I started my first company — WebEdgeDesign — in 1997. I was super interested in websites from the get go, and learned to build them by downloading source code and reading it obsessively (#nerdalert). Learning of this, my high school English teacher connected me with a local manufacturing company in need of one of these new "websites."
I arranged a meeting by phone, was dropped off by my highly entertained mom, and sat in the welcome office of said manufacturing company with a briefcase I had found in our closet. I was 4'11" and 100lbs soaking wet, and years from anything resembling adolescence. The secretary was sweetly amused when I (politely) announced I had a meeting with the CEO, and left me in the waiting room. When I did go in for my meeting, I laid out a vision for this company's first website. The CEO was charming and heard me out. After about 20 minutes together, he let me know that he was looking for a bit larger of a company, but that he really appreciated my time coming in. I was 0 for 1. But undeterred.
Months later, at my afterschool job sweeping floors for a local juggling manufacturer, the owner asked me if I had heard of "this thing called the internet." BOY HAD I EVER. "Think you can sell things on it?" YES YES YES YOU CAN. "Build me a website, kid." I'll never forget it. I negotiated a deal for a new summer job building my first e-commerce website. I took photos of hundreds of juggling props with a one megapixel digital hulk of a camera in the hallway of our house, lined with white posterboard. I wrote copy, priced products, and set up a server. Three months later, we were live. Four months later, sales started to roll in. It worked. And WebEdge Design was born.
Since then I have worked with hundreds of companies, nonprofits, and individuals at the intersection of design, marketing, communications, and data. I have started several new ventures, both alone and with great groups of people. And, have learned a lot about what it takes to tell a great story about a great company or cause for meaningful and measurable impact.
Today I do a majority of my work through my company Jetpack, which is a creative services firm supporting social ventures. We operate as a scalable marketing department for our clients, offering a combination of expertise and capacity across the many areas of work that marketing and communications executives are charged to manage.
If you'd like to talk with me about working together, or just learn more, reach out anytime.
