Today I celebrate the website launch of Alexandra Lais, my first EU-based web design client.

It’s been only lovely to collaborate with Alexandra, a somatic facilitator and lover of depth, for this build.

We met on Substack, where genuine connection and authentic collaboration are not totally lost to the algorithm. Subscribe to Alexandra’s stack, Soma Healing, to see her beautiful writing, and check out her website. ; )

As two human design projectors, we invited each other into this collaboration. Here is the story.

Alexandra’s Story

Before

I got in touch with Alexandra in February, after I loaded the landing page for her group program Freeze to Flow.

[As a quick aside, I wrote about Freeze to Flow here on the full moon of March and here on the new moon of March.]

When I opened the page that Alexandra linked to in her subscriber chat, I noticed that the page was designed in Canva. And it was not mobile responsive.

Figuring she could have been a human design projector (whose strategy is to “wait for the invitation”), I wanted to invite her to a website build.

“I love helping embodied healing artists and educators like yourself to have a website supportive of long-term growth and less reliance over time on algorithms,” I wrote to Alexandra in an email.

And I sent her my humble portfolio, which back then was just a list of links. This was before I built out my own website.

Alexandra was someone I immediately wanted to support, as I saw her as an ideal client. As a writer, holistic practitioner, and creative, Alexandra builds her brand through trust and deep alignment.

• depth
• trust
• writing
• connection

“Wow your email feels like a sign, truly,” Alexandra replied to my email.

Yesterday I had a few conversations with friends about the fact that I need a website, I need brand design and so on. Maybe you looked at my program Canva page and realised that too! Haha joking, but not really.

I enrolled in Freeze to Flow to have a taste of working with Alexandra as a somatic facilitator, after Alexandra gave me a warm invitation to do so (I’m a projector too).

During the five-week program that ended the final week of March, I got Alexandra’s web design project set up. I began by sending her a signature questionnaire to get started in my design process.

During Build

We worked mainly through April and May for the deadline of a June launch. In May Alexandra shared a DM with me that working with me “is such a joy and it feels so easeful.”

She later wrote this out in her testimonial.

This experience and Shayna’s presence in my life have taught me that beautiful things can be made with a sense of ease and playfulness, and this is something I continue to cherish.

Alexandra became more to me than just a website client or just my somatic guide.

She became my friend.

Some people may roll their eyes about clients becoming friends or denounce this for the sense of boundaries or professionalism. But my reality is that I’ve often worked with “friends / clients” and I don’t see a strict conflict.

Alexandra and I communicated through emails, Zoom meetings, and WhatsApp to work through her design & build, which included five core pages, revisions, and the mobile navigation.

To outline her pages, Alexandra provided me with a photo of a simple sketch laid out in pen and paper.

One challenge we came across in our work was dialing in a sense of “branding”—the style, the imagery, the mood, the feelings, the sensations as a whole exploration on its own.

Alexandra had a lot of curiosity about color palette and the right base color for her website. She wrote that she wanted to feel represented by her design aesthetic.

You need to feel represented by it. I am also realizing how much it matters. It’s such a special feeling when you find the fonts and visuals and layout that makes you excited to share your website and offers with others.

I assured her with the iterative approach: the idea that fonts and colors are not overnight choices. While some people are dialed in from the beginning on their branding choices or their logo, for others it’s a long reckoning.

“Like embodiment,” I wrote to Alexandra, “branding is a process.” The beauty of the delivery of the website is that you’re always free to experiment in how you express yourself. Suddenly you can change all your button colors at once or even change your entire website theme. Micro choices can build over time, in “small manageable bits.”

After

Audio Testimonial: Alexandra reacts to her website

We went live with Alexandra’s website on June 3, 2026. As part of her launch, I also completed onboarding of the site to Maple Creative’s website care plan.

Alexandra said it felt “so reassuring” to know that we always have a thorough quality assurance process as part of the launch and care plan service.

I feel like I’m in such good hands with you and with the agency. I feel really, really happy to be in this space. I feel that I’m really in the right space. Whatever I need, I’ll be able to find. I feel really good to have all of these options and to know that I’m not alone in it.

One thing I was most pleased with as an outcome of the service was Alexandra’s gratitude for the color choices in particular. “I think you’re good with it,” she said.

Coming up next

What’s coming up next or some day for Alexandra is building out her page for a library of self-paced practices and resources, free or for purchase.

In addition, she may consider offering a monthly membership.

For now, our most imminent plan is to make arrangements to meet in person. As I said before, she is certainly an ideal client.

Having transitioned from life on the ground as a massage therapist to the world of remote work, I’ve come full circle to value above all my real relationships.

My dream clients are either those whom I’ve met in real life, or those—like Alexandra—who through referrals, happenstance, or invitations form relationships that are “real” enough to where I really get to know the person and pave that possibility for meeting face-to-face in the future.