Lighting with Purpose: Daniel Luna on Passion, Persistence, and Building Luna Lighting
In this interview, Daniel Luna, founder of Luna Lighting, shares her journey into the lighting industry and what inspired her to start her own company. With a background in electrical distribution and military experience, Daniel discusses her approach to lighting design, the challenges she’s faced, and the rewarding projects she’s worked on, from high-profile stadiums to casinos. She also highlights Luna Lighting’s mission to treat every project with care, big or small, and shares insights into industry trends, including the potential role of AI in lighting solutions.
Aleo Lighting
Thanks so much for joining us today Daniel. Can you tell us about your journey into the lighting business? What inspired you to start Luna Lighting?
Daniel Luna
So, my journey into the lighting business is back in 2012, 2013, I was working for Graybar and my main focus for that–my main customer base–was based out of California, and we started learning about lighting and I wanted nothing to do with it. (Laughs) I thought it was boring but as I got to know my customer base more and heard about prop 39, title 24, lighting kind of became a necessary evil. And, I found out about the design side of things, and, you know, specifying lighting, and figuring out how much light is putting out. So, basically getting an understanding of how lighting actually goes with the flow of a space and impacts those in it, and that’s really where it all kind of all hit, and it became something that I became actually interested in.
So, I opened up Luna Lighting in 2017… I was actually working for another manufacturer at the time. And then I had to move back home to be there for my grandfather’s final months of battling dementia, and the option of going remote wasn’t a possibility back then. So, one of my coworkers and my boss at the time was like ‘hey, why don’t you start your own thing, if we have any overflow we will be sure to send it to you’. Plus, I had customers I worked with that were asking for me even after I left, so it was a win-win situation. So that was kind of the start of it all, and we’ve been going strong since.
Aleo Lighting
What is your educational background in lighting design, or a related field?
Daniel Luna
I’ve got 17 years in the military as a construction engineer and I learned how to read hydraulic diagrams and was working on our equipment–and when I crossed over into electrical distribution, hydraulic diagrams read the same as as an electrical diagram essentially, so if you can understand hydraulics you can understand electrical a bit. It all has to do with the way something flows, things causing resistance, switches, things like that. So although some of the terminology is different, a lot of the process diagrams are the same.
Aleo Lighting
What are some of the more significant challenges and rewards you’ve experienced in your career in lighting?
Daniel Luna
Challenges? Just kind of getting my name out there a little bit, and getting recognized for some of the things I was doing. But as far as the things we’ve been really proud of, I mean, we’ve worked on some pretty high profile projects over the last few years, that I’ve had my hands on, and things like that are really rewarding. I get on the computer and it comes to life. It’s just awesome.
(Pictured: Completed project featuring Aleo products for the basketball court at John Logan College)
Aleo Lighting
Can you share what any of those projects are?
Daniel Luna
We work on a professional football stadium, so for the NFL. We did that, and that was pretty awesome, especially when it got installed and everybody got to see my design. (Laughs) I can’t tell you the name of anything, just because of the NDAs, unfortunately–but another one was a huge casino, and that casino job required a lot of detail and different lighting levels throughout the entire facility. And when that came into completion–or fruition–it wound up being pretty substantial for us, we were pretty excited about it.
Aleo Lighting
I feel like the casino would be pretty interesting, because don’t they do a lot of fiddling with daylight hours to keep people ‘going’?
Daniel Luna
Yes. They do fiddle quite a bit.
Aleo Lighting
Yes, to keep that experience going!
Daniel Luna
You know, I’ve done, like, sports lighting and commercial lighting and industrial lighting and things like that, but being able to do the architectural lighting and all the fancy stuff, that was really cool.
Aleo Lighting
Sounds very rewarding.
Daniel Luna
It’s the same satisfaction I got from my job in the military, you know, when you construct something and at the end of the day you can see what you actually did. And it’s right there in front of you… it’s the same kind of satisfaction.
"Our mission is, it doesn’t matter if it’s a large job, or a small job, we take every job on with the same type of priority."
Aleo Lighting
Can you tell us a little about what Luna Lighting’s mission and vision is, and what do you feel sets your company apart from other lighting businesses?
Daniel Luna
Our mission is, it doesn’t matter if it’s a large job, or a small job, we take every job on with the same type of priority, so, we’ve catered to guys that own a mechanic shop in a small town and they only need 8 fixtures, but they want a design with it to make sure they’re still within OSHA requirements because those things are required. And then at the same time, we’ve done things like a large e-commerce warehouse, and they have their own requirements, and we give it the same level of love and attention, essentially. So we want to make the big dogs feel like they’re important, but at the same time, we want to make the small businesses like us feel like they’re just as important as the big dogs.
Aleo Lighting
So you’re talking a little bit about clientele right now, can you describe what your typical client you serve at Luna Lighting looks like?
Daniel Luna
I don’t have a typical client, so I like to say that we service and assist all levels of the lighting industry because we’ve worked with manufacturers over the years, we work with distributors, ESCOs, reps and end users, so we’ve hit almost every single part on the supply chain.
Aleo Lighting
Sounds like extensive experience. What are some of the most popular services or products you offer to those clients?
Daniel Luna
So as far as popular services, we help with their energy audits–so we’ll go out and walk a site–and like I said, it could be a guy that’s got 8 fixtures, but he wants us to look at it and then we can help them through the incentive process, because we’re allied with our local utility. So we can help those that are in our backyard. And then, at the same time, we can help people that are all over the United States as well. They can say, ‘hey, we did a walkthrough, can you find us a solution for what’s currently installed’. Because we’re trying to get them utility incentives, so I think that utility aspect really drives a lot of our business and focus.
(Pictured: Completed project for Hotel Earl)
Aleo Lighting
I see that we have one of these services being third party neutral evaluation of fixtures and design. Can you kind of expand on this and tell us why you think it’s important to the lighting industry?
Daniel Luna
At the end of the day there are bean counters and there are budgets at play. And as much as I would like what I spec to go into the building–and I’m sure any other lighting designer feels the same way–but at the same time, I could specify a $350 fixture with all the bells and whistles on it and it does X, Y, Z, puts out so many lumens at so many watts, has efficacy… and then, it’s out of the client’s budget. So what a third party evaluation is, is I can look at a design and go, ‘ok, these are all the boxes that I have to check off. I need to find something that is just as valuable as this fixture, but at the same time is going to assist with the budget with our client’. And with utility incentives, which plays into it, a lot of the time it comes down to your ROI analysis, and you can’t get an incentive if your ROI is over a certain amount of years. So, if you’re paying that much money and it kills your ROI, you need to look at a better value alternative.
Aleo Lighting
Would you be able to share an example of a recent project that you are particularly proud of?
Daniel Luna
We did a car dealership and with new construction, they had certain incentives that were involved. But it was a 1.2 million dollar lighting package and it threw them 1., Out of budget, and 2., The utility wouldn’t approve it because of the return on the investment as far as energy savings was concerned. So, we went through their fixture schedule and found products that were of similar caliber but a fraction of the cost, and they’re actually currently installing it right now.
Aleo Lighting
Were there certain fixtures that they felt like that had to keep in there, versus others that they were willing to sacrifice?
Daniel Luna
They had some fancy decorative fixtures in the show room that they felt they had to keep in there, and we actually found them nice alternatives. Because there’s multiple companies out there that make decorative fixtures that do X, Y or Z. We were able to get with a different manufacturer and they were actually able to create a custom decorative fixture for them that would perform and still had the same aesthetic. Because aesthetics are huge when you start looking at a sales space like a car dealership.
"I can see AI helping us out a lot more and possibly getting integrated into the fixtures in some way, shape or form."
(Pictured: Completed project for Sign D'Sign)
Aleo Lighting
You guys are pretty exceptional. We noticed that you have tons of certifications. I could list some of those, but how have these certifications impacted your business and the markets they serve? You’re a service disabled veteran-owned business, woman-owned business, a minority-owned business… I mean, the list goes on.
Daniel Luna
The incentives kind of set us apart a little bit. They help us with, like, if there’s a set-aside on a project. It also helps with getting our name out there a little more, because if people are looking at doing something, if they want to use a specific certified business they can go to the different websites that have certified us and look up ‘who does this in this area’, and we can pop up.
Aleo Lighting
What are your hopes and aspirations for the future of Luna Lighting?
Daniel Luna
Just continue to keep going, but at the same time, maintaining our level of customer service. Every project is kind of personal to me, so I want to keep that personal touch to everything that we do.
Aleo Lighting
You’ve been in the lighting industry for some time–you have a lot of experience–how do you see the lighting industry evolving in the coming years?
Daniel Luna
I think we’ve come close to maxing out on efficacies. Over the last few years, as far as pushing the envelope on that. But a lot of people are talking about AI in the lighting industry, and I really hope that isn’t the case… but I can see AI helping us out a lot more and possibly getting integrated into the fixtures in some way, shape or form.
Aleo Lighting
Can you talk a little bit more about AI and what you see the role of it being in the lighting industry?
Daniel Luna
Well right now we’re using a lot of sensors that are Passive infrared, ultrasonic or sense daylight. I think with AI, the smart technology is going to get smarter and learn a little bit more so you might initially manually program and set a schedule, but with AI they’ll start recognizing, ‘ok, people come into the office at 7:30’, even though the schedule they had was from 8:00-6:00, and people are staying until about 8:30. So, it will start recognizing what areas are staying occupied longer, and they’ll create their own programming. In addition I think that AI may have capabilities to report this.
Aleo Lighting
Interesting. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us today? Any comments on Aleo as a manufacturer-partner, or our products and services?
Daniel Luna
I’ve been using Aleo for years, it winds up being a nice cost effective solution. At the same time, still providing quality to our customers that we deal with. The customer service is also top-tier, essentially, we can email, or call and get an answer almost immediately. We’re not as big as other distributors, so to speak, because we’re considered a midsize distributor with our utility. So we’re not, like, big like the Graybars or the Graingers of the world… but they treat us like our projects are just as important, and that’s important to me, because I treat–no matter the size of our customer–that they are just important, big or small.
Aleo Lighting
Well we certainly appreciate that, and we appreciate your partnership.
Learn more about Luna Lighting by visiting www.lunalighting.net.
