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The Journey Begins
Allow me to be nostalgic for just a moment. As I write this, I’m sitting outside on the patio of a coffee shop here in Nashville on an absolutely gorgeous September morning. It’s the coffee shop in the neighborhood I first moved into when I moved to Music City five years ago.
I’ve spent a lot of time on this patio. I spent countless mornings here, using this place as my makeshift office when my full-time job became remote. I spent the morning I was laid off from that job here, thinking through my future. I’ve written a lot of blog posts and client projects here, both for myself and for some pretty amazing companies and organizations that have trusted me to help define their stories. And I’ve spent a number of Saturdays here, talking with my then-boyfriend, now-fiance.
The memories of this patio are mostly good, some bittersweet.
And it’s why I can’t think of a better place to be writing this blog post, introducing East South.
Why does that matter?
So … that’s a nice story. What does it have to do with anything?
As I’ve been working with clients of all sizes over the past several years – from startups to nonprofits and major healthcare corporations – I’ve come across a similar challenge when it comes to content.
We’re focusing on the quick bites … the mobile moments that we hope resonate long enough for a potential customer or client take action while waiting in line at a coffee shop just like this one.
What we’re missing is the story. The connection. It’s just like planning a road trip; in order to use Google Maps to get directions, you have to have a starting place. In order to tell your story, you have to know where you came from and how you got to this point. And that story should help connect the central theme of all subsequent content initiatives.
For me, this patio is a piece of my story. It’s important to where I’m coming from. And it holds special meaning in how East South came to be.
Why East South?
To be honest, it’s a project I’ve had in the works for a couple of years now, back when I frequented this patio almost daily. This need for connecting story to marketing and messaging is one that I saw when I first started working independently with clients.
The branding is because this is something that I don’t want to limit to just one person. But naming something that I was still attempting to define proved at first to be a tricky proposition.
Until I thought back to my story.
My story begins with my family. And my family lives on a street called East South. It’s a double entendre of sorts, as I moved from the East to the South to begin a new phase in my life. And I’m still actively working with colleagues and businesses in both regions. East South connects me to my story, both my past and my present.
My hope is that East South will help connect you to your story as well.
What’s next?
Today, I’m celebrating the launch of this site and this new branding, as it’s taken me far too long to get to this point. I’m extremely grateful to Alison Slamon at Stunt Double Creative for my branding and logo, which I couldn’t be happier with.
Eventually, there will be more content (other than just this lone post!) and a list of other friends that I work with on services ranging from design to development and SEO, allowing us to combine and build an all-encompassing project with you.
If you’re intrigued or interested in learning more, feel free to email me at carla [at] east-south [dot] com.
I’m looking forward to beginning this journey and I couldn’t be happier to have you all along with me.
Welcome to East South.
