Brand innovation never comes from an easy, comfortable place. It happens when we are forced to take notice. Enter Deskey Vantage, a custom process designed to make you stop assuming others are having the same experiences as you and instead, think more about walking in their shoes.

If you see what everyone else sees, how will your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace? If we focus on consensus, how are you supposed to challenge the status quo? What if you harnessed the power of neurodiversity (literally and figuratively) to change the world, or at least your brand? We call it Conscious Seeing. And brands can greatly benefit from using its principles.

This year we transitioned from 92 years of male ownership and creative leadership to become a company owned and led solely by women. As part of our change, we have put a lot of thought and intention into creating a culture that is better not only for women, but for all our teammates.

It’s human nature to view the world from what we personally know, from our singular perspectives. For most of us, that is through an abled lens of the world. The abled accept certain things as fact: that humans are bipeds, they have two arms, 10 digits, can see, hear, etc. Products are by and large designed for that singular prototype that is etched in our collective minds. This is referred to as the “normal” or “typical” human mind and body.

Lianna is the living, breathing embodiment of looking at the world through different lenses to change her perspective. From her childhood in Jamaica to her immigration to various American locales, she’s had the perspective of being on the outside, able to see things through a different lens. She turned that tension into her superpower: staying curious and empathetic to those who also feel as though they are not heard or don’t have a place carved out for them by society, realizing that those voices are the ones that are most important to listen to.

Deskey is a branding agency but it’s also a brand. Over the years, a lot of people have interacted with our brand and have their own perspective about who we are. We are grateful to our storied history, for the lessons learned and the growth we’ve achieved. After much introspection and self-evaluation, we purposefully made the decision that now is the time to forge a new path in branding.

When we make most decisions, we think we understand the process. We evaluate the plusses and minuses, we arrive at a rational conclusion, and we act.

Travelling on my first business trip in two years filled me with excitement, some jitters, and a lot of hope. Venturing out into the world’s “new normal” dovetailed nicely with the theme of this year’s Sustainable Brands conference: driving business models that don’t simply “do less harm” but institute regenerative models that renew, restore, and grow.

We’re thrilled to announce the promotion of Debbie Happe to Chief Client Officer. She joins a team of five women now leading Deskey in its exciting new chapter as a WBENC certified branding agency.

Deskey is very happy to welcome back Brandon Martin (he/him) as Graphic Design Associate. Brandon worked with Deskey’s design team as a co-op last year while a student at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Now a graduate with a bachelor’s degree in graphic communication design, Brandon rejoins Deskey with a passion for motion design. He works alongside our strategy and client services teams to design content for various platforms including web, video, and social media.

Cincinnati, Ohio, October 5, 2021: For the first time in its 92 years, Deskey is a women-owned and led branding agency. Today, we are proud to announce that we have been awarded national certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). WBENC is the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the US and a leading advocate for women business owners and entrepreneurs.

Deskey is pleased to welcome Adreyn Yates (she/her) to our Client Services team. As Associate Client Manager, Adreyn is the liaison between our agency and client partners. Her role is to build on our strong client relationships and collaborate with our internal teams to deliver strategy and design that convey a brand’s promise and exceed its business goals.

We are excited to welcome Carolyn Fields to Deskey as Director of Client Development. In her new role, Carolyn is focusing her passion for branding on connecting Deskey’s strategy and design teams with new client opportunities to grow our legacy of helping brands discover what’s personal, simple and true.

Josh Wolfer came to Deskey for the first time 12 years ago as a college intern. He left when his internship was over but came back as an Ohio University graduate three years later. Things have changed since that day in 2012, including his title (four times, to be exact) with each promotion. We are pleased to announce that Josh is now our Director of Strategy.

Because nothing big happened in 2020, our agency decided to shake things up in 2021 by changing ownership and leadership to women-owned and led. We’ve set a new vision — an evolution of the empathetic approach that kept me at Deskey under old ownership for 20 years — and we’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on what we want the agency to be now. We knew that we wanted to embrace diversity and inclusion in all its messy glory. We’re not doing it because it’s trendy. We’re doing it because

For more than 22 years, Amanda Matusak has been applying her knowledge of human behavior to developing strategies that drive brands forward for Deskey clients. We’re delighted to announce that Amanda has been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer.