// ABOUT
ON BRAND MARKETING CO.
FOUNDED
in MARCH 2020 by SAMANTHA SMITH + TRACI BUSHUR
On Brand Was Founded On Friendship + Curiousity.
CIRCA. 2018 / 2019
Traci and I met at Lindenwood University as collegiate cheerleaders.
We each had separate friend groups but created our first lifelong memory together when we won NCA Nationals in 2018. The next year, we both began exploring study abroad options separately and found out through mutual friends that we had both been accepted into the same program. Before we knew it, we were in London together adding roommates, navigating the tube, and planning weekend trips… I crowned the four of us the “Lifers” because I knew I found my friends for life!
CIRCA. 2019 / 2020
We returned back to the states in December 2019. I was then a college graduate, and Traci needed to finish up one more semester of college but we were both ready to pack up our lives and move to opposite coasts, Traci to LA and me to New York… Then covid hit. I quickly moved back up to the Chicago suburbs as a live-in nanny, and Traci began applying for grad school in London. After facing a ton of rejection for “lack of experience” in corporate marketing jobs, I began pitching myself as a virtual assistant for contract marketing work
Back to The States we went.
Rejection
↻
Redirection
In an effort to finally get a full-time job, I shoot my shot one more time before I was once again rejected for a job in marketing at a med spa. I countered that rejection by asking if they had any internship or shadowing opportunities when I was connected with Aesthetic Mentor founder, Amie Martin. I quickly began working on her website and Instagram. Meanwhile, Traci was in London pursuing her MBA and creating a Youtube channel. Ironically, the week Traci launched her YouTube, Amie asked if I knew a video editor.
CIRCA. 2020 / 21
// CURRENTLY
Today we both consider ourselves digital nomads, exploring the world and seeking adventure. We continue to be inspired by real-world experiences, new people and cultures, live music, magazines, and other young entrepreneurs - which is reflective in our work! I visited Traci in London in the fall of 2021, and we are both soaking up time at our homes in the midwest before our next move!
We continue to work with Aesthetic Mentor on social strategy and branding and have added several other aesthetic injectors to our roster. Additionally, we’ve collaborated with a couple of influencers, a children’s boutique, a financial accountant, an all-star cheerleading gym, and an orchard, to name a few. Our design style has changed, we’ve had the opportunity to donate to a few nonprofits, our communication is better, and we continue to learn something new every day... It’s crazy how far we’ve come.
Our goal now is to continue creating a strategy that empowers female entrepreneurs and helps them grow their businesses. Design, copywriting, coding, and social media are something we love but truly the best part of getting into this business is all of the great women we have met along the way that have helped shaped our brand while we designed theirs.
