How Alex McGinness Turned a Childhood Love of Coding MySpace Pages Into a Design Studio Built on Resonance

Meet Alex McGinness, founder and CEO of Arcoiris Design Studio, a Portland-based design studio that uses design as a ritual of resonance to help brands connect deeply with the people they are meant to serve. Alex's path to design was anything but direct. She was a biology major, a lab technician, and then a yoga studio manager before a chance encounter with web design made something undeniable click: the thing she had been doing for fun since middle school, coding custom MySpace profiles, was actually a real and marketable skill. She went back to school, started supporting small businesses, and Arcoiris Design Studio was born.

She launched in 2019, watched the momentum build, and then the world shut down. That forced pivot into the online space shaped how she shows up today, and now as a Squarespace Circle Expert who was selected to support Squarespace at their NYC 2025 event and whose work has been featured in the Squarespace Circle newsletter, she brings both the technical depth and the creative intentionality that conscious business owners are looking for.

Please share a brief introduction and your business:

Arcoiris Design Studio uses design as a ritual of resonance to help brands connect deeply with the people they're meant to serve.

Take us back to when you launched? What was your marketing strategy?

My marketing strategy in the beginning was pretty simple: show up on Instagram and start building relationships. I launched in 2019, spent those early months finding my voice online, and by early 2020 I was just starting to get into in-person networking. I could feel the momentum building. I was meeting people, making connections, getting excited about what the community could do for my business. And then the world shut down. So, no. It did not go as planned. But honestly? That forced pivot taught me a lot. I had to get scrappy, lean into the online space harder than I'd intended, and figure out how to build trust with people I couldn't meet face to face. It wasn't the path I chose, but it shaped how I show up today. And now that in-person connection is back in my life (I host regular events and coworking sessions here in Portland), I appreciate it on a completely different level.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Not even a little bit. I grew up believing in the traditional path: work hard in school, get good grades, go to college, and opportunities will find you. I bought into that completely. And then I graduated, looked around, and realized the opportunities I'd been promised weren't there. It was demoralizing. I felt like I'd done everything right and still didn't have a clear path forward. For a while, I didn't know what to do with that feeling. But somewhere in the uncertainty, something shifted. I started to see that if the traditional path wasn't going to work for me, I could build my own. That's what entrepreneurship gave me. Not just a career, but agency. The ability to take my life into my own hands and create something that actually felt aligned with who I was becoming. Once I saw that was possible, there was no going back.

What accomplishments are you the most proud of to date in your business?

A site I designed (imkeiki.com) was featured in the Squarespace Circle newsletter in 2023.

What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your Entreprenista journey?

Separate your business and personal finances from day one. I cannot stress this enough. Your future self will be so grateful come tax season, and, honestly, it just makes you feel more legit as a business owner the moment you do it.

What did you do before starting your own business?

Biology major in college and Yoga Studio Manager

What made you take the leap to start your own business?

In middle school, I was the girl coding custom MySpace profiles for fun. I had no idea what the design was. I had no idea it would become my career. But looking back now, the signs were definitely there. I didn't follow that thread right away, though. I majored in biology in college, spent years working in labs, and graduated with no clear path forward. I landed a job as a high school lab tech, and while it paid the bills, it didn't light me up. Then I walked into a yoga class on a whim, and everything shifted. Yoga became my daily practice, my mental health lifeline, and the first time I truly started discovering who I was. I took teacher training, quit my lab job, and started working at the studio full time. Before long, I was running their marketing and managing their website. And that's when it started to click. I realized the thing I used to do for fun, customizing pages and playing with code, was actually a real skill. I went back to school to learn proper web design, started supporting small businesses, and Arcoíris Design Studio was born.

Do you have any recent wins?

I was selected to support Squarespace in Squarespace Circle NYC 2025.

What's one app on your phone that you cannot live without?

Without a doubt Whering! It's a closet cataloging app that has completely changed how I get dressed. I network about twice a week, and I'm intentional about showing up in a way that's visually cohesive with my brand (think colors, aesthetic, the whole vibe.) My wardrobe is basically an extension of my brand identity at this point, and I love it! Whering lets me catalog my pieces and plan outfits in advance, so I'm never scrambling before an event. It's one of those tools that lives at the intersection of style and strategy, which is so on-brand for me.

Who are your customers?

Creatives, wellness providers and conscious business owners

What's your top productivity tip?

Don't look at your phone for at least an hour first thing in the morning!

What's your favorite business tool?

Squarespace, without question. As a Squarespace Circle Expert, I'm a little biased, but, genuinely, it's the platform I recommend to most of my clients and use for my own site. The design flexibility is incredible. You can create something truly custom and unique without it looking like a template. And the backend is clean and intuitive compared to most other platforms, which means my clients can actually manage their own sites after we wrap. No dealing with hosting headaches, plugin maintenance, or mysterious things breaking at 2am. For creative small business owners who want a beautiful, functional website without the technical overwhelm, it really is a game-changer.

What's your approach to work-life balance?

Honestly, I've stopped chasing balance in my life. As a creative business owner, my work and my life are deeply intertwined and I've made peace with that. What matters to me is that my business reflects my values, not that it stays neatly separate from the rest of my life. In practice, that looks like protecting my creative energy above everything else. I pay attention to when I do my best thinking, when I need to rest, and when I'm forcing it. Astrology has actually been a huge part of this for me. Understanding my own rhythms and energy cycles has helped me build a business that works with who I am, not against it. I also lean on systems and workflows that hold things together so my brain doesn't have to. When the backend of my business is structured, I have more space to actually show up fully for clients and for myself.

How do you avoid burn-out?

Spend as much time off my phone as possible. Scrolling on social media is so bad for causing burnout!

What advice do you have for aspiring Entreprenistas?

You don't have to have it all figured out to start. Some of the most important moves I've made in my business were messy, imperfect, and a little scary, and they still moved the needle. Waiting until everything is polished and perfect is just fear in a productive disguise. Trust yourself, do the thing, and let it be a little rough around the edges. That's how you grow and become a true entrepreneur. You've got this.

Alex's story is a reminder that the most aligned businesses are rarely planned. They are discovered, one unexpected pivot at a time. We are so glad to have her in the Entreprenista community and cannot wait to see what Arcoiris Design Studio creates next.

Want to connect with founders like Alex? Visit Entreprenista League to explore our community and discover more stories of women building businesses that truly matter.