Women RISE

Branding with Heart & Soul: Marianne Hartley on the Art of Brand Alchemy

• Claire Molinard • Season 1 • Episode 24

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Marianne Hartley is an exquisitely sensitive brand magician who blends her expertise in branding with her passion for the healing arts. This combination helps her reveal the true essence of the companies and individuals she works with.

For Marianne, branding isn't just about marketing. It's a special process that combines insights from the heart, mind, and body. As an author, brand designer, and energy healer, she founded Hartley & Soul Branding and Design Agency, to help visionary business leaders align their brands with their unique selves.

In this heartfelt conversation, Marianne shares about the magical moment when she decided to merge her two passions, creating her company Hartley and Soul.  We delve into Marianne's process for crafting legacy brands for her clients, which she shares entirely in her book, ALIGN & SHINE: "Gain an unshakable foundation to build your legacy brand." The book received recognition as a finalist at the 'Readers Choice' and The Business Book Awards 2023. 

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Claire:

Welcome to the Woman Rise podcast, a podcast where we celebrate and encourage the rising of feminine intelligence and leadership. I'm your host, claire Monignac, and I live and work on the island of Corsica. I'm a mother, a healer, a lover of nature and an entrepreneur. I spent my entire adult life practicing and studying spiritual, psychotherapeutic and coaching approaches to human growth and transformation. I teach, coach and facilitate developmental programs for conscious woman change makers, helping them feel resourced and inspired so they can lead from within. Every month, I have the pleasure of chatting with incredible women who are creating positive and sustainable change in their fields through embodying feminine qualities such as empathy, compassion, inclusiveness, devotion, beauty and so many more qualities of the feminine. Whether they're running NGOs or charities, writing books, coaching, healing or teaching, these women have in common that they embody the feminine principles that I believe are essential for creating a world today that works for everyone. On Woman Rise, I give them the floor to share their stories, their wisdom and their unique superpowers.

Claire:

My hope is that you, regardless of how you identify on the gender spectrum, will be inspired to tap into your inherent feminine qualities as they show uniquely in you, as you and through you, so that you may be more equipped to impact sustainable and positive change in your own circle of care and concern. Are you ready? Let's go. I am delighted to welcome Marion Hartley today on this new episode of Woman Rise. Marion is a brand designer, founder of Hartley Soul and the author of Align Shine, a practical guide to create your legacy brand. Marion and I met in person last October. We both were participants in this beautiful conference about bringing feminine qualities in the workplace. Yeah so, marion, I'm delighted to have you here and really love how you found your way into bringing these feminine qualities in your work.

Marianne:

So welcome, thank you. Thank you, claire. Thanks for inviting me on Women Rise.

Claire:

It's a pleasure. And yes, begin by telling us how you were able to bring your two loves your love for brand designing and your love for healing into one offer. Thank you, that has become your life work.

Marianne:

Yes, so I'll take you back to my childhood briefly, because as a child, I spent a lot of time out in nature. I was playing in the fields, in the garden, and I was fascinated by just the natural shapes all around me. So that was a world I loved immersing myself in. Another world I loved immersing myself in was the art world. My mom had an artist friend and we spent a lot of time in galleries, and so nature and art have played a major, major role in throughout my life, and seeing these exhibitions actually inspired me to want to train in these sort of graphics, you know, to understand how advertising was working, because I saw a huge difference between the pictures we saw on the street and how advertising and billboards made us feel and how a work of art could impact us on such a, you know, a really deep way, and I was fascinated by the difference because really the format is similar it's a canvas and there's colors and shapes but they left me feeling so, so different, and one of the motivating forces for me to learn to train in the graphics and branding field was that I thought wouldn't it be amazing if the images we saw on a daily basis made us feel really good and reconnected us to ourselves and reminded us of why we're here and sort of inspired us to be our best selves, rather than making us feel like we have to have certain things in order to have status or to be somebody.

Marianne:

So the other thing I picked up in galleries and in looking at art, there's something about the energy, and so it's. It was not something visible, but it was something that I could feel, thank you. And I then got it really interested later on, once I'd studied design and arrived in London with my portfolio under my arm and started working in design agencies and worked on some beautiful, large brands like intercontinental hotels and Toyota and big, you know corporate brands. I loved the structure and the impact these brands had. There was another aspect that I felt wasn't really talked about, and to me it was linking to the energy and to actually also the mind, body, spirit. So it's like how come at times we can see something that looks nice but it leaves us totally cold? How come at other times we see something and it really fills us with. You know, it fills us with a beautiful energy.

Claire:

Right. I love what you're saying, mayan, because what I'm sensing is that you had that capacity to access this different layers of our being right, because not. Your work was obviously visual and mental and in branding, therefore, was a direction, a goal. Selling is part of it Absolutely. Yet you were accessing the underlying, the subtle, the energetics, the aspects of that work, and from a very intuitive place. Right now you're articulating this, but I imagined that in your younger days, in the beginning, it might not have been that articulate journey for you to do that.

Marianne:

No, that's right, it wasn't as conscious, it was something I sensed. I was curious and fascinated by the fact that, you know, we've all had the experience of walking into a room and not feeling comfortable and we can't quite pick up on why. Or we've had the experience of walking into space and feeling really at ease and our body relaxes and we feel, you know, we feel good and our mood sort of lifts, and that, of course, got to do partly with the design of the space, but very often it's the energy and it's what's happened in that space before. You know, if there's been an argument in a room and you walk into this, you feel something is off. You may not know what has happened, but you feel that something is not quite right.

Marianne:

And I'm sure we all actually pick up on things, but we've probably tuned out to not really, you know, really sense or be attuned to what we feel, because there's so many stimuli on a daily basis just, you know, leaving our home and get on a train, there's so many different, so much information that we pick up, and now even more with social media. You know it's constant. It can be constant if we don't consciously create space to create some calm, and for me so I was fascinated that you know a design or a visual brand also has an energy. It has it's like an entity. It's got its own life force and when we start creating it with the highest intention, so energetically, we can also inform it of what we want it to do in the world.

Claire:

Yeah, and there is a magic dimension to that and not magic by chance, but there is a magic science to it and I think you're really you know in your book you have a chapter on the right brain, a chapter on the left brain and a chapter on bringing these two together.

Marianne:

Yes.

Claire:

And that's really what I think the code that you've cracked is really about bringing these two worlds you know, the rational and the imagination, artistic, intuitive world together in order to create a brand that really says something, that really captures and gives a clear message to the world. That's what branding is about. Yes, and the way that you talk about it in your book is very holistic. I think that's really where you bring your feminine qualities, and again, when I speak about feminine qualities, I'm not talking about women's quality. I'm talking about a way of being that is known as feminine, because it brings a soft skills that we most often attribute to the feminine, and in both, men and women are able to access this powers, not only women, absolutely. Yeah, it's just this beautiful blend of masculine and feminine in your, in your work, at this rigor, but also the great space that you, that you give to imagination and intuition, and beauty and space.

Marianne:

Right, absolutely. Yeah, beauty is really at the core of pretty much anything that I do. It's, it's, it's essential. So beauty and simplicity. Think when, when a design is simple. I love Japanese art, for example. You know, like how a brush stroke captures is incredibly simple, but it's so, at the same time, incredibly multifaceted. It's so rich, yet it's incredibly simple. I find that exquisite. There's, there's such power.

Claire:

I see you have an answer behind you.

Marianne:

Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about this as in a Japanese shape, but yes, so it's just. You know well. And what's happening with the sort of Japanese calligraphy? There's also a real intention behind it. Again, it's before something is created. The intention with which it's created is then encapsulated in the final design.

Marianne:

So this is the part that I'm passionate about is bringing out the essence of of a business and of person, because I tend to work with the founders, and so it's really about drawing out their unique essence and then making it visible in the design.

Marianne:

So, because it stands for their values, it'll attract the right people who then energetically resonate with what the company stands for.

Marianne:

So it happens on a very, quite intuitive, instinctive level, because we're either attracted or repelled by things, and with brands you want this to happen very, very quickly, because you want to draw the right clients to you and the right employees, and you also don't want to attract the people who are not right for you.

Marianne:

So the clearer, the the clearer the design is and the clearer it really embodies the values of the founder, of what the company stands for, then the easier it is for for the company to attract the right clients, because it's like it's also about energy and frequency. So I'm fascinated about, you know, it's really the invisible aspects of branding, but it's what life and our environment is made of. Right, it's all. Everything is energy and we either we pick up on things and we pick don't pick up on others, because we it doesn't resonate with us, and so it's really it's about making sure that the the frequency of the brand resonates with the types of clients that we want to work with, so it aligns with them. And so there's an internal alignment first for the founder and the company to be aligned with their values, and once this alignment is there, then it can be translated into the design of the brand, and so you can align then with the right clients and the right employees.

Claire:

That makes total sense to me. I'm wondering how was it for you when you began to communicate that to clients? How was it received? How did it receive now? I imagine that over time you you attracted the clients to hear that message. And yet I'm interested in a journey, because I think our listeners are interested about this translation, this transition phase. Yeah, mark, what about this?

Marianne:

Yes, so for many years it was something, you know, I studied energy healing and Buddhism. That's something I did on the side and it was a bit like during the day, when I was employed, you know, as designer by day and then, and energy healer and intuitive at the weekends or, you know, in my spare time. And for many years I didn't really talk about it openly, because 20 years ago, you know, we're in a very different space now and I think talking about intuition and energy and healing is much more common now, whereas 20 years ago and especially with the design, if I'm quickly noticed, they were, they seemed to be two different worlds, whereas for me they made complete sense together. So it's something I kept form myself, but I just, you know, I obviously used it in the designs I was creating. For me, it made sense to think of energy while I was creating something.

Marianne:

But it's really when I launched Heartly and Soul 10 years ago, that's when I openly said you know, this is, this is what I'm up to, this is what I'm doing. I want to bring healing. Yeah, honestly, it was like a coming out and and I was terrified, I was really scared about you know what's going to happen. What are people going to think? That how can I bring healing and design together and and not be considered as totally woo woo or you know? Because to me was there's an absolute rational part. You know, for a brand to really function, it needs to be aligned and it needs to have this flow. So it's actually what makes it work. It's the invisible aspects. Is that energetic part to it Totally?

Claire:

I'm so with you, yes, and, as you see, I'm smiling as you speak because I can. So, first of all, I'm very touched by your courage and your audacity to bring this, you know, to bring this two loves together and to say that's it. I'm not splitting myself into anymore, I am one, this is what I do and and that's you know to find that integrity just liberates so much energy.

Marianne:

Yeah, it does, and it was. There was the scary part to start with and then, as you say, you know it was very freeing and liberating.

Claire:

It takes a lot of energy to kind of separate things and split them and hide from one another. Yeah, I know, because I see what the woman that I work with. It's as if they believe or they've been conditioning themselves to leave their intuitive side, their creative side, their playful side, spiritual side, at home and when they are at work they don't trust these qualities, they think these are not welcome. And when they learn to integrate that other part of them, that right side of the brain part, and learn to trust it and to actually integrate their mind, heart and intuition into the work that they do, this is when magic happens. And it's not just for creatives like you, it's actually for everyone and that's the magic of it. It's the magic of functioning from the three different centers of intelligence that are completely accessible from our self as instrument. It's just the beauty and the magic of it.

Marianne:

Yes.

Claire:

Yeah, so you did your coming out, you did hurt heartly. And then what?

Marianne:

Well then, I knew that. You know, with a name like heartly and soul, I knew I would not attract certain people and I would absolutely attract others, Right?

Claire:

So branding part right Exactly. So you know, we are you.

Marianne:

Yes, yes. So it gave me license to really use, like my intuitive gifts. What when I was? When I work with clients, because my company name has heart and soul in it, it allows me give me a license to, to go into a more maybe you know metaphysical realm or just a slightly more intangible realm, which was something I was doing Well, I was doing this intuitively before, but with having, with naming, heartly and soul, it gave me sort of gave me permission to really do, do this more fully.

Marianne:

So so I attract clients from, you know, international organizations to individuals who obviously are open and also interested in the heart and soul of what they do and want to bring their heart and soul into their work. And all my clients are passionate about what they do and want to make a positive difference. So this is where our values align. So I've worked with schools, I've worked with IP law firms, I've worked with individuals in the financial sector, and the International Association of facilitators is one of the clients I did a rebrand for and then, really global, they have people all around the world.

Marianne:

So usually when I work with clients, and also before COVID, we were doing the first sessions in person and it's always wonderful to come together, but it absolutely works online with and with the IAF. That was the first major brand exercise where everyone was online because they were all in different countries, and it was a really fascinating project to bring so many different perspectives into, you know, into cohesive one. So I tend to work with people all around, all around the globe. And the beginning, the book, is really the process that I take my clients through before the creation, you know, before the design, before the visual aspect comes about.

Claire:

Yeah, and I loved how practical your book is. It could really you share your whole process. I do. The thing that you don't share is obviously the creation of the brand. No, but it's very practical and you could go through. One could go through it in just a few days doing all the exercises and actually have a great sense of what the brand is about, the values, and it's really clarifying. I really appreciate it. It's simplicity, but not simple in terms of easy Simple. The simplicity on the other side of complexity. Right, you bring a lot together, thank you.

Claire:

It's a clean and clear manner, so really I really recommend it. Thanks, yeah, that was my the legs are still that you're sharing in it.

Marianne:

Yes, thanks, that's really my intention. It's about giving it's like the map of what lies behind a successful brand. You know what lies, the invisible aspect of a brand, that if you don't know these parts, then your logo, your website, all your visual expression won't be a true reflection of who you are and what you stand for. So they're like really fundamental questions. This is why I call it, you know again, an unshakable foundation to build your legacy brand, because when, with that foundation, you can really build the brand that stands for your values and stands for your vision and will have the right energy to attract the right clients to you.

Claire:

Can I ask you a question? I'm curious Once you have all that information, you've worked with your client and you've upped into their world in all these different ways that you do, Does the logo, the branding, the image, does it come to you at once? Do you have a magic or a secret process that you go through? I don't know if it's information or revelation. I would say Is this something?

Marianne:

How does it come to you. So very often it's something that I sense and while I'm taking my clients through the process, there's either, you know, there's obviously feelings that arise and there's sometimes pictures or shapes or colors that come as we're speaking. So it's really drawing it out. It's like I believe that the brand exists there. We need to bring it out. Do you actually say that in your book?

Claire:

Yes, that makes sense.

Marianne:

It's about revealing it, you know, because it's not something that comes from the outside, it's not something that is stuck onto something.

Claire:

Oh, it's the unique essence of that product or that person.

Marianne:

I mean that creation, that creator, it's that unique essence that you're veiling, that's it and then it's about it's like it's then giving it the it's by drawing it out, you then giving it its shape, or you yeah.

Claire:

You're allowing it to be revealed. My work, the name of my brand, is unique self-emergence, and it's really about allowing the unique essence of an individual to start shining and self, and it's the same principle. It's about allowing, supporting or facilitating someone's unique self-emergence. So I really think we're doing the same work in a different way. Yes, revealing what's already there, waiting for the light to shine.

Marianne:

Yeah, yeah, it's like. It's just like giving it space to manifest itself or to reveal itself.

Claire:

And what I love about your work is that there is a power to it. There is a naming, a name. We know that A name brings life, brings form, and so your work is so essential. You give a name and a form, and that empowers the whole work. Behind the mission, the vision becomes visible and has legs to walk, or yes?

Marianne:

Yeah, so it's. You know, when you have a shape and a color, and words and images, it's like you have these different elements that all play together and it becomes like a kaleidoscope. It's quite powerful and it's very unique because you create an entity by choosing these colors, because colors have energy, words have energy, images have energy and shapes have energy. So when you bring them all together, it really becomes like a unique entity.

Claire:

We also share that in your book very clearly, yeah. So to circle back to this need for more feminine qualities in the workplace, again, what I appreciate in your work is that you do that. You give yourself freedom to do that and to name it with your heart and soul, and in doing so, you're bringing a medicine in the world, and particularly in the mainstream culture that's all about consumerism and buying more and encouraging people to buy things that they don't need. You're bringing a different kind of branding and a different way of doing business in the world. So I really appreciate that from you, thank you. And you're also educating, because I'm sure that even some of your clients are attracted to your heart and soul, company and work. You might not know what's underneath it and how you work, and just being in your presence and doing this work with you, I assume, have some healing capacity just going through this process. So thank you for the work that you do.

Marianne:

It's very cute in the world to go. Thank you. Well, my aim really is about having brands that are fulfilling, like then, and they have a nourishing effect. It's not something that's depleting, is something that nourishes you. It's also when you create a brand like this from the inside out, on days when we will have challenges, some days and we have less energy on a day, but when our brand is a true reflection of who we are and what we're here to do, it can re-inspire us. It like reconnects us to our vision and it's like yes, this is what I'm here to do, this is my mission, this is why I'm getting out of bed in the morning, and it has this possibility to also re-infuse us with our mission.

Claire:

I love that, Marianne. That really makes sense. And yeah, that's what a brand should do. That's stuff that feels so aligned and powerful.

Marianne:

Yeah, it's a powerful tool. Yeah.

Claire:

So thank you so much for being a guest here on Woman Rise today and for inspiring us with your magic.

Marianne:

Oh, thank you, Claire. It's been really a joy to spend this time with you. Thank you for inviting me.

Claire:

Thank you and bye-bye. Thank you for listening to Woman Rise. If you enjoyed the show today, please leave us a review. To get announcements when a new podcast is published, send me an email at Claire at unixelfemergencecom to be added on my distribution list. If you'd like to join my private free group for female leaders, go to my podcast description for the links to apply. Thanks again and see you soon on the Woman Rise podcast.