Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorilee Rager.
Hi Lorilee, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started out loving to draw. Then in college, I discovered a lab full of Bondi blue iMacs and fell completely in love with graphic design.
After school, I worked at car dealerships, agencies, and Gaylord Opryland as a graphic designer. On the side, I started Thrive Creative Group in 2004 from my kitchen table—well before social media, before everyone needed a “content strategy,” and before I had any idea what running a business for more than 20 years would actually look like.
My first drawing professor at Lipscomb told us freshman year, “You’re just the kids who never stopped coloring.” That has always stuck with me. I knew I loved creating things, but even more than that, I loved using those skills to help people.
I wanted to make good work that helped other people build something. It ended up building something of my own in the process.
One project turned into another, and one client referred the next, because good people know good people. Somewhere along the way, Thrive became a real company with a talented team, long-standing relationships, and work throughout Tennessee and beyond.
The business has changed a lot because marketing has changed a lot. We grew from primarily graphic design into branding, websites, campaigns, and ongoing marketing support. But I think the reason we are still here is much simpler: we genuinely care about the people we work with.
I have a real heart for entrepreneurs, locally owned businesses, legacy companies, and kind nonprofits doing good in their communities. I love helping people who have built something from the ground up, carried something meaningful forward, or devoted themselves to work I could never do myself.
They already know their business. They already care deeply. They are already doing the hard part. They just need someone to listen, support them, and help make sense of the brand and marketing side of their business. We work hard to make them look as good as the work they are doing and help more people see what is already there.
More than 20 years in, I am still eagerly learning, changing, rebuilding, and asking how Thrive can do better for our clients. I am also always looking at which new ideas are worth embracing and which old-school marketing standbys still work for a reason.
So my story today finds me still loving design and still deeply connected to our community of clients all these years. I do not think good businesses are ever really finished. They grow as the people inside them grow and as the people they serve grow.
Thrive certainly has. And I have too.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. For years, I was designing the work, answering the phone, writing proposals, sending invoices, attending events, serving on boards, managing clients, and trying to figure out how to run a business—all while raising two little boys. I knew how to be a designer long before I knew how to be an owner or a mom.
I also had to learn the difference between being helpful and saying yes to everything and every one. In the beginning, I took on work that was not always the right fit, underpriced projects, overdelivered, and carried far too much myself. Some of those lessons were expensive. Most of them were necessary.
Building a team brought a whole new set of challenges. I lost an adored business partner to cancer suddenly. I had to learn how to care for people while clearly communicating what was in my head, trusting others with the work, creating systems, leading through hard moments, and accepting that growth often feels extremely uncomfortable before it feels good. My mental health and addiction struggles took a real toll along the way. They are not separate from my story. They shaped how I lead, how I care for people, how I understand struggle, and how I think about what success actually means. Getting sober and taking my mental health seriously changed my life, and it changed the way I show up in my business.
Marketing itself has also changed constantly. Thrive started before the iPhone, before social media became part of everyday business, before Google Ads, and before websites became the center of nearly every company’s marketing. We have had to keep learning, adapting, and deciding what is genuinely useful for our clients versus what is simply the latest trend.
Through all of that, I was also an anxious young woman navigating major life changes and trying to build a business that could support my family and my employees—all without losing the heart that made me start it.
There have been seasons when I felt exhausted, unsure, or convinced I should have figured it all out by now. Midnight Black Friday launches, viruses, floods, tornados and ice storms—emergency graphic design is a thing! It can be a 24/7 job. But I have learned that owning a business is not about finally reaching a point where everything is easy. It is about becoming more honest about what works, what does not, who you are, and showing up. That’s what kind of design company I actually wanted to build.
Thrive is stronger today because of the things that did not go smoothly. So am I.
As you know, we’re big fans of Thrive Creative Group, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Thrive Creative Group is a full-service branding, website, and marketing firm that helps good people show up clearly, consistently, and confidently.
We work with entrepreneurs, locally owned businesses, legacy companies, and nonprofits doing meaningful work in their communities. Our clients usually know their business inside and out, but the branding and marketing side can feel scattered, outdated, overwhelming, or simply hard to keep up with. That is where we come in.
We help with brand identity, websites, campaigns, print and digital design, and ongoing marketing support. Sometimes that means creating something new. Other times, it means taking years of disconnected pieces and finally making them feel like one clear, thoughtful brand.
What sets Thrive apart is that we care about the whole picture. We do not just make something look good and hand it back. We listen, ask questions, help make sense of what is needed, and stay involved through execution. Our clients do not have to manage five different vendors or come to us with everything already figured out.
I am most proud of the long relationships we have built. Many clients have worked with us for years, most we’ve made multiple websites for as times changed, and some for well over two decades! We get to know them, their businesses, their people, their history, and what matters to them. That trust allows us to do better work and help them make stronger decisions over time.
Our clients are already doing great work. We help more people see it.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that Nashville has so many different sides to it. I’ve been here all my life. There’s the art, museums, old Nashville antique malls, the Grand Ole Opry, and then all the trees, small neighborhoods, parks, and trails that make it feel beautiful and grounded.
What I like least is probably the traffic and how quickly some of the older character is disappearing in modern tall skinny duplex’s. I miss Opryland USA, more indie rock, and KDF, and Jerry House!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thinkthrive.com
