We had the good fortune of connecting with David Traina and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
There are so many different moments, people and projects that have played a role in Traina’s success. A great team, wonderful clients, mentors, partners, luck and timing have all played a part. But if I had to point to one thing as the key to our success, I would say it has been an unwavering, unrelenting commitment to my core passion: creativity. Making creative excellence the agency’s top priority—above profit, growth, or any other business metric—has been the driver of success for the past 17 years. I firmly believe that when you’re passionate about something, and devote your whole soul to it without compromise, success will find you.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Traina is an independent branding agency for visionary companies that believe in the power of branding and design to connect, inspire and move people. We position ourselves as the agency “For Brands That Move” because we believe that the work we produce genuinely moves people—moves hearts, minds, culture, and business. We work with a broad spectrum of clients across various industries—a conscious decision that has become both our greatest strength and weakness. A strength because the diversity of experience that we offer provides an unfair advantage to our clients. It enables us to take learnings and inspiration from our work in travel, CPG and wellness, and leverage that to create fresh, distinct brand and creative experiences for our clients in life science, higher education, and tech.

That breadth of experience is key to our ability to create distinctive brands and experiences that rise above the noise and connect with audiences in meaningful ways. On the other hand, in a world where specialization is the trend (although it’s anathema to branding) it can sometimes be difficult to convince prospects that client diversity presents a sizable advantage.

We’ve built this agency on our collective passion for creativity. Our internal motto—”abhor mediocrity”—pretty well sums up our mindset.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If we have a week, this is what I would suggest as a starting point:

Monday: Balboa Park—especially the Mingei Museum and dinner at Juniper & Ivy
Tuesday: Ocean Beach—morning yoga, surf the pier, and dinner at Hodad’s
Wednesday: Point Loma—Liberty Station tour with lunch at Weapon Ramen and dinner at Stone
Thursday: La Jolla beach—surf Blacks Beach, then dinner at The Taco Stand
Friday: Solana Beach—dinner at Pizza Port and a concert at Belly Up
Saturday-Sunday—across the border to Rosarito, to surf K38 and eat al pastor tacos at Taco Surf

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout goes to the Traina team—the most extraordinary group of creative professionals that I’ve ever known or had the privilege to work with. I’m constantly in awe of their knowledge, insights, creativity, and relentless commitment to this agency. More than 10 years ago, I was lucky enough to have some of the most talented people on the planet choose to join me. Why’d they do it? To this day I have no clue. Back then this was a fledgling studio with a couple of employees, a handful of clients, and a passion for great design. Those amazing people built that tiny studio into the agency that it is today.

Website: wearetraina.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearetraina/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearetraina/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrainaDesign/

Other: https://clutch.co/profile/traina

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