You Want The Full Story?

The girl who started her career on the internet… still has a career on the internet. Couldn’t imagine another route of existence. Let’s do a quick rewind, shall we?  

THE KICKOFF

Years 2008-2010 // Bay Area

• started a fashion + lifestyle blog, Profresh Style
• Landed my first job in digital as a Community Manager for Independent Fashion Bloggers
• Traveled to NYC for their first IFB conference (got my first taste of an iconic city + had to find my way there)
• Honorable mentions; had two adult bouts of ‘preneurship (almost buying a french boutique from the OG owner + started a vintage shop with my bestie), moved to Vancouver for work

THE MOVE

Years 2010-2013 // New York City

• Ya girl made it, she moved to New York! No job, no apartment + 6 luggage in tow
• Landed my second digital role at a prominent New York agency (co-owned by the music exec behind Mariah Carey + Taylor Swift ?) as their first Social Media Strategist. Some of my clients were LACOSTE, LACOSTE LIVE + bebe — my job was to connect influencers + brand campaigns + storytelling into their digital strategy. To have the trust of these larger brands so early in my career was such a big deal.
• And because it was NYC, I had three other jobs; Nylon Magazine Writer, Community Manager for a media company, Community Strategist for an app + a PR Strategist for a NYFW designer. Ah, youth.
• Honorable mentions; Blog was growing big time and starting partnering with really incredible brand deals; Shopbop, Refinery29, Dove, Rebecca Minkoff, KMART, Neiman Marcus

THE CITY

Years 2013-2016 // Los Angeles Pt. 1

• I moved to LA! Relocated with the agency I worked for in New York and got laid off a month later. ✌?
  • To caveat: I moved to LA when I was 20. Let’s just say I was NOT ready to be here. I was a “stylist” at LF and the culture shock, being from the bay, was shockinggg. 
• Through a friend’s introduction, I landed a job as Director of Marketing for another experiential agency who eventually bought BeautyCon. I then became Employee #6 and their Director of Marketing + Communications. This job gave me SO much experience; learned how to fundraise, build pitch decks, understand influencer scale, build experiential events, brand partnerships, scaling + differentiating business models. SO. MUCH.
  • If you’re not familiar with BeautyCon, it was an influencer + brand driven beauty conference.
    • We produced over 8 large-scale worldwide conferences in the time I was there
    • Launched a subscription model for beauty fans
    • Created incredible brand experiences, many of which kicked off the narrative of brand storytelling through fans + creators
    • I stayed on to consult for Beautycon a few years afterward
• JIG+SAW came at the helm of quitting Beautycon, where I was ready to go out on my own. JIG+SAW became my first formalized business (as a cowork space + resource center for women) and started fundraising immediately. 
• With the blog continuing success (even had a burger named after me) and started a customer acquisitions agency, I was ready to build this new vision with some financial support. However, it wasn’t as easy as I believed it could be. 28 investor pitches later, one really successful first event in 2016 and yet still self-funded, I had to get back to work.
• Began my role at Blue Ant Media as their Marketing Director, building one of Canada’s most popular DIY channels, Makeful, into a digital space. We build, pitched and produced nine digital shows (including one of my own!), and an entire editorial website. Fun fact: Some of our shows, including mine, play on Air Canada.
• At the end of 2016 and after JIG+SAW’s momentum with our first event, I got a call that would change momentum for JIG+SAW. It was time to open the space.
• Honorable Mentions: Going viral for being called fat by a man. Iconic.

THE CITY

Years 2016-2019 // Los Angeles Pt. 2

• JIG+SAW opened at The Row DTLA, with a six-month contract to bring the vision to life. With $2K in my savings and $2K raised from F+F, I opened the space. JIG+SAW hosted over 70 events in the space, pivoted from coworking to business education (launched a program called Track) and helped 150 women-owned companies launch their ideas + businesses. But I was still funding this business.
• My acquisitions agency, while successful, was bleeding money into JIG+SAW, which for so long, was a sliding scale business model. Not financially scalable for a for-profit business. So, doors closed.
• It was time to re-strategize. While I figured things out, I landed a role as a Digital Vice President of a beauty company so I could take a beat, reset and quit feeling burnt out. JIG+SAW had a couple of fun experiences the next few years; a reunion of Track members, our first course; The Ad Profit Formula, and launching a digital side of JIG+SAW. But I couldn’t help but feel burnt out. Then, a year
• As we close out 2019, I got a call from a former JIG+SAW brand partner that said a job I was perfect for was waiting. It was too good to be true. I landed the job and for the next 3.5 years, I built the community of Los Angeles for lululemon. Some of my wildest dreams for community + experiential + inclusivity came to life, thanks to incredible corporate budgets and a infallible belief in me + my ideas.
• 2023 came quick and after 18 really incredible events, powerful partnerships brought to the business and brought sizing + representation into the folds of the business, I was BURNT. OUT. AGAIN. I quit. Without any idea what I wanted but I knew what I needed. Breath.

THE CITY

2023-Today // Los Angeles Pt. 3

• IN August of 2023, HDDL was created. I had played with bringing JIG+SAW back, playing with education as the forefront. But it needed a new vision and so, HDDL was born.
• HDDL is the big sister to JIG+SAW // instead of us being a solution to ‘preneurs, we’re the support.

This journey has been LONG and transformative and challenging and A LOT.
But it’s been so incredible to be able to evolve as a human and still maintain the core of who I am and what I’m passionate about doing — and that’s being in community, partnership + support with you.

Always, always, always.

Cee / Christina / Chipotle Girl / Profresh Style