After meeting Bolu at OEI and watching her journey unfold this year—winning 1st place at the Global CEO Conference Pitch Competition in Tampa Bay, placing 1st in ISU's Pappajohn Fall Startup Pitch Competition, earning recognition at multiple events—I knew her story needed to be shared beyond just pitch competitions and award ceremonies.

Vertical Marketing's goal in creating effective brand systems is empowerment, not dependency. When clients can execute at the same level as their agency partners, the brand has succeeded.

If you've worked with Vertical Marketing + Design, you've heard me talk about brand transformations using space terminology: Launch Platform. Lift-Off. Brand Boost. Maximizing Orbit. These are deeply personal anchors, that aren't just catchy names for phases in our process and it's why helping organizations tell their stories matters so much to me. January 28, 1986: The Day Everything Changed It was my 6th birthday when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded with a teacher on

I prefer sitting at empty tables at professional events—it's where I'm most comfortable. Over time, I've noticed who naturally includes others and who doesn't. These observations reveal character traits that matter in business: empathy, confidence, and collaborative spirit.

After three intensive coaching days at OEI, I discovered brilliant students with perfect research solving the wrong problems. An engineer thought he needed better software - turns out volunteers just needed more time with kids. Sometimes the most valuable question is: 'What if we're solving the wrong problem?'

I walked into day 2 at the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute  expecting to be on a panel. Plot twist: more speed coaching sessions. And...

Yesterday was my first day at the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute, and while I was surprised to be asked to join, once I sat down and...

About three years ago, I launched marketing masterminds for women. Big vision, collective learning, all that good stuff. It flopped....

A friend forwarded me an email today that made me stop and take a screenshot. It wasn't the subject line or the design – it was a simple "Leave a Comment" button that ...