Carolyn Porter is an unlikely person to find herself on a hunt to find a family across the continent and embark on a journey that almost cost her, her life. Who would have thunk that a  graphic designer and typography geek would be leading such an exciting life?!

I am thrilled to bring you into Carolyn’s life over the next few weeks. We begin with Carolyn Porter’s inspiration to become a graphic designer in 4-H. Sewing, leather craft, and designing posters sparked her creative curiosity. Calligraphy was frustrating and not her thing. The letters were never perfect enough. This is where she began a life long love for refining letters to make them perfectly round or straight –sometimes redrawing a line 40 to 60 times to reach the perfection she aspired to. This is the kind of work it takes to develop your own font! Download

Carolyn learned graphic design the traditional way, using pen and paper at the University of Wisconsin, Stout. A gap year in London after college rejuvenated Carolyn’s spirit. She returned to Minnesota under the tutelage of Tim Eaton. 

Years later after a stint in Texas with Aaron, she eventually started her own graphic design firm, Porter Folio Inc. On a search to create a new computer font, she noticed a stack of beautiful handwritten letters written in French at an antique shop in Stillwater. Little did she know at the time, this innocently started side project would become an obsession to find the Frenchman behind the 1944, WWII letters while she created a new font, P22 Marcel Font.

You can hear the descriptive and methodical explanation of her path to becoming an unlikely author of a memoir, Marcel’s Letters: A Font And The Search For One Man’s Fate. The passion and focus needed to work through all the issues encompassing innovation. The tenacity it takes to bring new ideas into the marketplace.

One of her readers wrote, “I have never read a book so quickly. The story behind Marcel’s Letters drew me in so quickly and emotionally. I was fully engulfed in emotions throughout the book from tears to laughter to nervousness. The stories from WWII that we never heard about were heart wrenching. Very well written as it pulls in present day to the past.” This was my experience reading the book, too!

Mentoring Tips

Marcel’s Letters is a way to immerse yourself in a story unrelated to COVID-19.  You can learn a ton from the tenacity, the hunt, uncovering clues, the legal issues wrapped around innovation, and bringing a new product to the marketplace.

• Order her book HERE!  
• How can you engage your tenacity to get through these difficult times? I am challenging myself to bring you new online Entrepreneurial Leadership and Mentoring LABs and bring you more resources. Stay tuned. How about you?  What are you up to?

Episode 104        An Incredible True Story, Part I         Porter Folio Inc. Carolyn-Porter