Meet Amber Zaricor! A SOWBO VIP Member and brand designer, Amber is the founder of Copperheart Creative, a Nashville-based collective focusing on brand design for businesses through powerful storytelling.
As a brand designer, Amber combines her expertise and experience with her client’s insights and dreams to build effective brands. Keeping a big-picture focus, Amber and the Copperheart team value creativity, passion, and positivity in all their work. Mostly, she designs with heart for people with heart!
Let’s get to know Amber Zaricor and her work. (Look for an awesome branding resource at the end of the post!)
What is your “why” for being a brand designer for businesses?
I love helping people chase their dreams—when they have poured their heart into their business, there is nothing I love more than to help them bring it to life and be PROUD to show it to the world. The branding is their first impression to a lot of their customers. As a brand designer, I love to make sure that I am always there to help them get off on the right foot from day one.
As a brand designer, who is your ideal client?
Small Business Owners that have been in business for 5+ years. They might have worked with fast and cheap branding agencies before, but never felt fully seen, heard, or understood. It was fine for a while, but now it’s time to level up and finally invest in a professional brand that matches the high-quality of their services and goods. This business owner has a deep understanding that they built their business to create experiences for their customers—NOT just another ‘get rich scheme’. They have heart. They trust their purpose and calling in their business, but just aren’t sure how to bring it to life and communicate that to the world.
From our first meeting, they are not afraid of pulling back the curtain and sharing their good, bad, and ugly with us. They understand that we won’t judge them for it, but that we are here to walk with them (more than just branding) through whatever their business journey throws at them. They come in looking for a designer… and leave with a life-long trusted business cheerleader and friend.
This was the reason why I started my podcast, Small Business Big Heart, to have a platform to share our amazing clients’ stories and heart for what they do. We only interview our branding clients—and the podcast is full of such beautiful, raw, and real conversations.
What makes you different from other brand designers?
We “start with heart.” Meaning, we get to the heart of WHY they started their business in the first place. What makes them unique on this Earth? How are they different from everyone else doing it? Sometimes, it feels like therapy. I love it!! Most likely, the business owner has been going 1000mph and not making space for big picture questions. Or, not coming back to the root of why they started in the first place. It gets emotional. But I love creating a safe space for raw conversations. To really dig into what makes them unique, which helps make their branding unique and true to them.
Tell us something fun, quirky, or weird that you’d like our readers to know about you?
I absolutely LOVE meeting new people. But after starting my business and moving to Nashville, I went through a season where I got super burnt out from doing one-on-one coffee meetings all over town. So, in 2019, I started hosting Wine Night in my living room every Wednesday. I invite all of the ladies that I’ve connected with online and open my home to them. (And they get to meet a bunch of other women, too). Like a Bible Study, but with wine… we cozy up in my living room and have deep vulnerable conversations and share our big, scary dreams.
It’s become a beautiful, safe, and intimate space to support, share, and really champion each other in our personal and professional lives. I’ve seen so many of these women grow— it makes my heart want to burst. They’ve become some of my best friends and Wednesday is now my favorite day of the week!
What do you do for fun outside of helping people with design and branding?
One of my all time favorite things that bring me joy is coloring with sidewalk chalk! I color all over my community in Nashville (Bellevue area) and absolutely love to write inspirational messages for whoever might need it that day. It helps me to feel creative, useful, and brings out the 5-year-old Amber who just wants to play and color on everything! Haha!
Who inspires you?
My Mom. She’s my biggest cheerleader, my best friend, and my shoulder to cry on. She was in the United States Air Force and now owns a long-arm machine quilting business, Coldwater Quilting Co. She’s a rockstar! I’ve always looked up to her, and she inspires me more and more every day. Recently, after being surrounded by the hustle “#girlboss culture,” she’s been challenging me to be content with where I am and to make more time and space to appreciate all of my hard work before digging into something new. #guilty
What is your big scary dream?
HA! Well, this is one of my favorite questions of all time. I ask it every week at Wine Night. I would say right now, my big scary dream is to become a mom. Pretty big and scary, huh? It scares me because as a solo-entrepreneur I don’t know how to prepare for the unknown in a life change this big. I have found SO many resources for how to help moms become business owners, but not so much the other way around. Who knows, maybe I’ll create some? I’ve been looking for a mentor to help guide me through this transition for my family, life, and business. (I would love ALL the book recommendations for that if you know any that help business owners become mamas, too!)
Is there one person or thing that you attribute your as a brand designer success to?
Honestly, God. I don’t claim the title of CEO in any of my businesses because I know that He is my CEO. Without Him, I wouldn’t be here today—all of the doors He opened and closed, people He brought into my life, and the strength that floods out of me even when I least believe it. I know it’s Him. I’m so grateful.
What advice do you have for those on their entrepreneur journey?
Keep taking small steps. Dust yourself off when you fall (because you will—we all do). Have a great support system to lean on in your professional and personal life #businessbesties. They will understand you and what you are going through more than anyone else! Lastly, and most importantly, trust God’s plan. Don’t try to tell God your plans or become so narrow minded that you lose sight of the big, beautiful opportunities he is laying out before you. Big Plans and Open Hands.
Thanks to Amber Zaricor for sharing her story and about her business! We love her passion to get to the heart of her clients and their businesses.
Check out Amber’s Heartfelt Brand Questionnaire, which allows you to gather your thoughts about your business and branding in one place. And, you can get to know Amber and her work even better by visiting Copperheart Creative and listening to the Small Business Big Heart podcast available wherever you stream podcasts.
Would you like to be featured next?
We love showcasing women in business. And, right now is the perfect time to get your name on our line-up! To do so, you’ll want to join our SOWBO Membership program! Click here to learn more about SOWBO Membership.
