CEO Sarah Best and her team have won over a dozen awards for their work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure Magazine. Recently selected as a 40 Under 40 by In Business Magazine, her work has been featured in SUCCESS, Mashable, TechCrunch, Crain's Chicago Business, National Geographic Traveler, InBusiness, Chicago Tribune, and other publications.She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, and has been selected twice for SXSW in 2014 and 2018. She is an alumna of New York University, and holds a certificate in Entrepreneurship from Babson College / Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. She is a Rotarian, and a board member of several nonprofits.We are a WBE/WOSB certified digital marketing agency that helps organizations shine in the digital space in the service of creating happier, healthier, and more inclusive communities. We do that in two ways: by taking work off of the plates of busy businesses through expert management of social media, ads, email marketing, and copywriting; and by helping companies leverage their in-house teams and talent, through audits of existing search and social media programs, strategy work, and trainings.A few client wins:- We partnered with YMCA of the USA and Nature Conservancy on full-scale audits of their national social media program and a five-year social media plan- Our live social media support garnered 10M social media impressions in four days, 100+ inquiries/hour, Institute of Food Technologists during Annual Meeting- Our advertising engagement with cult-favorite Outlaw resulted in a 475% increase in their direct-to-consumer Shopify sales and contributed to 600% growth in revenue.- Our social media management resulted in 1.8M social impressions, 10k+ in fan interactions for inaugural Chicago International Fest of Puppet Theater, with 88% of shows selling out

As a poet, I recently completed my first full-length collection of poems. My poems have appeared in The Yale Review and Painted Bride Quarterly, and in Episode 86 of the Painted Bride Quarterly Slush Pile podcast.As a film curator, I've presented numerous programs of live performance and dance on film at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Chicago Dancing Festival, Links Hall (Chicago), the Chicago Cultural Center, Body + Camera Festival at Mana Contemporary (Chicago / Jersey City / Miami), and Echo Park Film Center (Los Angeles). I was featured in an article "I, Curator" in the Chicago Tribune.Formerly an Artist in Residence at Hyde Park Art Center, my photography has been shown at Antena Gallery and Cobalt Studio in Pilsen/Chicago and at 20x2, a fast-paced live show at Schuba's Tavern. For my full artistic and curatorial bio, visit: http://www.sarahbest.net

Social media and content strategy consultant for Birk Creative, an integrated marketing, branding, social media, IT/WEB and advertising agency that takes a holistic, strategic approach to advancing client goals.

Created award-winning content strategy for national nonprofits and entrepreneurs.- Oversaw the development of a new website for the national YMCA of the USA. - Directed user research and content strategy for C-SAM (acquired by MasterCard), Elevate Energy, Rails to Trails Conservancy, and other clients.- Facilitated rebranding of The Women’s Alliance- Co-taught a course on Content Strategy at Abelson Taylor, an advertising agency, and presented on Using Social Media for User Research at Manifest Digital, a web design agency.

A seasoned freelance writer who has written over 60 feature articles and blog posts for a variety of publications including Time Out Chicago, Gapers Block, The Learned Fangirl, Chicago Artist Resource, and more.At Time Out, interviewed MacArthur award-winning choreographer Liz Lerman; Hamidou Bangoura, Artistic Director of Les Ballets Africains, the national company of the Republic of Guinea; as well as numerous other local, national, and international dance artists.

Negotiated and Wrote World’s First Foursquare ‘City’ Badge.- Negotiated $1.5 million in free services, producing four branded Foursquare badges, attracting 120,000+ followers. - Media coverage of partnership includes Crain’s, National Geographic Traveler, Mashable, TechCrunch, WGN and more.Connected Major Brands with Local Communities for Mutual Benefit.- Created Michelin SCVNGR promotion and blogger event to promote launch of inaugural Michelin Chicago guide.- Connected Apple with consumers through a series of photo walks and photo showcases with local photography community.- Fostered the development of a community of 450 local photographers, resulting in photo blogs and campaigns, and photo publication in TIME Magazine.