Working as an intern, becoming a contractor, and then being offered a full-time position at EIM is a journey that is truly too great for words. When I came across Envisionit, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass. After an interview and a review of my portfolio, I was lucky enough to be hired on the spot as an intern!

During my internship, I was able to work on logo concepts, create stationery collateral pieces, work on several social media backgrounds, among many other things. It wasn’t just the projects, but also the atmosphere of the company that allowed me to enjoy my time as an intern.

My internship was coming to an end, but I believe it was through my eager interest that helped my internship grow into a three month contract as a production artist. This extended opportunity was perfect in all aspects; I was approaching graduation and I loved working for this agency. I was given more responsibilities and continued to work closely with the creative directors, working on revisions or adding on to existing projects. This three month period allowed me to not only become more comfortable with my ridiculous commute from Naperville, but it also helped me gain more experience and knowledge in what it meant to be working at an agency. The organized structure helped me become more organized, and the deadlines challenged me to work more efficiently; and it took this job for me to truly understand the importance of teamwork.

When I had been offered a full-time position, I was completely overwhelmed with pure joy and gratefulness. It was hard to believe that I had actually made it here! I give so many thanks to Envisionit Media for paving the path for me to start my career and become successful in what I love to do. I couldn’t have imagined this being a better journey than it already was and is going to be!

Rebecca’s not only a new account manager, she’s a brand spankin’ new Chicagoan! Coming to us via Austin, Texas, she’s got a ton of experience managing clients, developing social media strategies (including the social strategy for Texas.gov — yes, she tweeted for Texas), and founding businesses. (She founded a small business marketing consultancy serving clients like Austin Restaurant Week and Autism Trust USA; no big deal.*) Oh, and did we mention she was named a rising star finalist in the 2012 Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power: Women of Influence awards?

We couldn’t be happier Rebecca’s with us to help our clients bring their projects to life and help the EIM teams get it done while they’re designing, coding, writing, or SEOing. She’ll be working with brands in a variety of industries to help build and connect with their audience in a creative way — and hopefully, sharing some of her pro entertaining tips with us along the way.

A very short interview with Rebecca:

What’s the one thing everyone should know about you?
My blog, TheRebeccammendations, won Best Blog for Entertaining Tips in the 2010 Austin Blogger Awards. I’ve migrated it to Chicago to write about local restaurants, shopping, art, music, and entertainment and get to know the hidden gems in The Windy City. You can also follow me on Twitter @LocalizeChicago and @Rbcammendations for tidbits on local hotspots and info I find along the way.

Fill in the blank: I can cook or bake…
Oreo truffles that are quite the hit. Actually, there’s no cooking or baking involved (just refrigeration and some chocolate-dipping skills).

*Kidding, it’s a really big deal.

Are organic vegetables better for you than conventional vegetables? Debatable. Is organic search good for your business? Yes. Robert takes a holistic approach to SEO: treating the entire site, not just the symptoms or rankings.

But make no mistake — he’s no SEO hippie, even though he’s in charge of getting more organic traffic to our clients’ sites and turning that traffic into quality leads.

With five years experience as an independent consultant, at Ephricon in Baltimore, and as an in-house web marketer (“pretty much makes me a grizzled vet,” he says), he can do that sort of thing. It’s wholesome, organic SEO at its best.

A very short interview with Robert:

What’s the one thing we should know about you?
I’m also an actor, writer, and filmmaker. Most nights and weekends I’m performing improv or sketch, or working on a TV pilot that I’m going to produce next spring.

Tell us a story in six words.
Joined circus. Sorry ma. Will write.

It’s not easy being part of the EIM digital marketing team. Those guys go through the ringer! Not only do you have to optimize a page in less than 15 seconds, you have to speak only in keywords during work hours. Okay, none of that’s true, but it’s a big job.

But Jenny’s one to do it. After consulting Coupon Cabin’s mobile app project and helping out with email marketing and partnership marketing as an intern at SitterCity, she’s freshly graduated and on board as our newest media coordinator. A paid search guru, she focuses on launching, monitoring, and optimizing each campaign on a daily basis. But best of all, she’s a hard worker who’s always looking to learn more and give every job her all.

A very short interview with Jenny:

What are your three favorite movies?
Life is Beautiful, I am Sam, The Green Mile.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Definitely my mom’s cooking!

Once upon a time, we were a company with exactly one employee. Ten years — and 5 offices — later, we’ve made Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list for three consecutive years, built our dream workspace, and have a team who’s everything we could have ever hoped for. Yup, it’s a pretty big deal. So, naturally, we decided to have a party.

Putting the new Ideation Lounge to good use, the 10-year party was a huge hit. Our whiteboard wall featured a history of the company in timeline form, as recalled by EIM vets, and illustrated by artists-in-residence Mike L. and Hannah.

We enjoyed live music from the Resonators with Adam on keyboard; some singing from Rob, Amy, and Kevin; catering from our friends at Homestead; a strawberry-filled EIM cake from West Town Bakery; showing off the agency hamster to delighted onlookers; and toasting to 10 amazing years in business.

We’ve come a long way, and there’s no way we could have done it without our employees, clients, friends, family, and coffee. Cheers to 10 years, and here’s to 10 more!

See more photos at Facebook.com/EnvisionitMedia.

Sarah’s only been with us for a short while, but frankly, we’re not quite sure how we got along without her. As Associate Project Manager, she gets stuff done: she’s a wiz at managing project teams, sees to it they have everything they need, keeps up with clients, and makes sure everyone is happy with the final product. She loves seeing every project come to life, and with experience working with some major brands — including Disney, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, and Lunchables — she’s had a big part in some pretty cool projects. (Like that time she produced a Lunchables media takeover in Times Square. RAD.) Sarah, you can project-manage us any day.

A very short interview with Sarah:

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Toast with white American cheese and scrambled eggs on top.

Fill in the blank: the cartoon character most like me is … because …
Belle, because she lived in France, is always willing to help, and has an adventurous streak.

We are so pleased to officially welcome our new Director of Account Services!

Kelly supervises and mentors the account team; she’s the Jedi Master of efficient process, and the go-to person for production and team collaboration solutions. She’s worked in digital for more than eight years and in account management for more than six years, mostly for Fortune 500 companies (like Pampers, Clorox, Brita, and Nissan USA), so it’s fair to say she’s got a pretty firm grasp on how to handle big clients and digital marketing (which are both pretty impressive things to have a firm grasp on).

For her, it’s all about helping the team meet and exceed client expectations while making a difference in their businesses through digital marketing.

A very short interview with Kelly:

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A princess, a teacher, a travel agent, a journalist, a lawyer.

What’s a book you could read over and over again?
To Kill a Mockingbird — I named my cats after the characters!

We did it! We scored ourselves the office manager to end all office managers.

Ali does a little bit of everything and anything: scheduling, account management, traffic control, making sure everyone has what they need to be happy. No small feat. But when you can think on your feet, adapt, and anticipate — thanks to loads of experience with clients and in B2B working with Joffrey Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, East Bank Club, the Chula Visa Resort — it’s practically second nature. And when you like working with creative types (!) and creative clients (!!), it’s even pretty fun.

A very short interview with Ali:

Name your three favorite movies.
American Psycho, The Lost Boys, Beetlejuice.

Fill in the blank: I’m really good at …
Makeup. Sounds girly, but I can make you look like a pin-up girl, a Lichtenstein, zombie, or the victim of a tiger mauling if you want.

We are very proud to announce the new envisionit website, at envisionitmedia.com. Although it’s been live for a few weeks now, we decided to take it for a rigorous test drive before announcing it to the public. But don’t worry–it still has that new website smell.

As with every project we undertake, we set measurable goals and objectives for the new site. We’ll keep the competitive details to ourselves, but here’s a little about what we set out to do:

• Our company culture is very important to us, and it bleeds into our work. So we made it a priority to ensure every site visitor will quickly understand who we are, and how we approach the work.

• It was important to leverage our biggest assets as a company to help with every phase of the redesign. Our people. From our super-talented designers to our thoughtful writers, and our expert marketers to our talented business development people, everyone helped make the new website a valuable resource for those who are looking for digital marketing expertise. Not only did we want to showcase our talents, but also help visitors understand the breadth and scope of how we can help their businesses.

• We encourage big ideas, both from our clients and our people. And big ideas don’t need to be complicated. So we made it easy for site visitors to browse some of our work, where we’ve brought big ideas to life.

We had plenty of fun concepting, writing, and building the new site. And we hope you enjoy taking a tour. (We don’t like to brag, but it’s pretty awesome.)

We’d love to hear what you think, you can leave a comment below. As always, we’re ready to discuss your next big idea. Contact us at any time.

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