Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Jaci Lund of Upper West Side

Jaci Lund shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Jaci, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Have you ever been glad you didn’t act fast?
I’m an Enneagram 3 so if you know anything about the Enneagram, it should come as no surprise that I acting fast is my natural state of being. I’ve rushed into projects, team members, technologies, concepts, you name it. Things changed for me when I attended an EO Atlanta event a couple of years ago, and the panelist (forgive me, I don’t remember her name) said, “We have to go slow to go fast”. This has been my mantra ever since. Because of this, we’ve been able to completely transform how we handle BIG IDEAS over here at Treebird.

For example, we’ve been working on setting up a new CRM for a year. Old me would have had that set up and running (poorly) in the first month, and then would have complained that it wasn’t working correctly and bailed on it. Now, while finishing tasks is a whole other issue of mine, setting up the plan, working at it one step at a time, is setting us up for success, and we’re getting so much more out of the CRM than we would have by rushing into it.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Jaci Lund, owner and creative director of Treebird Branding. We’re an Atlanta-based creative agency that specializes in helping businesses find their voice, sharpen their edge, and design every touchpoint to reflect who they really are.

Everything we do is rooted in creating an emotional connection for our clients’ audience. When you can make someone feel something, you’re making a memory for them. And that’s what branding is all about.

And of course, we meet deadlines, we don’t use templates, trends, or AI to do this work and of course we always go beyond the brief for our clients because we simply can’t help ourselves.

We’ve worked with mom & pop shops, some of the largest companies in the world, and everything in between. We’re industry agnostic so it’s really more about businesses that need to make an emotional connection to earn trust and credibility of their highly discerning audiences. And we’re very good at it.

We’ve worked with 3 Michelin-starred restaurants, built over 400 unique brands, and have won several awards for our work. We love getting to use our creative and problem-solving brains to help out clients’ businesses grow. It’s what fuels us every single day.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
When I was a kid, I was free, creative, expressive, and always making something. I played piano, danced, painted, and spent hours with my friends choreographing elaborate performances in my bedroom to Paula Abdul and The Beach Boys. I was constantly tie-dying shirts, making friendship bracelets, and finding joy in creating.

It wasn’t until high school that the world started telling me I couldn’t be creative and have a “real” job. That’s when I lost my footing. I tried to be practical, choosing Communications at Michigan State, which I jokingly call the best four-year vacation of my life. Yes, I graduated, but I left with no real direction, just as lost as when I started.

Eventually, I realized the world doesn’t get to decide who I am. Only I do. So I quit my practical job, enrolled in the design program at The Creative Circus in Atlanta, and finally set myself on the path I was meant to follow all along, to become a professional creator.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Stay weird. It is your superpower. While creativity often fades as people get older, yours will only burn brighter, especially when you are solving problems for yourself or others. That weirdness will go on to build Treebird into a trusted institution. The way you see things differently from everyone else is not a flaw, it is a gift. People will not only value it, they will pay you for it. You will use that skill to grow their businesses too. And that is pretty incredible.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Loyalty. My friends know that if they ever called me and said they had a dead body in the trunk, my first response would be, “I’ll bring the shovels,” no questions asked. They know I will show up for them, and I know they will do the same for me. I work hard to remove judgment from my friendships so we are in a safe space where we can truly say anything, and we do.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Yes. I think it is a common trait among entrepreneurs to always be chasing horizons. We are so focused on the next goal that we often forget to look back and acknowledge what we have already achieved. That has been true for me through most of my 12 years of running an agency.

My mindset shifted after reading The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. The book explains that when we measure ourselves against the “gap” (the distance between where we are and where we want to be), we always feel unsatisfied. But when we measure against the “gain” (the distance between where we are now and where we started), we see how far we have come and feel gratitude and fulfillment.

I will always be a horizon chaser. It is simply who I am. But now I do it with more gratitude, more grounding, and more acknowledgment that we have built something truly incredible here.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://treebirdbrandiing.com
• Instagram: @treebirdbranding
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/jacilund/