The Accidental CEO: Custom Web Design and Building a Business on Your Own Terms with Tabitha DeSeranno
If you have ever looked at your life and thought, "this is absolutely not what I planned, and somehow it is exactly right,” you are going to feel every single word of this episode.
This week on The Chaotic Middle, I sat down with Tabitha DeSeranno, founder of Spark and Soul Design Studio, mom of four, and self-proclaimed accidental CEO. Tabitha became a mom at 17, graduated high school two months later with a newborn in her arms, and zero roadmap for what came next. What followed was more than a decade of figuring it out anyway — server shifts, Upwork gigs, a VA business she built from scratch, a stint in corporate marketing, and an unexpected job termination that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her career.
Today, she runs a web design and branding studio that is built entirely around one philosophy: your business should look and feel like you. Not like a template. Not like everybody else. Not like some polished, filtered, blur-your-background version of yourself that you have to perform every single day. Like you — messy bun, hoodie, hard-earned home office, and all.
I loved this conversation so much. Let's get into it.
From Teen Mom to Accidental CEO
Tabitha's story does not start with a business plan, a vision board, or a carefully mapped-out five-year strategy. It starts with a 17-year-old girl walking across a graduation stage two months after having her first child, with no idea what would come next and no blueprint for figuring it out. She describes that moment as one of the proudest of her life. And it should be, because that kind of determination at that age is not small.
What followed was years of trying to find her footing. She went to college, changed her major about five times, bounced between three or four different schools, and eventually landed in the most flexible job she could find: serving tables. It paid the bills, fit around her schedule, and gave her the freedom she needed as a young mom. But when she got pregnant with her third child, the late nights and weekend shifts stopped making sense. She needed something different.
So she did what a lot of resourceful people did back in 2012: she found Upwork, then called oDesk, and started hunting for work she could do from home. A handful of data-entry jobs later, she stumbled into the world of virtual assisting, packaged up her customer service skills, and started building something. She had no idea what she was doing. She jumped in anyway.
"I had never once in my life dreamed or thought I would ever own a business. It was just out of the need or the want for freedom and flexibility that kind of landed it in my lap. I always call myself the accidental CEO. Never a goal, but here we are."
And here she is indeed.
How a Neopets Obsession Became a Career
Before the business, before the kids, before any of it, Tabitha was a teenage girl sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to code Neopets pages with HTML and CSS just because she loved it. No monetization strategy. No end goal. Just pure, nerdy, creative joy. That instinct never went anywhere.
When Tabitha started building her own website as a VA, something clicked. Then her clients started asking for help with theirs. Landing pages first, then bigger projects, and suddenly it was obvious. Web design was what she loved doing.
She made the call to leave the generalist VA world behind and specialize in web design. Once she stopped doing work that drained her and leaned into the work that lit her up, everything started to shift.
"Taking somebody's vision and being able to bring it to life and help somebody feel confident in the way their business looks online… that was just the best thing ever."
Turns out the Neopets kid knew exactly what she was doing all along.
The Rebrand That Changed Everything
For about six or seven years, Tabitha ran her web design business, and everything was okay. But something felt off, and she couldn’t put her finger on it. Eventually, she figured it out: her brand did not feel like her. It felt forced, fake, and performative. Like she was putting on a costume every time she showed up for her business.
At the end of 2024, she decided enough was enough and Spark and Soul Design Studio was born. She did a full overhaul, narrowed down exactly what she did, who she did it for, and why. This time, she built it around herself rather than a polished version of what she thought a business owner was supposed to look like.
The difference was immediate. More confidence, more clarity, more of the right clients finding their way to her. Not because she changed what she offered, but because she finally stopped hiding who she was.
"I decided I was going to infuse myself into my brand. When you can finally let that wall down and just be like… this is me, take it or leave it… it's a lot easier. Literally everything changes."
Seven years of feeling stuck, solved by finally just being herself. Sometimes the answer really is that simple.
Why Custom Web Design for Small Businesses Beats a Template Every Time
Building a website from a template is okay (I say from my templated website 🫣), but okay is not the same as memorable. When every small business is pulling from the same pool of Canva graphics and AI-generated websites, they all start to blur together.
Tabitha's approach to custom web design for small businesses is rooted in what she calls human-led strategy with personality-driven design. That means sitting down with a real human, having a real conversation, and building something that actually reflects who you are and what you do, not what an algorithm thinks your business should look like. AI can generate a website, but it cannot ask you the right questions. It cannot read between the lines. It cannot capture what makes your business yours.
Getting it right doesn't just result in a pretty website. It gives you the confidence to show up, feeling excited about what people will see. It is attracting clients who get you and repelling the ones who were never going to be a good fit anyway.
"Talking to another human who can ask you questions and have a conversation to really nail down your vision. That is always going to beat telling an AI tool to do what you want it to do."
Your website is usually the first impression your business makes. It should sound like you, look like you, and make the right people feel like they have found exactly who they were looking for.
Running a Business While Parenting Older Kids
Everyone talks about how hard the toddler years are… and they are, no argument there. But nobody really prepares you for the specific chaos of parenting older kids while running a business from home. Tabitha has four kids ranging from 5 to almost 23, and she will be the first to tell you that easier is a relative term.
The good news is that once the kids are in school, you can finally breathe a little. The school schedule becomes your work schedule, and suddenly, you have actual uninterrupted hours to get things done. The bad news is that kids, regardless of age, do not fully grasp the concept that mom is working. Her 13-year-old wanders in. Her 5-year-old wants to sit on her lap during calls. Her adult daughter, who has officially moved out, still pops by with a casual "so what are we doing today?"
But Tabitha is not apologetic about any of it. If a client has a problem with a child sitting quietly on her lap during a call, they are simply not her people. Working from home was always about being present for her kids, and she built her business around that on purpose.
"I work from home because of my children. If they're home and they happen to walk in and you have a problem with that, then you're not my person."
That kind of clarity is its own kind of freedom.
Take It or Leave It: Being Unapologetically Yourself in Business
Tabitha once had a casual, getting-to-know-you coffee chat where someone told her she should not wear a hoodie on calls, she should blur her background, and she should generally present herself more professionally. The woman was from the corporate world and meant well. But Tabitha had worked hard for that little home office. She was comfortable there.
That moment stuck with her, not because it broke her confidence, but because it confirmed exactly why she does what she does. The whole point of building a business on your own terms is that you get to decide what professional looks like. For Tabitha, it looks like a messy bun, a hoodie, a beautifully decorated home office she is proud of, and clients who would never dream of asking her to be anything other than herself.
When you stop trying to look like everyone else and start showing up as you actually are, everything gets easier. The marketing feels more natural, the right clients find you faster, and you stop wasting energy on people who were never going to be a good fit.
"When you can finally let that wall down and just be like — this is me, take it or leave it — you have more confidence in the way your business looks and more confidence putting yourself out there. Literally everything changes."
Messy bun included.
Answering the Chaotic Questions
At the end of every episode, I ask each guest the same three questions. Here's how Tabitha answered:
If you could go back and talk to your 2005 self, what would you tell her?
Don't get married. hahaha
A new mom comes to you for advice. What's the first thing you tell her?
Do things your way.
What do you hope your kids remember about you as their mom?
That everything I do is for them.
Where to Find Tabitha
If you are a small business owner who is tired of looking like everybody else online, Tabitha is exactly who you need in your corner. You can find her on Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out her website to see her work, learn more about Spark and Soul Design Studio, and figure out what a custom website could look like for your business.
And if you are on the fence about whether a custom web design for your small business is worth the investment… go look at her portfolio first. Then come back and tell me you are not convinced.
Want to Hear More Stories Like This?
Tabitha came on this podcast as a web designer and left as one of my favorite examples of what it looks like to just fully, unapologetically bet on yourself. Her story is proof that there is no one right way to build a life, and the blueprint you were never given might just be the best thing that never happened to you.
If this episode resonated with you, you are going to love The Chaotic Middle Podcast, where every week I sit down with real people navigating the beautiful, messy, unpredictable overlap of work, life, motherhood, and everything in between. No highlight reels. No perfectly curated advice. Just honest conversations with people who are figuring it out in real time… just like the rest of us.
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Because there are so many more stories like Tabitha's out there. More accidental CEOs. More women who figured it out without a roadmap…. and maybe yours is next.
