For most of her life, Kelly Finley assumed she was strictly a left-brained person. She was a math whiz growing up, winning honors in citywide competitions. She earned an undergraduate degree in information technology, and later transitioned to law, graduating from Stanford and beginning to climb the ranks at a corporate firm.

The work was grueling. In search of an outlet, she signed up for a drafting class at UC Berkeley (perhaps the most technical entry into creative work). One class soon turned into an entire program—opening a window into a new future for Finley.

“I loved doing charcoal drawings, I loved looking at fabrics, I loved learning color theory,” the designer tells host Kaitlin Petersen on the latest episode of Trade Tales. “Two years in, pulling all-nighters to do my homework instead of the work I was supposed to be doing for the firm—it was literally just a lark.”

That lark quickly transformed into the real thing. Finley began taking on small projects for friends and colleagues, and in 2011, she left her law career behind to launch Joy Street Design in Oakland, California. In the early years, she set out to create her ideal firm—and then, after bringing that vision to life and moving cross-country to Atlanta, realized that having a large staff and juggling tons of projects wasn’t all she’d hoped it would be. She decided to go back to basics: reorienting her business around the projects, clients and charitable pursuits that truly bring her joy.

Elsewhere in the episode, Finley shares how she created a custom database for her firm’s backend, how she uses AI to catch ordering mistakes, and why she decided to launch a nonprofit that operates alongside her design firm.

Crucial insight: In 2018, Finley founded Joy Street Initiative, a nonprofit that provides pro bono design and renovation services for spaces like domestic violence and youth shelters. During the pandemic, the organization was funded by the design firm’s excess profits—a format that became less sustainable over time as the home boom waned and her firm took on additional expenses associated with expansion. With the help of a nonprofit consultant, the designer found a new funding structure: requiring each client to pay a mandatory flat fee donation to help finance the nonprofit. “If people don’t believe in the mission that you have for your nonprofit, they shouldn’t be working with you,” she says.

Key quote: Even if change is uncomfortable, Finley isn’t shying away from reinvention. “I know how to build a successful life,” says Finley. “So when that successful life stops working for me the way I need it to work for me, that’s when I know I’ve outgrown it, and I need to start looking for something else and redesign what that looks like.”

Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe to Trade Tales on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.