BC Business
Resler works closely with marketing teams to make sure the brand is well represented.
Robin Nuber
Life Story: Ryleah Resler thought she had found her dream job at a Vancouver startup that represented designers—until one day she woke up in a panic and was convinced she had to quit. “I had a gut feeling… I woke up from a dream and was like, Quit your job now!” Resler remembers. “I loved that job, so I was like, What, that’s so silly. But I ended up quitting by noon—it was just in my gut.”
Fast-forward two months later and her old boss had stopped paying employees. Resler, originally from Edmonton, had no backup plan but ended up merging her education in interior design with her experience in hospitality and joined the burgeoning field of event design by starting her own firm, Ryleah Shae Creative, in 2017.
“In [interior design] school, they were constantly saying, You’re just going to be AutoCAD monkeys, don’t expect to do anything but be on a computer for the next 10 years,” Resler recalls. “I was like, Hah, I can’t do that. I’d been a server for 10 years and found this niche pocket and haven’t looked back.”
Resler explains that, “any time a client needs to physically touch or interact with a brand, that’s where I step in. Event design used to be something that the planners were involved in—flowers, décor, etc. But with social media, event design took on a world of its own; people needed to hire someone who specialized in that full-time. It became a bit more in-depth, working closely with marketing teams to make sure the brand is staying true.”
Bottom Line: Resler has worked with some 35 brands, including names like Lululemon and Bosa Properties. She recently got the keys for a new 800 sq. ft. studio in East Vancouver where she has plans to build more designs and host her own events and small concerts.