Renowned designer and branding visionary Debbie Millman ’83 digs deep with her personal, lyrical book, Love Letter to a Garden.
If you dig a hole in the ground, you might find money. Cucumbers are amazing and surprisingly diverse. Margaritas, alone, may be the best reason to grow a lime tree.
These were just a few of the topics discussed during a recent lively conversation with the dynamic Debbie Millman. The UAlbany alum was preparing to release her latest – and perhaps most surprising – book, Love Letter to a Garden, which she wrote, designed and illustrated.
As a self-described “city kid” who has primarily lived in the various boroughs of New York City, Millman is not an expert gardener. After years of failed attempts at a flourish of flora, she described herself as having a “glum thumb,” as opposed to the more desirable green one. In fact, when a publisher reached out to her about penning a gardening book back in 2021, Millman was more surprised than anyone.
“I was like ‘Are you kidding?’” said Millman. “At that point, I’d never been a ‘successful gardener.’ ”
Which, in part, is the point of her book: how a passionate person can learn to do something new, uncomfortable and ultimately incredibly satisfying. It’s also a charming, thought-provoking, beautifully rendered meditation on life, relationships, joy and the human condition. Plus, some tasty recipes!
“This book became a journey of self-discovery, almost a mini memoir,” said Millman. “I realized that I’d always had a deep connection to gardens and being outside in the natural world.”
Beyond her recent gardening pursuits, Millman is a renowned multi-hyphenate in the arts, academic and business worlds – a designer-author-artist-educator-curator-entrepreneur and all-around creative force. She is an executive fellow for Harvard Business School and chair/co-founder of the Masters in Branding program at NYC’s School of Visual Arts. In addition to being part-owner of Print magazine and author of several books about branding and design, she is also host of the popular podcast, “Design Matters.”
So how did a beginner botanist come to pen Love Letter to a Garden? Through a confluence of events, both happy and sad. And just the right amount of sunshine.
Millman distinctly remembers when her love affair with gardening began. As a little girl, she was visiting her grandparent’s house in Brooklyn and enjoying an apple with her grandmother – who told her how seeds work. (Wow!) She asked if they could plant the apple seeds to see if they’ll grow. When they started digging in the backyard, Millman found a dollar bill in the soil. (Double wow!) She described this formative moment in her book: “It was then and there I began to associate gardening with wonder.”
Millman also vividly recalls her first exposure to the power of branding while roaming the aisles of her father’s pharmacy as a child. “It gave me a real, intrinsic understanding of how and why people choose the items they buy,” she noted.
Fast forward through her school years, Millman found herself upstate at UAlbany in “one of the best experiences of my life.” She credits her role as the Arts and Features editor at the Albany Student Press for helping to foster – out of necessity – both her design and writing skills.
Over the next two decades, Millman’s creative abilities and tenacious spirit helped advance her career. As president of the design division of Sterling Brands, she guided the development or evolution of some of the world’s best-known brands, including Burger King and 7Up.
While her career flourished, Millman moved to different apartments around New York City – adding a bit more yard space each time, while only having intermittent success at gardening. That was all about to change.
Millman met her future wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay, in 2018 by inviting her (persistently) to be a guest on her podcast. The connection was immediate. The two began dating soon after, got engaged in 2019 and began planning their 2020 wedding. Then…the world came to an abrupt halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gay suggested that Millman should come spend “a couple weeks” in her home in Los Angeles, and that turned into a year-long stay while communities nationwide were placed on lockdown. Though it was a scary and uncertain period, Millman suddenly had access to a lush, sunny yard and more time to pursue her hobby.
She did research, consulted experts and got serious about her gardening. It started with mint, then lettuce and grew from there. While the corn didn’t take, the tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries were bountiful. All along, Gay was her supportive partner – as the two became frequent customers at the local Home Depot. As noted in her book, “No matter the result, there was nothing like the feeling of my hands in the soil.”
Gardening wasn’t the only exciting development that year; Millman and Gay decided to get married in 2020 in a small, simple ceremony. With a deeply contented smile, Millman calls Gay “the most interesting, extraordinary person I’ve ever met.”
Millman carries fond memories of her UAlbany days, and she noted that Dr. Helen Regueiro Elam was one of her favorite faculty members.
“She changed the trajectory of my life,” said Millman. “She was the first person I’d ever encountered who sincerely thought I was smart and creative.”
The admiration was mutual. In a recent conversation, the poetry and literary theory professor recalled that Millman was “committed to the material and active in class with energies that have since translated into many successful fields – signaling her versatility and intelligence.”
Technically, the book began as a short video. As a previous contributor to the TED Talks speaker series, Millman was asked to create an animated “interstitial” (which plays between presentations) for TED as it temporarily transitioned to an all-online model during the pandemic. Titled “A Love Letter to My Garden,” the two-minute video described the peace and joy she had found in learning to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers while in quarantine. The project showcased Millman’s design and storytelling talents – and caught the attention of her soon-to-be publisher.
Thus, a gardening book by a highly unlikely gardener was born.
Millman is smart, quick-witted and funny – her mind buzzes at the pace of NYC. She’s also a deep thinker and observer of the human condition. When asked about the journey of her career and then creating this book, Millman had a thoughtful answer.
“My whole life has been one step after another,” she noted. “I can look back and see how all these different threads have led to this.
“The common denominator is a quest for identity. Helping clients find their brand identity. My students identifying their place in the world. The people I interview on my podcast. Our identity is embedded with our consciousness, and that connects us to the world.”
Millman noted that exploring nature through activities like gardening is part of what unites us as humans and members of the broader universe – and she hopes that her book helps inspire others to experience that sense of wonder.
With a mischievous smile, Millman noted that she has “planted” dollar bills – like the one she found as a child – in some of her previous gardens and other places. After all, you never know what might grow.
Millman noted that one of her favorite things about growing fruits and vegetables is sharing them with others. That’s why she asked her wife, author Roxane Gay, to curate her favorite recipes using the bounty from their garden – and included them in the book. Millman’s fave? Gay’s Tomato Galette.
