. I’m just an artist that is Christian.” To me, that looks like you’re intentionally not putting God first. We are God’s daughters and sons first, and everything else comes second. Christian. Then Designer. Not the other way around. And I believe that’s why we’ve been so successful. All credits go to Him, He blessed us with these gifts and our clientele – we would be nothing without him.
Chaunce: I can’t emphasize this enough but, GOD, GOD, GOD is the center of this business. A core function of this business is a ministry called “Blessed Backpacks”, 10% of all our profits go towards helping the homeless. Us and a few other young people come together and give out backpacks filled with provisions, water, food, and clothes to the homeless in Houston.
Stephanie: What would you tell someone who is considering going into business with their spouse? What are the biggest blessings and the obstacles you have faced?
Shae: Take the criticism lol. It’s hard! You want to put out your best work but you don’t want your feelings hurt (talking about myself, here.) Sometimes, I’ll think something is great and show Chaunce and he…uh…doesn’t think it’s so great.And yeah, I get frustrated and try not to be too hurt, but he doesn’t tell me these things to make me feel lesser. He wants us to put out great work and vice versa. It’s hard, but honestly so rewarding and you grow much faster.
Chaunce: Always be open to your spouses ideas! I may be the lead designer but my wife also has ideas that may sometimes be unconventional to the design world but makes the projects more exciting and unique. I have learned that all ideas that I have may not work and may need a second pair of eyes to really make the project work.
Stephanie: How has the Covid crisis most impacted your life?
Shae: Weirdly, our business took off. We got more clients, more jobs, and that was after losing (what we had thought) was a lifeline. God works in amazing ways.
Chaunce: God has been good to our family through this crisis. We had our second child in January and a few months later I lost my job. Hurt and confused I went to God and was given peace. We later trusted God and started up Proarc for the second time and God took care of the rest. We are blessed.
Stephanie: Where do you feel God is leading your business in the coming year and has that changed any because of the pandemic and other major world events?
Shae: We’re definitely trying new things and connecting with clients a lot better. I’ve fought social anxiety my entire life. Even something like answering a phone call can be hard for what feels like absolutely no reason. But through Him I’ve been able to also meet up face to face and not feel like hyperventilating or chickening out. God speaks through us. We’re just vessels and pray that other Christian businesses and people can be blessed by the work we do!
Chaunce: God is leading us to new frontiers with our business. We started off with a small clothing business that flopped back in 2018. We were a little discouraged and took a small break after the failure. We had to really evaluate why we were doing what we were doing and we found out that God had to be in the core of our business for us to really succeed spiritually and physically. The pandemic, as horrible as it was/is, was actually a turning point in our faith and walk with God. We had no choice but to trust and follow his guidance. In turn, he blessed our operations and expanded our territory.
Stephanie: How can our readers get in touch with you?
Shae & Chaunce: We built our website www.proarc.design
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proarc.design
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Proarc.designhouse
business number (between the hours of 8am-5pm Monday through Friday) 512-729-4226
Email: info@proarc.design
