Photo by Sam Bufalo
Hannah Nieves is a Hudson Valley native who runs three successful brands with the aim of helping fellow businesswomen thrive. What’s her secret?
You’re a businesswoman in the Hudson Valley who wants to take her brand to the next level with astute marketing, sleek aesthetics, and a robust network of “multi-passionate” women. Who you gonna call? More than likely, you’re gonna call Hannah Nieves, the Valley native and self-described “multidisciplinary entrepreneur” with a background in commercial real estate. She is the principal of three brands: HN Consulting, HN Haus, and This Hudson Studio—a creative space in Wappingers Falls—all of which are a reflection of her entrepreneurial acumen.
Above all else, uplifting other businesswomen is at the core of Nieves’ mission. (In fact, she’s even sponsoring our upcoming Women in Business event.) We wanted to know more about how she parlayed real estate experience into multiple successful brands of her own, so we sat down with Nieves to talk creativity, social media, and doing business in the Hudson Valley.
In Conversation With Hannah Nieves
We’d love to hear a little bit about your background. What came before your success as an entrepreneur and consultant?
I started my career in the commercial real estate industry in Manhattan, so, [I] came from that world of underwriting and marketing commercial real estate assets in Chelsea. It was amazing, but I quickly realized that I wanted something a little bit more creative, so I went to a national home storage brand where I was Director of Marketing and Trade Development—managing New York, Connecticut, and supporting our Florida location.
During the pandemic was [my] transition to the start of…this business. I basically took all of the corporate experience and then transitioned to…supporting other [woman-owned] businesses across the globe. We have clients in Australia, we have clients in the U.K., in the U.S., in Singapore—we support clients all over the world.
Creativity is a huge part of what you bring to your clients. Can you tell us a little about your creative side?
It’s interesting; I was a marketing major in college. I always loved marketing, I loved sales, but for me specifically, I loved design when it came to real estate. That’s where the creative side really came out. Hence, starting in real estate. If you’re familiar with commercial real estate, its very different than residential, and for me it really lacked that [creative] side.
During this whole process, my husband and I were in the real estate game of buying, holding, renovating, then moving on, and so I was starting to get that creativity coming through—hence why I moved to the home storage brand, which is within the design industry. It really fueled that creative side. I married the worlds together and now, with our three core brands, I’m doing all the things that I love.
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You blur the lines between influencer and entrepreneur. How has your prominence on social media affected the way you think about business?
Social media is a powerful tool, and I think sometimes it gets a bad rap. There’s so many positives with social media, specifically—first off, the fact that you’re able to connect with people across the world. Like, the fact that we’re able to work with people in Singapore and Australia who I would never meet in my lifetime, but we’re able to do that through social media. We started on Instagram; that’s how we built our brand and then expanded into other arenas.
A quick browse through your Instagram is all it takes to see how strongly you believe in the power of PR. Can you tell us what PR means to you in 2022?
PR has changed so much over the last few years, especially with the rise of social media and influencers. The nature of the work is so different—it’s not just pitching your brand to the media.
I think now it’s all about the positioning of thought leadership, especially if you’re online. You can leverage social media, you can leverage LinkedIn, you can leverage a blog to produce thought leadership content, and I think that is equally as powerful.
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At the core of your online presence is a clearly defined and refined aesthetic. Where do you find creative inspiration, and why is this important?
I draw my inspiration from three core areas, the first being the New York Public Library—that’s a big one. All of the themes to HN Haus—our community network—[they’re] themed like a library. I just love books.
Two, interior design. That’s where I draw a lot of my inspiration from. For me, it’s all about the environment that you’re in.
And the third is the Hudson Valley, actually…partly because there are so many powerful and incredible creatives up here, and my goal with the platform is to amplify the reach of the Hudson Valley and all the incredible people that are here.
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For people that are thinking about expanding their brand, you know, your brand is…the foundation to everything. It’s not just the colors; it’s what you stand for, it’s the mission, it’s the purpose that your brand fulfills. It really just depends on how you want to be positioned, and what you want people to know and feel when they interact with your brand.
You aim to support “multi-passionate” women. What specific needs does this type of person tend to have, and how does your firm support these women?
Whether you’re working with us at HN Consulting, which is our done-for-you marketing, branding, and PR consulting firm; or HN Haus, a community network for multi-passionate women; or if you come to This Hudson Studio, we honor and celebrate [multi-passionate women]. We work with a lot of people who are, say, service providers or creatives, but they also have digital products, courses, education, they host events, things along those lines.
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I think that’s really powerful, especially in this day and age where people are transitioning, right—the mass resignation, the quiet quitting is upon us; a lot of people are moving into freelance work, owning their own businesses. That percentage of people is only going to increase.
Being multi-passionate is just a way of life. I love doing more than one thing, it fuels me, and a lot of people in our community enjoy it as well. It also gives you the opportunity for additional revenue streams.
One of your ventures, This Hudson Studio, is based in the Hudson Valley. Additionally, your creative consulting firm often works with businesspeople in the region. In your view, why is the Hudson Valley a great place to do business?
I love the Hudson Valley. It’s my mission to bring everyone back to this area. What I love about the Hudson Valley, number one, obviously, is the proximity to New York—I think that’s a fantastic thing.
Two, the fact that we have such cultured towns where people can congregate like Kingston, like Beacon, like Hudson. So many incredible towns are fostering creativity…I’m always amazed by that. There’s a lot of talent up here.
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What’s next for you, Hannah?
That’s a very loaded question. We are just getting started here, and I think the beautiful thing is that, definitely, the goal is to expand more into the Hudson Valley. My goal is to employ more people from the Hudson Valley. Really, bringing together creatives and entrepreneurs in the area. That’s my goal.
Related: These 10 Power Women in Business Drive Change in the Hudson Valley
