About Me

With nearly twenty years in the beauty industry, I've always believed in the power of a great before-and-after transformation.

After growing my own spa for a decade, I experienced firsthand the constant push and pull of running a small business. While I loved serving clients and managing daily operations, I eventually realized that my true passion was the marketing and strategy behind growing a business.

Working in a competitive industry taught me that great businesses don't grow on talent alone. They grow with clear branding, thoughtful marketing, and websites that earn trust before a single conversation ever happens.

Today, I use everything I learned to help fellow small business owners bring order to the chaos to build brands that look and feel as polished online as they do in real life.

why "The Harper Edit"?

I never set out to be my “grandmother reincarnated,” as my family likes to say. It just kind of happened. Patricia Jeanne Harper may have ballroom-danced her way to the other side over a decade ago, but her influence as the original “it girl” in my life is still very much alive.

Grandma Pat grew up in Indianapolis and studied art at Marion University, where she made lifelong connections with a circle of women who lived boldly and unapologetically, well ahead of their time. She built a standout career in marketing and advertising during an era when many men were still adjusting to women entering their professional domains. When one executive once asked her to fetch his coffee before a meeting, she responded with a polite smile and said, “I’m not here to get your coffee. I’m here to make you a whole lot of money.”

Her influence on me started early. While other kids baked cookies with their grandmothers, I explored her "den", which doubled as her office and the unofficial headquarters of her own freelance graphic design firm, Harper Graphics. I would always be mesmerized by the latest projects spread across her drafting table, and even moreso now that I realize she did all her designs by hand. One day it could be the layout for a catalog, the next a custom branding designs for a luxury dog collar line (seriously.)

I'll never forget the first time she sat me down with the Nieman Marcus Christmas catalog- not to admire the clothes, but to explain why they positioned an item a certain way or chose a specific font here, or put a byline there. When watching TV, she’d let you know which ads passed her Mad Men era litmus test of good advertising, as well as which ones were “the stupidest" commercials she'd ever seen... looking at you, Target commercials of the early 2000's with no words, only music and "vibes". These were my first lessons in advertising and design, and they drew me in. I wonder now if she knew what she was doing...

Pat Harper approached everything in life with a mix of class, sass, and precision, and she inspired everyone around her to do the same. Her influence continues to guide me, and it is the foundation of every project I undertake. I strive to bring that same energy, attention to detail, and creativity to every project and I can’t wait to give yours ‘The Harper Edit’.

Sincerely,
Megan McDowell–Cooper

Founder & Principal Strategist