STUDIO NOIR · Google Workspace Setup

The email + calendar + document stack for STUDIO NOIR. Modeled on The Walker Group’s live Workspace setup ([[email-infrastructure]]) so the DNS discipline and filter taxonomy carry over.

Plain English. Trill runs the setup inside the Workspace admin console. Taj signs into her Gmail once the mailbox is provisioned.

The mailbox stack at a glance

Three real seats + three routing aliases. Three seats is the floor: fewer creates role confusion, more is premature.

Address	Type	Owner	Purpose
`taj@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio`	Real seat (Business Starter)	Taj	Founder’s inbox. Anything requiring Taj’s voice.
`hello@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio`	Real seat (Business Starter)	Trill (initially)	Public inbox. Waitlist. Press. Warm inbound.
`bookings@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio`	Real seat (Business Starter)	Trill (initially)	Class + membership operations. Booking software CC.
`press@…`	Alias → `hello@`		For media list.
`founders@…`	Alias → `taj@`		For legal + investor list.
`noreply@…`	Alias, no inbox		Transactional sender only (Resend / Stripe).

Three seats × $7/month Business Starter = $21/month recurring. Add Google Voice if we want a click-to-call number: +$10/month.

Domain decision

The email lives at the subdomain studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio. Two reasons:

DNS + trust reuse. thewalkergroup.studio already has SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Google Workspace verification live for the TWG accounts. A subdomain inherits parent DNS credentials cleanly and lets us provision Workspace faster.
Brand consolidation. For year 1, running email from a TWG subdomain signals “part of the Walker Group family of brands” without diluting the STUDIO NOIR name to the customer. Members mostly interact with the studio’s website and their Mariana Tek portal, not Taj’s inbox.

Year 2 upgrade path: if we acquire the studionoir.com root domain (or studionoir.club / .studio if .com is unavailable), we migrate the mailboxes over. Google Workspace supports domain aliasing so we can flip transparently. Cost of migration: ~1 hour of Trill’s time and a 24-hour DNS propagation window.

Check studionoir.com availability before finalizing: - If available for $12/year, register it immediately through Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar. Park it. Set an HTTP 301 redirect to studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio for now. - If owned by a squatter or premium seller, note the ask price in the Real Estate section of the OS. Do not overpay: $500 to $2,000 is a reasonable one-time cost; anything above is deferred. - If owned by an active business, we stay on the subdomain and rethink naming in Year 2 (unlikely; “STUDIO NOIR” as an active business name is rare).

The 6-step setup

Step 1. Add the subdomain to the TWG Workspace tenant (Trill, 10 min)

STUDIO NOIR is a secondary domain under the existing TWG Workspace tenant (not a new tenant). This is the cheapest and cleanest option.

Inside admin.google.com:

Domains → Add a domain → Secondary domain → studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio
Google returns a TXT record for verification
Trill adds the TXT record in the Vercel DNS zone for thewalkergroup.studio (subdomain zone). Verification propagates in 5 to 30 minutes.

Step 2. Add DNS records for mail (Trill, 15 min)

Add the following records to the DNS zone for studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio:

MX records (5 records, all pointing to Google):
- Priority 1: SMTP.GOOGLE.COM. (Google’s modern setup uses a single MX record now; the old 5-record set is deprecated but still works if already in place.)
SPF record (TXT): v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:_spf.resend.com ~all
DKIM record (TXT): Google generates a DKIM key inside admin console. Paste the returned value.
DMARC record (TXT): v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@thewalkergroup.studio; pct=100

DKIM must be enabled and the record must live for at least 48 hours before Google reports it as “authenticating.” Do this early.

Step 3. Create the three real seats (Trill, 10 min)

Inside admin.google.com → Users → Add new user, three times:

taj@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio (First name: Tajanay, Last name: Hines)
hello@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio (First name: Studio, Last name: Noir)
bookings@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio (First name: Studio Noir, Last name: Bookings)

All three seats: Business Starter license ($7/month each).

Trill sets an initial password for each; Taj resets hers on first login and enables 2-step verification.

2-step verification is mandatory for taj@ from day one. Backup codes stored in Taj’s 1Password vault. This is the account with founder authority; do not delay 2FA past first login.

Step 4. Create the three aliases (Trill, 5 min)

Inside admin.google.com → Users → [each real user] → Aliases:

press@ → alias on hello@
founders@ → alias on taj@
noreply@ → alias on hello@, but never used inbound; transactional senders (Stripe, Resend, Mariana Tek) send FROM this address using domain-level DKIM.

STUDIO NOIR reuses Brianna’s filter system ([[communication-taxonomy]]) with the studio-relevant subset:

Labels created inside hello@: - INTAKE (any inbound from a new person) - ONBOARDING (member intake, first-touch) - ACCOUNTING (Stripe, Mercury, Mariana Tek receipts) - PROJECT (buildout, vendor coordination during Phase 1 construction) - PRESS (media inbound) - WAITLIST (pre-launch signups from the landing page)

Filters: - Subject contains [INTAKE] → apply INTAKE, star, notify Trill - Subject contains [ONBOARDING] → apply ONBOARDING, CC Taj - Subject contains [ACCOUNTING] → apply ACCOUNTING, forward to bookkeeper alias - Subject contains [PROJECT] → apply PROJECT - From resend.com OR stripe.com OR marianatek.com → apply ACCOUNTING, mark read - From waitlist@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio (the transactional inbox for landing page signups) → apply WAITLIST, auto-reply with a warm confirmation

Trill exports the TWG Gmail filter XML, edits domain references, and imports into each mailbox.

Step 6. Calendar setup (Trill, 15 min)

Every mailbox gets its own calendar. Additionally:

Studio Bookings (shared calendar owned by bookings@): the source of truth for class schedule, instructor coverage, private appointments. Read-only for Taj and Trill. Editable by the eventual GM.
Taj’s Availability (shared calendar owned by taj@, visibility “free/busy” to hello@ and bookings@): the sole surface for anyone booking Taj’s time.

Google Appointment Schedules (native Calendar feature) set up on taj@:

“15-min Founder Call” (free): for warm inbound press or partnership asks; 30 slots per week, mornings only.
“Membership Consultation” (free, member-only after Phase 1 opens): 15-min private tour + Q&A booking for prospective founding members.

Appointment schedule links are placed on the public landing page and in email signatures.

Email signatures

Taj’s signature (taj@):

Tajanay Hines
Founder + Creative Director · STUDIO NOIR
taj@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio
studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio

hello@ signature:

STUDIO NOIR
Raleigh, North Carolina
hello@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio · studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio

bookings@ signature:

STUDIO NOIR · Bookings
For class + membership questions, book a call:
[Appointment Schedule Link]

No phone number in the public signature until we have a Google Voice number or a bookings phone assigned to the eventual GM. Not a Phase 1 need.

What Taj needs to do (short list)

Log into taj@studionoir.thewalkergroup.studio once Trill sends the invite.
Reset her password and turn on 2-step verification.
Store backup codes in 1Password.
Confirm the signature reads correctly to her.

That’s it.

Ongoing hygiene

Password rotation: annual, coordinated with Trill’s TWG rotation calendar.
2FA backup codes: reviewed every 6 months.
Deprecated aliases: pruned quarterly.
DKIM key rotation: every 12 months.
DMARC report review: Trill reviews the DMARC aggregate reports (routed to dmarc@thewalkergroup.studio) monthly for any spoofing signals.

Setup checklist (mark each as done)

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