Leila Lee Mitchell's Melodic Design: Weaving the Spirit of Cities into Art and Entrepreneurship

Have you ever wondered how the spirit of a city can shape the soul of an artist? Leila Lee Mitchell, the powerhouse behind LLM Design and front-woman for the Lazy Susans, joins us to unravel this mystery. We embark on a captivating journey from the historical cobblestones of Boston and Philadelphia to the bustling stages where Leila's musical talents shine. Our discussion is peppered with playful banter on whether a Philly cheesesteak could ever rival Boston's culinary scene, while also paying homage to the two cities' rich contributions to the American tapestry of music and culture.

As we navigate through the complexities of human-centered design, Leila imparts wisdom on the transformative power of empathy in both business and creative endeavors. She reveals how spaces can tell stories and foster connections, a philosophy that extends to her approach in design and branding. Diving into the melodic side of life, we uncover Leila's serendipitous rise to national television with her band during the pandemic, and the powerful interplay of entrepreneurship and artistic expression. This episode promises to leave you inspired, with a newfound appreciation for the rhythms that pulse through our work and the harmonies that can emerge when passion and profession collide.

About Leila Lee Mitchell:
Leila Lee Mitchell is the Founder and Creative Director of LLM Design.  With over 30 years of design and academic experience, Leila has worn many different hats including architect, graphic designer, brand and marketing strategist, business owner, and professor. She is an expert at communicating identity and information to shape experiences that connect people to place. As Founder and Creative Director of LLM Design, she consistently challenges her team and students to articulate the value of thoughtful design to deliver successful solutions.

Connect with Leila:
Website llmdesign.com
Band thelazysusans86.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/leilaleemitchell
linkedin.com/company/llm-design-inc-/
Instagram instagram.com/llmdesign
Facebook facebook.com/LLMDesignStudio

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blend psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:35

Good morning Arlo, good morning America. It's a beautiful day in Philadelphia today. Welcome to Founders Forum, and you know I'm going to reverse what I said in our prep. I'm going to go right into introducing Leila and get her involved in the conversation right away. So our guest today we have a little theme around this is Leila Mitchell, who came down from Boston to be on our show in suburban Philadelphia.

Marc Bernstein: 1:00

And Leila has over 30 years of design and academic experience and she's the founder and creative director of LLM Design out of Boston. And she's worn many different hats, including architect, graphic designer, brand and marketing strategist, business owner and professor. She's an expert at communicating identity and information to shape experiences that connect people to place and as founder of Creative Director of LLM Design, she's consistently challenging her team and students to articulate the value of thoughtful design to deliver successful solutions. And because of my music bent, I have to tell you that she also is a singer and cowboy bow player for the Lazy Susans and we'll get into that and prior to that her experience was karaoke queen. So I just had to say that. Good morning Leila.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 1:53

Good morning.

Marc Bernstein: 1:55

Hey, so the Boston Philadelphia, I was thinking about this.

Marc Bernstein: 1:58

There's a lot of connections between Boston and Philadelphia, some competitive they're the ones we think of, especially in sports some cooperative.

Marc Bernstein: 2:07

But the competition I was thinking about, I think, was set up by a forefather of both of our cities, which is Ben Franklin, who I don't know. If you know, you spent some time in Philadelphia, but his name's all over the place the Franklin Institute, the Franklin Pavilion, the Franklin Field used to be the Eagle Stadium, the University of Pennsylvania, which has been in the news a lot, not all for good reasons lately, but he's founder of the University of Pennsylvania, founder of the US Post Office in Philadelphia, I mean everything so. But he also spent a lot of his time I think more or less equal time in Boston and he endowed money to both cities at his death. And both of them still have the Franklin Foundation money going, except Boston has many times the amount of money the Philadelphia has, because I've read articles and dug into it a little bit, they've been a lot smarter with the money. So kudos to Boston on that. Kudos to the Eagles beating the Patriots last time they met in Super Bowl.

Ang Onorato: 3:05

I have to throw that in there. Of course, we can't let that slide do you disservice to Philly.

Marc Bernstein: 3:10

That was after we were beaten before, and lots happened since then, so we'll see what happens with all that. But great sports down. I rooted for the Red Sox the first time they won the World.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 3:20

Series. I feel like everybody did yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 3:21

yeah, I kind of had to like that, so you're a Boston sports fan, obviously.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 3:26

I've been there for about 22 years and I think we always talk about how my three kids have never really struggled in the way that many Bostonians have in the past. Over the last 20 years We've had some pretty good results, whether it's basketball, hockey, baseball or football. So I think now the Patriots are sort of showing a little bit of discomfort, and so I think that's a good that's a mild way to put it.

Ang Onorato: 3:56

It's about time.

Marc Bernstein: 3:59

Then they're done that.

Ang Onorato: 3:59

Yes, yeah, welcome to our pain.

Marc Bernstein: 4:01

Well, welcome to Philadelphia, although we I was thinking about it, as you said, my kids have had a pretty good experience too, at least a Super Bowl Championship and World Series Championship and a lot of contending, disappointing, contending seasons.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 4:15

Yes, Thank you for having me down here. I have to give a shout out to my Uber driver, leticia in the gray key, as she was so sweet, gave me a really great education on the cheese steak which I actually unfortunately called in the car at steak and cheese.

Ang Onorato: 4:32

Oh, very not supposed to say that she also talked to me about.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 4:36

You know how it should be served and where to go, and I think it's the SPK, the salt pepper, ketchup, and it also has mayonnaise that's right and onions.

Ang Onorato: 4:46

Or just say or whiz with Depends, okay, okay.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 4:51

So very. You know, I've only been here less than 24 hours and just extremely friendly, friendly town, Everybody that I've met. You did go to Geno's, I did go to Geno's, which I heard is a little touristy, I suppose, and there's some underground places to go versus the tourist.

Ang Onorato: 5:07

Well, you can get the t-shirt Pat or Geno's After the show.

Marc Bernstein: 5:10

I'll give you some other names, yeah.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 5:12

Yeah, now it was great, it was fantastic and you know, cousin from up in Boston, we've come down and welcomed ourselves down here.

Marc Bernstein: 5:23

Very nice. So your cousin came with you. No, oh, you have a cousin.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 5:27

No, I'm repeating a the I'm repeating the beer commercial. Oh right, that's how we know. Everybody has that. Yeah, got it, got it Got it.

Marc Bernstein: 5:37

We're also talking about music out of Boston and Philly, and both of both are very illustrious music cities but don't have as many big names as as you would think, but we're over the last 30 years. I guess the Hooters may be the biggest band, but artists we've had Taylor Swift, who's from suburban Philadelphia, might arguably be the biggest artist in the world right now. Yes, and also Pink, who is Angie's favorite right.

Ang Onorato: 6:05

Shout out to my girl, lisa from.

Marc Bernstein: 6:07

Doyle's Town, pennsylvania, yeah, so, and then you have you've had the cars, you've had Boston, you've had.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 6:13

Yeah, a lot of really great underground 80s bands coming out of coming out of the club scene in Cambridge and Boston, Arlington and so forth. And of course, Berkeley College of Music has some great grads.

Marc Bernstein: 6:27

Yep, that that was. That was I actually, lee Berkeley and I. I was a music major and I went in law school. I wrote a book on copyright law and I wanted to go to Berkeley. I never made it there, but I actually had conversations with him about copyright law and wrote a paper and he reviewed it for me, and so I was fortunate to know him a little bit, over the phone at least at that point anyway. So, pretty cool, it's a great, great music school. So tell us about your journey from I know you grew up in Virginia to where you are today.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 6:58

That's a loaded question, but it is a loaded question but I love talking about it. I think one of the things that I've grown into comfortability is my identity and sort of where I've come from and where I want to go. And I and Angie, I love your water bottle, I want to sort of awaken the artists within is what it says in the water bottle, and I think that's kind of where, like it was a great motto to have and to sort of think about yourself as a creative person. So it kind of all starts in rural Virginia. As a young Leila Lee not Mitchell Mitchell is my married name and you know, I know this is a radio show and you're not really looking at me, but I am of mixed race and growing up in the 80s in rural Virginia there were definitely groups that you try to feel like. Where do I belong? I was lucky enough to be the type of person that moved around or traveled between all the different groups. I was very comfortable, whether it was the jocks, the athletes, the smart kids, the white kids, the black kids, the Asian kids. I was very comfortable in kind of moving around those spaces and gathering characteristics of building myself within those. But as a daughter of Chinese, jamaican parents.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 8:23

The question of what do you want to do when you grow up was pretty straightforward doctor, lawyer, engineer and so those paths were kind of set out academically what do you need to do to get there? And so I followed suit. In undergrad I went to the University of Virginia fantastic experience. I right away went into architecture. I didn't feel like there was room for discovery. I needed to make my path as it was created from when I was younger, from my parents and my culture, and architecture was a safe label. Amazing experience there I really began to let my artist awaken, as your water bottle says. And working right out of school in architecture, I had to and this is one of the pieces of advice that I give a lot of young designers or a lot of young professionals take a look at the people you're working with in the industry where you start in. Look at the principles, look at the owners. Is that where you want to be? Is that how you want to live? And it could be, but you really need to evaluate. What is it that makes you tick and is this the right path for you?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 9:37

So that started my lifelong journey of learning. I really sort of said, even though I have this degree in my hand, I'm not done and actually it's just the beginning. So I started really thinking about what are all the different things that I don't know about design. I started taking happened to be living in Baltimore at the time, taking classes at Johns Hopkins marketing, business, engineering, taking classes in even watercolor, trying to sort of figure out what is it that I like, and I began to build up my identity as a designer. To kind of say it's not the label that's defining me, but what I like to do is creating the label. And so fast forward, going into graduate school, I moved to Boston, I went to a wonderful school, massachusetts College of Art and Design, and that graduate program allowed me to really uncover so many different ways that interdisciplinary design can be shaped into other forms of what I want to do, and so that was kind of like the background. It's then projected onto what LLM design has become, which is really an interdisciplinary creative studio.

Marc Bernstein: 10:56

Who are your typical clients and what kind of work does LLM design do for them?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 11:02

Sure. So as a creative studio we really think about design strategy as a process. We look to focus on human-centered design and try to figure, first and foremost by looking at the challenges that the clients are facing, what's the real problem? And that's kind of the uncovering, discovery, part of the process, and then we create creatively a path in which the solution can be the right one for them. So it breaks down in a lot of different things.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 11:35

I kind of go back to that architecture piece of the puzzle here where we call it placemaking. We do placemaking both in the physical sense as well as in the mental sense. In the physical sense it can translate into developing brand in place. What are the interiors of a space feel like? What is that retail space like? What are the tangible elements of a marketing campaign For sure website, you know all of these tangible elements that we can physically touch and feel. The intangible or the mental place resides within our mind. What is the story that we're building? What are the operational systems? What is the community culture campaign that we need to create?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 12:20

So those might be the end solutions, but it's always kind of the same design strategy process that begins with discovery and understanding, taking into account human empathy and then delivering a solution. So the types going back to your question, the types of clients that I've worked with I've worked with everyone in commercial real estate trying to understand what to do with this space, how to build for a better client, what the tenants are looking for, all the way to entities like the YMCA of Greater Boston or a community health center. You know, thinking about what is the experience that our patients really want to have as they're walking in the front door. What is it like for a non-English speaking mother of a baby who's sick and they need help? Can they get the help that they need quickly and how does that feel as a community center? So those are the kinds of things that we like to dig into.

Ang Onorato: 13:19

You know, what I love about what you're describing is you talked about in your own life when you were younger. You didn't. You felt like your path was kind of carved out, so to speak. So I love the way that you're bringing this into your work today, where you're purposely taking your clients on a journey for them to determine what is the right path and kind of carve that out. And after the break we'll talk a little bit about awaken the artist within, because it's related, I think, a lot to how you incorporate your culture and creativity. But I just wanted to point out is that kind of a conscious thing for yourself that you feel like when you're meeting with clients, that you can draw upon some of that sort of past experience and really bring that experience first to the client and then, obviously, their end product?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 13:59

Yes, I think going in with the conviction and belief that better solutions are made through that discovery is has been my successful way of dealing with clients Not coming in with the prescribed solution. Unfortunately, many clients come to you and sort of say we want X, y and Z, can you just make this thing for us? And I have to back it, back it up, way back and say why is it that you want this? What is it actually is the real challenge of what you're trying to do. And you know, in layman's terms, that might not have been a brochure, that actually maybe was a kiosk that is in a public facing area and an event, and not necessarily this printed piece that you thought you had to have. So again, yeah, it's backing it up a little bit and saying, like you know, let's not create that prescribed path that your competitors have, let's create something completely different and something at the core of what's needed.

Marc Bernstein: 14:57

But it really starts with what are you about meaning the customer, what message are you trying to get across? And then you have to start figuring out who is your audience, I'm sure, and how do you get that message across the best way, and the media, as you say, might end up being completely different. What they originally imagined.

Marc Bernstein: 15:16

That's right. So there's a lot of parallels to what I do with what I call fiscal therapy, with financial planning, and with what Ange does. So in a way, we're all doing some amount. We don't hold ourselves out this way and I don't pretend to be this, but we're. It's kind of like life coaching to a certain extent. It's helping people become an alignment with who they are and what they want, and having the tools in our specific industries and trades to help them get there.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 15:41

Right, right. And the one thing that I see that connection is we all want to collaborate, we all want to connect with other human beings, and I think the best way to do that is to understand the empathy, to understand who it is we're talking to, who that customer is, what their beliefs are, what's important to them, and then begin to communicate with them in a way that is special.

Ang Onorato: 16:07

Yeah, I think it's really important to, as Marc said, in all of our businesses. What I try to do for people is say you're not just here to buy something. We're designed to help them go on a transformational journey.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 16:19

Oh, I love that yes.

Ang Onorato: 16:20

Right, whether it's a product or a space or you know whatever. I think, that's, that's the most important piece, yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 16:28

So this is a real great time. I'm trying to get TJ's attention to take a quick one minute break for our commercial. We've covered a lot of ground and we're going to cover a lot more. I can tell on the remaining time that we have.

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Marc Bernstein: 17:42

So we are back on Founders Forum and we have a lot to cover, so let's get right into it. So, Leila, I appreciate your story is a great story of how you got there, how you've gotten there. Um, I, um. I have a couple of different things I want to ask you, but one is in terms of building your business and your vision for your business what kind of obstacles did you face and what did you use to overcome them?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 18:06

Yeah. So I mean again I talked a little bit about that prescribed pathway that you know what is the right way to start a business, what's the right way to make money, you know, and so struggling with that and also being a very highly creative person, um, and design individual, you know you struggle with um, how do we make that money and, at the same time, how do you make something meaningful, um, and so that that has been a constant uh battle for me as a 100% owner, not really having that um, that partner to kind of well, what partner inside of me, I guess but partner to sort of say these are, these is the trajectory we need to go, this is sort of the operations that needs to happen to make money fiscally, um, in terms of the product itself. I think that we're really happy with what we've done. We've done some amazing work, but the struggle has always been getting those clients that really find meaning in what we do and making money at the end of the day.

Marc Bernstein: 19:16

And what have you done to address that aspect? Those two aspects.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 19:21

I reach out to a lot of networked people that have run businesses that do this for do a little bit more of an adjustment of operations, have them really lift the lid up, not being too protective of being extremely transparent and so that they can kind of see where I struggle, what I can do. They lay out opportunities for me, they help me understand we might need to cut here in order to grow here. So it's really reaching out and making sure that you have a network of individuals, of professionals, to help you lead through there. So that's really how I drive my path.

Marc Bernstein: 20:03

So external mentorship to a certain extent right. So I can't move on to the future until we talk about one other thing, which I'll respectfully call your side hustle, which is your band, the Lazy Susans. So this is a great story. Tell us quickly how the Lazy Susans came about.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 20:21

So I am a transplant to Boston and starting a family there without any other blood related family is hard to do, and so, living in a small town of Milton, right outside of Boston, I quickly gathered my own tribe, I guess, if you will. And so there were five families, five women, five husbands, 10 kids between all of us, and we would always get together on Friday nights, really support each other in everything up down hardships, but on Friday nights we would always get together for pizza and we would always have music around. That was something that always happened. A lot of the fathers and then eventually kids played music, played in bands, were in plays, and inevitably the moms were in the kitchen and cleaning up. We're just talking about life. And then, during COVID, time opened up where we didn't have to run around and take kids to soccer practice or go to PTO meetings and so forth, and we said we should start a band.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 21:29

Because, we sang karaoke, things like that, and we would get on some of the drums. And so the five of us are pretty high stake individuals and we like to challenge ourselves, and so three out of five of us have never had any musical lessons. So for us to say let's start a band all of a sudden was a huge challenge in itself. But we started this band. We each kind of took up our own instruments, we decided to rotate, and so I kind of came up with the identity of the lazy Susan's, because it's that thing that sits on your table and rotates. We happen to be sitting around a kitchen table as well. It's all related in the experience. And so three years ago we decided to play at a local porch fest in Milton and we learned seven songs, we focused and we did it and we had a great crowd and in short order, you ended up on national television.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 22:20

Yeah, exactly, and in the past three years, we've been able to tell our story in a number of different ways, whether that was on Kelly Clarkson show or whether that was on that's where I became your first fan.

Ang Onorato: 22:32

Yeah, yeah, saw that.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 22:33

Or just a radio show, and it's been surreal, it's been pretty cool.

Marc Bernstein: 22:38

It's an amazing journey and there's possibly a film in the works, if we'll have to.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 22:41

There is. We actually are on a path of a potential film happening.

Marc Bernstein: 22:49

It's wild, it's wild.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 22:51

Tapping into the inner child's creativity yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 22:54

Well, yeah, I think you're tapped. My observation just from hearing the stories and seeing the little bit on Kelly Clarkson and all that is that you are not the, but a driving force in the band, and I think your creative impulse and being open to the artist within might have something to do with that.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 23:11

Yeah, yeah, it's luckily being in a collaborative effort like that. It's the recognition and this is something that I tell my students or young designers or anyone who's sort of asking for advice is the most important thing is not only to recognize what you're great at, but what you're not great at. That is very, very important, and so once you figure that out and you come to terms with that, gather people around you that fill that hole, and I think the five of us, or any team that I'm on, really kind of creates a mesh network of a really strong sum of all of our parts, and I think that helps in Lacy Susan's as well.

Marc Bernstein: 23:55

That's wonderful, so we don't have a lot of time left. I told you it was going to get really fast. But I do want to ask you about your three-year vision. If this were 2026, you're looking back on the last three years what would have to happen for you to feel that that was a great time in your life, through whatever categories of life you want to discuss? What would that look?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 24:14

like. So I'm entering into my tenure I can't believe it at LLM Design, and I think it's a ripe moment of kind of thinking about how I'm transforming the ship that I'm on. What is my next? Where do I navigate in my next path? How am I building it? What my team is going to be so in three years, I think that we're going to dive a little bit more into heavier design strategy. A little bit more of those soft design solutions.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 24:46

I very much want to tackle some heavier subject matters, like redesigning higher ed as an institution or really thinking about health care as a service, and so working with clients like that is something that I seek to really make a difference in what I do, and so I think that's where I see myself In terms of success. I always think about how do I want to feel when I wake up in the morning, and is it something that I still want to be doing? Am I excited about it? Am I proud of it? And so, for me, that's where I want to be. I want to feel really good.

Ang Onorato: 25:25

And before we wrap up I know we've got just another minute and a half left, but I just want to make reference of the awake and the artist within which you pointed out, because your entire story, this, is a movement and a business. I'm part of that. We do retreats and masterminds and teach people to tap into that inner creativity as a child and being able to express that. So I love your entire story as the embodiment of that. And last quick question if you look back, what would you say to your younger self if you say follow that gift, follow your art inside?

Leila Lee Mitchell: 25:54

I think one of the things that this next generation coming up I've noticed that they don't have is this idea of risk and resilience. Risk is something that is super scary If we're constantly we don't know how to fail, we don't know how to take it, and I think that that is so much more important than getting the winning ribbon is taking that risk, and so that builds up the resilience, that builds up the like fire inside of you to keep going. So I would say that's what I would keep telling my younger self.

Ang Onorato: 26:26

Love it, feel forward basically, yeah, awesome. Well, this has been incredible. I think it's another one we should have. We need a double, a part two.

Marc Bernstein: 26:35

We do have 30 seconds. Your legacy. Tell us about your legacy. We have 30 seconds.

Leila Lee Mitchell: 26:40

The legacy. What I love is when students, especially young female designers, or people that I've mentored, or even people that I've worked with, come up to me and say I remember something you said to me and it's made me inspired. I remember working with you and the experience was really opened my eyes to something completely. So that's what I would like. I don't need a product out there. I don't need an amazing, award winning design. I would rather have a feeling reside in the people that I've touched.

Marc Bernstein: 27:15

Leila Lee Mitchell, it's been a pleasure to have you here today. It's really been an enjoyable experience.

Ang Onorato: 27:20

Yes, please come back Love it.

Marc Bernstein: 27:22

Yeah, let us know when next time you're in Philly.

Announcer: 27:24

We'll do it again.

Marc Bernstein: 27:25

We'll give you a list. Well, that's it for today on Founders Forum. Thanks so much for being here, Leila. Thank you for being here, Ang. Thank you all for listening and have a wonderful day.