My Founder’s Journey
Welcome to my new blog! I’m thrilled you’re here and appreciate you reading. After eight months of starting my company, I’m finally putting proverbial pen to paper to write my founder’s journey.
In full transparency, I never wanted to work for myself. As your stereotypical Type A Capricorn, I do extremely well with the structure and boundaries of working for someone else. I like rules, order and predictability.
I worked in the corporate world for 20 years across multiple companies and verticals. My primary experience is in marketing, events and sales operations. I’ve been on sales teams, marketing teams and everything in between. A native Georgian, I’ve worked in Atlanta, New York, Nashville and East Greenwich, RI.
I worked for a total of 10 years at AOL and Spotify and absolutely LOVED my time at both companies. I reported directly to the Global Head of Sales at each company and learned so much from each of them. I was fortunate enough to travel the world, meet incredible people and make lifelong friends.
Unfortunately, my role at Spotify planning B2B Events across North America was eliminated during the pandemic. As an unessential and nice-to-have worker, I struggled to find another job. I worked on marketing teams at two companies, but ultimately, neither were the right fit for me.
I was laid off from my last marketing job in August of 2023 and began another long, frustrating job search. I would make it to the finals for a role only to not receive an offer. My confidence in myself as a marketer and an employee had been worn thin, and I didn’t know what to do next.
In January of 2024, I started working with a career coach, the amazing Angela Fontaine at Seraph Strategies. I told her that I couldn’t keep doing the same thing with my job search and expect a different result. I felt like I was starting to lose my mind!
Angela asked me if I would ever consider going out on my own. I told her ABSOLUTELY NOT! Working for myself felt incredibly daunting, scary and out of control. In our next session, she asked me about it again. I told her no, but I started to think about it more. Finally in March of 2024, I made the decision to give it a try. I could continue to bet on other companies, bosses and an ever-changing corporate landscape, or I could bet on myself.
I decided to bet on myself.
On April 22, 2024, I launched Coastal Creative Consulting! It was and still is scary at times, but I don’t regret a thing. Creating my own company after two decades in the corporate world was exactly what I needed to do. I started with one, small project for my first client. Now, I have four retainer clients and a consistent client base.
I work with clients across the country, in multiple verticals and in a variety of industries. I LOVE working for myself and have found a way to create a structure for my work day that aligns with my personality, preferences and unique skillset. While I miss going into an office to see people throughout the week, I truly enjoy connecting with new people, helping clients grow their businesses and achieve their goals and learning new skills.
I am BEYOND excited to see what 2025 holds for my company. I want to thank my family, friends, industry colleagues and clients for their support. Building a company from scratch isn’t easy, but I’m glad I took the leap of faith. You never know where life can take you when you’re open to trying something new.
