Cheers, Creative Enthusiasts,
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your year is getting started off wonderfully! To start my year off on the right foot, I would like my first post of the year (and a new tradition here at Giant Leaps Creative for years to come) to be a great big “Thank You” shout out to everyone who is helping make my humble, boutique creative & graphic design business a success! We have only been in business since August of 2014, and the awesome projects and excellent work that makes me come alive just keeps coming through our creative doors. And I could not be more thankful! Let’s get this year started right with these kudos to some amazing people in my life!
Without further ado and in no particular order, I would like to thank:
1) Mike Goncalves – I would not have had the idea to write this post if it were not for my awesome friend, Mike. Mike is part of the welcoming committee for an online course that I took the day I started my business called How To Connect With Anyone. We became fast friends, and we support each other’s missions of happiness, health and doing meaningful work. Mike is doing amazing things with his project, The Wellness Bucket. I cheer you on every day!
2) Scott Dinsmore – Scott is an incredibly inspiring man who is creating his own revolution at Live Your Legend. He is the creator of the course I graduated from that I mentioned above, as well as other courses and products with one mission: to help people all around the world find and do work that they love, work that makes their heart sing. Through his course and lifestyle, he has helped teach me to run my business leading with generosity and gratitude (with a good dose of fun thrown in!). Scott has become an amazing inspiration to me, as well as a friend. And we have also been working on some great projects together, and I hope many more!
3) Naz / Leah – I met these two fine ladies also in the Connect With Anyone (CWA) course mentioned above! (yes, this course is that amazing!) These wonderful women from “down under” led my Mastermind course, which is part of the program where you are paired with other amazing peeps trying to create awesome stuff in the world. They offer their guidance, support and encouragement, and help reframe how you view your challenges. You ladies rock, just like your company Rock Your Purpose, Live!
4) David Nellis / Elliot Dalberg – I spent an incredible and productive 14.5 years getting to know and working alongside these two hard-working and talented men at ROI Advertising. I am humbled and honored to have worked with them, and created and led their art department as Creative Director and Vice President of the company. The skills and techniques that I learned there will serve me for years to come. I am proud to call them my friends and mentors. Elliot’s amazingly talented wife, Marcia Staimer rocks too and just did some awesome illustrative work for me here at Giant Leaps.
5) Jeanne Broadwell – Words cannot describe the mentorship, support and loving guidance I have received from my loving (and gorgeous!) sister Jeanne my entire life. From when she picked me up when I fell down on the playground as a wee tot, to today when she offers advice, inspires me, protects me and cheers me on as I’m carving out a life for myself. She is the best sister anyone could ask for! I am proud to have the pleasure of performing on stage with her and our rock band, The Naughty Naughty Band, that we conceived together.
6) Pauline Goulah – This seemingly fearless, amazing woman started her own graphic design business, Goulah Design Group, about 15 years ago. She worked for me in my creative department way back in the MacVicar Design days, and over the years, we became excellent friends and co-designers, and now are both female entrepreneurs who own our own respective businesses. Thank you, Pauline for showing me how it’s done, girl. You rock!
7) Jensina Olson – My mother-in-law confidently gave me my first client last year, and I can’t thank her enough for it! Landing that first job is so incredibly important. Jensina, who has an amazing reputation from her special occasion catering career, believed in me and without question recommended my services to her client. I loved doing the creative, as well as having the opportunity to work with this amazing woman I am proud to call family.
8) Dr. Daamini Shrivastav – I met this fantastic woman through the wonders of social networking and blogging well over a year ago now. I helped crowdfund an important project she was working on, and we became fast friends. Daamini believed in me and my writing abilities, and my passion for helping other people. And she asked me to help her father’s hospital in the UAE, Conceive by authoring the blog, Slow Swimmers & Fried Eggs that I now write with my husband about our struggles with infertility in an international effort to help others who also struggle. Thanks for believing in me across all of those miles, Daamini. May we meet in 2015 so I can thank you in person!
9) Alivia Tagliaferri – I have known this fabulous woman for years through mutual friends, and always knew she is an outstanding author, writing about causes she believes in. But today, we are now enjoying collaborating our efforts for her upcoming documentary, Power Of One: Preventing Suicide in America, a cause that I stand behind as well. I am honored to assist her with my creative services for her project. She also collaborated with me by conducting an interview for my blog mentioned above. You rock, lady!
10) Rich Rodgers – Rich has been an incredible friend of mine for... wow, almost a decade now. He has hired me numerous times over the years to do creative work for him in his many endeavors. An incredibly smart, diligent and ambitious man, he always has new business ideas up his sleeve with innovative ways to get them implemented. He was one of my first clients here at Giant Leaps Creative, and I have loved every single minute of working with him and his team at TransitSystems. There will be a blog post shortly showcasing the work that we have collaborated on as soon as I get my mitts on his new business cards that I created for him.
11) Bill LeDent – This incredibly talented man has inspired me with his artistic abilities, his strength, and his “I’m going to do this my way” style of living. We have also collaborated on many creative projects and business ideas, and I am constantly amazed at how smart, creative and talented this artist, actor and professor is. He also keeps me laughing and smiling, and reminds me not to take life so seriously, and I love him for that! He also has recently helped us with the above mentioned blog with his video editing ability and great eye for the camera. And he also shares the stage with me with our Naughty Naughty Band. So awesome and fun!
12A) Eric – This post would never be complete without me praising my incredible husband for always being there, believing in me and my abilities, and cheering me on in everything that I do, no matter how “crazy” it is! I could not have started Giant Leaps Creative without him! He loves me so deeply and profoundly that it blows my mind, as well as helps me face any challenges and obstacles knowing that he always “has my back”, and will love me even when I fail. This is how we learn, and this is how we support each other. Thanks for growing, loving and laughing with me, dear husband of mine!
12B) Dad / Mom – To my loving, devoted and fantastic parents, Robert and Frances. They gave me an amazing education back home in the Philadelphia area suburbs, as well as at Penn State and Drexel University, where I got my graphic design degree. They celebrated with me when I graduated with honors, and cheered me on every step of the way throughout my career. They taught me that hard work, dedication and living with integrity pays off, and that nothing can replace the love and support of family and friends. And they gave me my loving and hilarious sister, and loved us both from the bottom of their hearts, until their last days. I miss you, every day! And I carry your light into the future with me.
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Giant Leaps Creative would not be where it is today without the love, encouragement and support of these fabulous, inspiring and special people in my life. I thank you in the sincerest way that I know how. And I also thank all of you for reading this post and being here today, supporting one girl’s dream. May you have a fantastic year ahead, and I wish you many happy days!
To your creative endeavors!
Onward and upward.
Cathy Broadwell
Giant Leaps Creative LLC