Cheers, Creative Enthusiasts,
Well, well, well... here we are, halfway through January already in the new year. Happy New Year, wonderful people! I hope your year is off to an fantastic and inspiring start! To get my year off on the right foot, I have a tradition that my first post of the year is a massive “Gratitude Gush” shoutout to many souls who are helping make my humble, boutique creative & graphic design business a success! We have been in business since August of 2014, and the awesome projects, kickass clients, and excellent work that makes me come alive just keeps coming through our creative doors, and I could not be more grateful! Please help me get this year started right with major kudos to some amazing people in my life that help Giant Leaps Creative jump for joy! Let’s get this party started! Yeah!
Without further ado and in no particular order, I would like to thank:
1) The Live Your Legend Community – No one does it alone. Starting and running a business is no exception. The Power of Community has proved to serve me, my mission of making the world a more beautiful place – one logo and branding package at a time – time and time again. We need to believe in ourselves and what we are endeavoring to do in the world to truly make an impact. These global communities of friends and colleagues – originally gathered together by the late Scott Dinsmore – ALL are AMAZING and I am truly grateful that you are in my life! I would like to give a special shout out to Chelsea Dinsmore, Troy Young, Dorene Wharton, Harry Lewis, David Ryan, Steven Briginshaw, Ellen Watkins, Elizabeth Miner, Paul Kim, Bryce Eldridge, and Michael Garofalo. Thanks for your undying support, creative talents, inspiration and positive, joyful energy! Love!
2) Mike Goncalves – This AWESOME human not only gave me the idea to create this "thank you” post annually, but we have been working together through the years and beyond on many projects! We both have a constant thirst for knowledge and pushing to excel. We have taken online courses together, done fitness challenges with his ever-expanding mission at MikeGoncalves.com, attended transformative retreats, and I know more awesome collaborations and adventures will come in 2018 (possibly a mini-summit in Munich?)! Mike, I respect and admire you and your dedication to your work more than you know, and I so value your generous and amazing friendship!
3) Roberto Torres – Running a graphic design business takes lots of hard work, great technology running smoothly, and an awesome team backing it up. This fantastic human is incredibly talented and disciplined at many things including all things technical, working tirelessly to make sure all systems are running smoothly. If my computers are not speaking nicely to each other, it is a challenging day that slows me down — and this lady likes to move forward expeditiously and with the support of a quality team! Thank you, Robert for your wisdom, your talents, your dedication, and being someone I can continually ount on. You rock!
4) Viki Nova – This kickass, speedy, and highly talented web developer reached out to me after my Live Your Legend interview post went live! I am forever glad that she did. We met for lunch one day for a respectful and interesting meet and greet, and now this lovely lady is part of my amazing team here at Giant Leaps Creative. A WordPress and HTML genius, she adds another spoke to the wheel of our humble company that we seriously needed. Thanks, Viki, for your amazing and speedy work. Welcome aboard!
5) Sandy Burkhart – Working tirelessly and efficiently, my bookkeeper Sandy helps keep me line and on budget. I appreciate her diligent and efficient work, and how patient she is with me when I get behind schedule. Sandy also is never shy about singing my praises to other prospective clients and letting them know about the services I offer at Giant Leaps Creative. Sandy, I really appreciate all of the support, hard work and cheerleading over the past year! You are an amazing woman and I am so glad that you are part of my team!
6) My Clients – Giant Leaps Creative LLC would not exist if it were not for one of our most important assess – our clients! Some I cannot name here as the work we do is confidential (I do work in the nation's capital afterall!) But please know I highly appreciate you! I want to give a very special shout out here to my great friend, colleague, and now client Sue Fee! We are no strangers to working together, Sue and I. Our work ethic comes honestly from humble beginnings working side by side at McDonald’s at the Springfield Mall (PA) when we were young and fresh-faced 16 year olds. What a strange and wonderful ride it has been! We also began our creative journey together in college as roommates when I got my graphic design degree at Drexel University. What fun all-nighters those were! Thanks, Sue for believing in me and my work all these years!
7) IPEC Community – This year, I am proud to say that I am a Certified Professional Coach thanks to the fine trainers and my fellow students and graduates at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (IPEC). As creative director, CEO, and leader of creative projects, my coaching training comes in quite handy on the job here at GLC taking projects as well as the people responsible for creating the vision from concept to completion. I want to give a majorly special shout out to my colleagues and friends Bob Harrell, Rick Clemons, and Mark Downey, as well as teachers Frank Macri, Cindy Gardner, Mark Schall, Debbie Forcier-Lynn, and Stacy Hartmann.
8) Dr. Daamini Shrivastav – I met this fantastic woman through the wonders of social networking and blogging well over three years 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 (SS&FE) that I 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. I hope to get to Dubai if not this year than next year to see your beautiful city and hug you in person! You are just a lovely and gorgeous human being! Let's keep rocking the SS&FE podcast and blog alongside our new and fantastic bloggers! The team grows! Yes!
9) Eric Olson & Jeanne Broadwell – Having the support of our families while we go forth and do our best to rock our own lives and businesses is highly important. I shudder to think where I'd be without my amazing husband Eric and my kickass sister Jeanne. These cool cats are not only a ton of fun, but loving, supportive, super smart, talented and I am so damn lucky that they are part of my family. Through thick and thin, these special people hug me close and cheer me on, no matter what I am reaching for or how outlandish it seems. Love you guys to the moon and back!
10) DePersico Design Folks – Lastly as I have been de-cluttering my house thanks for the “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of De-Cluttering and Organizing” book, my heart is full as I uncover incredible collaborative works of art at my previous jobs. In particular, a shout out to the folks I worked with at Depersico Design, my first design firm where I had the privilege of working on the Fleer / Marvel Comics account alongside Creative Director, Jeffrey Marshall, and my fellow designers including my great friend Monique Brand, as well as blasts from the past, Bryan Ward, Saul Rosenbaum, Steven Green, and many more! I miss you all, and I thank you for the inspiration you sowed into my brain all those years ago!
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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