hi, i’m courtenay.

I am a passionate graphic designer with 13+ years of experience creating beautiful brands, websites, digital and traditional marketing campaigns and crushing your communications strategies from start to finish.

I spent a lot of my career working with agencies or within them. While they have their place, they are rarely a feasible option for small businesses.

The cost of working with an agency for branding or design is bonkers. Like, really bonkers. It might not be that they are price gouging (although many do, and in a big way), but they have overhead that I simply don’t. And guess who’s paying for that overhead? You are.

The anti-agency.

Even if we hadn’t just survived (miraculously) the toughest financial time in our living histories, you shouldn’t be spending your life savings on the tools you will need to launch your small business. Agencies are currently charging upwards of $30k to build you a brand, a website and a marketing suite - and that’s considered a deal.

Like I said, agencies have their place - but they are not the only option when hiring someone to provide you with everything you need to get into business.

Money, honey.

Not just design.

I might just be one person, but I have been writing and editing content, directing photography and videography, creating communications strategies and training my clients on how to do the work themselves since the beginning of my career.

If there is anything your business requires that is not in my wheelhouse, I reach out to my network of super-duper, independent service providers and bring them in to lend a hand.

And you won’t ever find me selling you a service you don’t need.

Nice to meet you.

A little about me.

I was laid off from my full time agency job a week before we learned what Covid was. I felt pretty sorry for myself at first, until I started reflecting on all the ways my ethics and morals didn’t align with the way my employers did business all along. I thought about looking for a new agency to join, but I knew I would run into the same things wherever I went.

The fact is that agencies are a business, and the bottom line is always going to be cold, hard cash.

The lack of consideration placed on signing new clients made me feel gross. I didn’t want to work with industries that didn’t align with my values. Oil and gas - no thanks, beauty clinics making sales by body shaming women for aging or being above a size 4 - HARD PASS.

On top of that, if you knew how *most* agencies bill clients, it would make your head spontaneously combust. Upselling, overcharging, outsourcing… the list goes on.

The only way to get away from those business practices was to go out on my own. So here I am, offering my clients an honest, ethical, transparent business exchange - based solely on the needs of the client, and never on the cost of my overhead.

What I offer.

  • I want to make you look good. We go through a process together so I can learn as much as possible about you, your business, your audience and your customers.

  • In the end, your website will be set up to be managed by you. No more retainers or expensive charges for future updates. Unless you prefer that, of course.

  • Writing, strategy, general digital business advice and set-up? There’s pretty much nothing I can’t do.

Let's get started.

Let's get started.

I genuinely care about your business. I want to know where you’re at, where you dream of being, how you plan on getting there, and what I can do to help.

Fill out the form on the contact page and I will get back to you with a request to jump on a call to hear all about your big plans.

Are you a woman-owned small business?

Are you a BIPOC-owned small business?

Are you a registered non-profit?

I offer special rates and discounts for qualified businesses. Make sure to ask me about them in our initial meeting!