Where Are They Now? with Bella Gonzalez
Where Are They Now? with Bella Gonzalez
By: Avery Bowman
Bella Gonzalez, an Ole Miss graduate, has started a business, hosted a podcast, traveled the world, all while selling freelance graphic design, and is only in her twenties. Ironically after starting a planner company, Gonzalez proves that it is okay to not stick to a perfect “agenda” especially while you are young. Gonzalez grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and enthusiastically chose Ole Miss to study marketing and art. She originally was going to minor in art and major in marketing, but when she discovered how much she enjoyed her art classes she decided to pursue a double degree.
During college Gonzalez put her design and marketing skills together and dreamed up a business plan for a company called LaLa Letter. The business plan was both her Honors College and Art theses and it placed second in the Gillespie Business Competition, an annual business competition for young entrepreneurs and business students. By placing second in the competition, Gonzalez was not awarded funding to turn her business plan into a physical business, but she was not so easily defeated. “I also did a Kickstarter, failed on that, and I had multiple different failures all in the course of a month... and I moved back home from college,” Gonzalez said.
Through many events that could have been interpreted as a “no” Gonzalez turned LaLa Letter into a “yes.” Gonzalez spent the summer of 2018 marketing and selling the planners herself, and she successfully sold her first round of planners. This success inspired Gonzalez to move to Los Angeles, where she believed she could get the most out of her creativity and passion for design. “I moved almost exactly a year ago, I would say it was one of the best decisions in my life,” Gonzalez said.
In Los Angeles, Gonzalez, and her roommate, Gigi, co-hosted a podcast together called “Not The Models” which explored the challenges and changes of moving from the South to Los Angeles. After about six months of living in Los Angeles, Gonzalez decided it was time to pursue a second round of planners for Lala Letter. After launching the second round of planners, Gonzalez ultimately made the decision to move on from Lala Letter. All though it was formative in her life and pursuing her collegiate dreams, the chapter of Lala Letter had come to a close. “I was chasing an old dream,” Gonzalez said. “I realized that dream was a wonderful dream to have in college and such a good teaching experience.”
Despite the stress that resulted from the attempted LaLa Letter re-launch a year ago, she went on to one of her biggest adventures yet. Embarking on a six week adventure to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, she found a new sense of creativity and purpose. She loved it so much that she plans to go back for a year and travel while working on freelance graphic design. “It was so enlightening and invigorating and I realized that I had a very unique opportunity at hand, I am 25 years old, I live in LA, I do not have a nine to five job so there is nothing that is holding me to this place or country, I have very little responsibility,” Gonzalez said. “I just want to be free.” With this time, freedom, and lust for travel, Gonzalez plans to start a blog to document her travels and experiences. “I am a graphic designer who can edit video(s), I am an enthusiastic person and fun-loving and I will be traveling around the world doing crazy things which are great content. I can bring that back with me and continue the blog so I am really hoping that turns into a positive thing and if nothing else it will be a great memento.
Having experienced so much right out of college, Gonzalez has learned a lot that she wishes she knew in college. “You have two choices in everything you do in life and that is what you should do and what you must do,” Gonzalez explained. She went on to explain that particularly in the South it is easy to get caught up in the southern mentality of what “you should do.” She advises Ole Miss students to listen to what they feel they “must do” even if it is not considered cool or normal by other people.
Other Advice from Bella:
It is okay to move back home, sometimes it can be the smartest thing to do if you have the ability to do so. You can save money and figure out what to do without being rushed.
If you have the opportunity to travel, do it. Travel can bring you so much clarity and you never know who you might meet.
Read the book “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferris.
All Pictures Courtesy of Bella Gonzalez.