Local Mom Gets Creative! Meet Meg Solebello
Name: Meg Solebello
Family (names/ages): Husband Mike,
Molly (9) Michael (6)
Company: The Cranford Creative
Job Title: Owner, Creative Director, Artist
Contact Info: megsolebello.com
Meg Solebello is The Cranford Creative. She’s a former NYC advertising creative who brings big-city smarts to small-town homes and businesses. She loves connecting with her community through her art, bringing her energetic zest for life, talent, and creative vision to make your homes, businesses, and soirees beautiful.
Meg Solebello is The Cranford Creative. She’s a former NYC advertising creative who brings big-city smarts to small-town homes and businesses. She loves connecting with her community through her art, bringing her energetic zest for life, talent, and creative vision to make your homes, businesses, and soirees beautiful.
How long have you lived here and what brought you to town?
I grew up in Westfield (4th Generation!) and moved into our first home in Cranford in 2012 when my husband and I were expecting our first baby. I always knew I wanted to raise a family in the area. Nothing beats the location and the community in Cranford. We love the small-town vibe, the events downtown, the schools, shops, restaurants, and mostly the people and friends we raise our children among. We love our “village!”
What are your favorite family activities?
We love to be outside. In the summer you can always find us around our neighborhood on bike rides, and at Mohawk or Nomahegan Park fishing in the pond. We spend a lot of time at the beach, the town pools with our friends, and on sports fields on the weekends.
At home, we love a family game night, movie night, and are always listening to music. You can usually find us singing, involved in some sort of art project, and having dance parties.
What’s your favorite restaurant and/or place to shop?
We love a family Friday pizza night at Vinny’s – especially when there is live music hosted by downtown, and getting ice cream at Vanilla Bean. Morning coffee and treats at Track 5, hanging out at the clock, or grabbing bagels at Cranford Best. (If you haven’t had the French toast bagel, you are missing out!)
My girlfriends and I love dinner at Ambelli with wine, enjoying every salad on the menu, and Mike and I love date nights at Vine and Oak and 100 Steps.
My favorite places to shop for gifts (and for myself!) are Augusta Mae and Hickory and Hill.
What was the best advice on motherhood that you ever received?
A piece of advice that stuck with me when I was a new mom 9 years ago, was to not listen to everyone’s advice that they are so freely ready to give. No one knows your child like you do. Listen to your instincts and do what feels best to you.
I also try not to compare myself to other moms and remember that perfect motherhood does not exist. No one is perfect, and we are all trying to figure it out.
Lastly, to keep expectations low. There will always be a mess, an illness, a whiny kid, or more that can ruin a good time if you let it. The best thing to do is give yourself a break, and roll with the punches. Let it go, and know what’s meant to be will be.
Tell us about your job or passion.
For as long as I can remember, my passion has been painting, drawing, designing, and creating.
After graduating with a BFA in fine art and graphic design, I embarked on an advertising career in NYC where I spent almost 20 years. But after my babies were born, the commute took its toll and I felt the pull to be closer to my children, and have the freedom to express my soul through my own work…on my schedule.
The pandemic forced me to work remotely, which ultimately inspired me to leave my full-time career and begin freelancing part-time within the industry. By January 2022, I left the agency world behind and found the universe guiding me from one creative project to another within the community, and so The Cranford Creative was born.
I enjoy figuring out an artistic challenge. From creating an organic goddess sculpture for Cranford’s scarecrow stroll to turning a Livingston Ave School classroom into a haunted forest to warming up Walnut Ave School’s entry by turning brown school columns into bright and inviting pencils.
I specialize in logo design, invitation design, brand identity packages for businesses, digital or hand-drawn signage, window and wall murals for homes and local businesses, house portraits, and custom paintings.
I also style and theme children’s parties and events. I have so much fun thinking through every last element and detail to help make life’s events extra special.
What inspired you to follow this career?
Art has been the backbone of every stage of my life. Now, as a woman with children of my own, planting roots in a town filled with friends that feel like family and sharing my creative visions with this amazing community of Cranford is a dream.
On top of that, having the ability to follow this calling while showing my children what it means to be passionate about my work feels like a gift to both myself and my family.
My hope is that the work I produce makes my clients feel as alive as I do! I am so grateful for the support as The Cranford Creative grows.
Anything we missed?
Please give me a visit at megsolebello.com to check out my recent work and offerings. I’d love to connect and work together!
Photography provided by Woah Hello Photography & Ashley Cardini.
