Hello! My name is Kim Moss and I have recently joined the team as the Director of Strategic Growth, to help Brand Iron Forge Brands and Drive Revenue! I am excited to blend my business development and sales background to identify companies where we can make a difference. I have more than 15 years of experience in both Marketing and Sales, with a wide variety of industries. I welcome the opportunity to leverage this experience – It is exciting to think that we can help businesses of ALL shapes and sizes to forge their brands and drive their revenue.

I am also a Colorado native, but have had some other stints around the country and most recently took my three kids on Semester at Sea, where we traveled around the world on a ship with 900 college students! I received my B.S. and MBA from the University of Colorado and I still bleed black and gold. I spend most Saturdays in the Fall at Folsom Field and usually travel to a couple of road games a year.

Starting my third week, I already know that this is where I belong – the environment and the people are a perfect match! Brand Iron has a very tight knit team, that I am thrilled to now be a part of.

Hello fellow Brand Champions and Happy New Year!  As Brand Iron’s newest Brand Manager, I look forward to working with our diverse client base in driving revenue and brand development.  In starting my second week, I am excited to work with and contribute to the amazing team we have here at Brand Iron.  

With a background in both the corporate and agency marketing setting, I’ve worked with growing brands on both ends of the spectrum.  Most recently I come from 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, where the launching of new branding initiatives contributed to a 30% growth in 2011 YOY resale division revenue (during a down market).

As an Evergreen, Colorado native and graduate of the University of Denver, I’ve worked with growing some of Colorado’s top local brands.  I am a soccer fanatic who frequents the local British pubs in the wee hours of the morning to catch the latest European soccer matches and spends all my disposable income on adult soccer leagues throughout Denver.  I hope to one day travel across the pond and catch a game of my favorite team, Liverpool Football Club.

I am thrilled to join such a great team and excited to work with our extensive client base. I look forward to working with you all!

-Scott Anderson

East to West

Hello!  My name is Madeline Smith, I go by “Maddie” and recently graduated from the University of Colorado in May of 2010 with a Communication degree.  I grew up south of Boston right on the harbor or “hahbah” as Bostonians would call it…they tend to frown upon the pronunciation of R’s.  I decided to leave Boston for college after witnessing my sister’s lifestyle throughout her four years at CU.  Although, I miss the ocean, I love the never-ending sunny days, mild winters, compared to Bean Town, and of course the fresh powder out west.

During my senior year of college I worked with a natural consumer goods company, Justin’s Nut Butter based out of Boulder, Colorado.  I loved working with a start-up company and was able to dive into many PR, Marketing, and Advertising aspects from a client perspective.  I also loved working in an industry with two of my passions; food and health.  This exposure made me want to get into the agency side of this line of work.  After making the big move from Boulder to Denver I did some contract PR and Marketing work for Scream  Agency.  I realized I wanted to stay in the agency side loving the variety of clientele and day to day work.

I am thrilled to be apart of the Brand Iron team.  I love the diversity of clients, the work we do, and of course the team here at Brand Iron, Patches included.  I am looking forward to baseball season as well….but not The Rockies…Go Red Sox!

We are excited to announce the addition of two new members to our Brand Iron team. Kassandre Linstroth has joined the firm as brand manager, and Leilani Derr comes on board as graphic designer. Kassie will be charged with creating and implementing powerful brand strategies for our clients while Leilani, who joins the agency’s creative team, will be responsible for providing Brand Iron clients with creative concepting and design for both print and website applications. Kassie joins us after working for advertising/marketing agencies in both Denver and Minneapolis. In June, she earned her MBA from the Daniels College of Business at Denver University focusing on integrated marketing and brand management. Before earning her MBA, Kassie worked with Target Corporation in strategic sourcing, responsible for vendor relations, product management, and the import process across Target distribution centers and import warehouses. Prior to Brand Iron, Leilani served as interface designer for Web Data Software, a web development services company in South Carolina. She is a graduate of Coastal Carolina University where she earned a degree in graphic design. Welcome Kassie and Leilani!

Hi, my name is Chris.
I am the newest member of the Brand Iron team, joining the firm as Art Director earlier this year. I started my graphic art and web design career in 2004 in Southern California in the booming Action Sports industry. My first position was at Surf Ride Board Shops, a large retailer of surf boards and apparel. In 2007, I became the Senior Designer at Adio Footwear in San Diego. From 2006-2008 I also was a co-owner of Dagrander Studios, a marketing, advertising, branding and web development company.

In 2008 my wife Kelsay and I moved to Colorado in 2008 and accepted a Senior Designer position at Crocs Footwear. At Crocs, I was charged with advertising campaign development and implementation, unique product promotion, retail space marketing and product line development.

In my new position at Brand Iron, I will manage the company’s creative department with responsibility for the visual development of printed and web materials with emphasis on design implementation of branding strategy.

Away from the office I enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and pretty much anything to do with the mountains.

If you want to see a neglected website full of some old work of mine, check out http://www.paperastronaut.com.

-Chris Schindler, Design Bandit

These tough economic times and rising number of jobs lost have left their mark on the interning world as well as the paid working world. Searching for jobs online, I have noticed that most places are looking for someone with “experience” but how do you get this experience without working? The answer seems to be, internships. I have found the world of interning to be more competitive this year than the two years before hand. When I think about it, it seems strange that people would be pretty much begging to work FOR FREE. But the more I think about it, it isn’t so much the working for free part we are begging for, it’s the experiences that come with it.

Since my freshman year in college I have been immersing myself in the world of internships, from a radio station, to a music festival, and now to a small branding and consulting firm I’ve been building up my resume with so called “work experience.” There have been the days when my title of “Intern” has included making coffee, standing at the printer, and spending hours battling mail merge, but on the flip side to that are the days when being the intern has allowed me to get in on creative meetings, network with clients, and learn new programs and tools which has made all the hours of unpaid work pay off.

I have become used to being the new person in the office, and the person who gets stuck with some of the more boring tasks at work, but I’m also really grateful for the time and effort my superiors have spent teaching me valuable skills. Not only can I have “mail merge expert” on my resume but also social media enthusiast, digital marketing experience, event planning, and a whole host of other useful abilities.  Beginning my third internship, I continue to take steps in new directions and grab onto any projects I can get a hold of.

Now that I have a variety of internships to boost my resume, I wonder what work experience is enough work experience to launch me into the working world post college. For the time being my plan is not to stress out about the job market, but to continue to show up each day and take it all in, who knows where it may take me next (hopefully a real job).

Written by Kaitlyn Anderson, Marketing Intern

Marni Myers, Brand Iron’s Art Director, gave birth to Gabriella Sophia Myers at 9:25am on July the 12th. Gabriella weighed in at 6 pounds 9 ounces and stretches to a lengthy 19 inches. She has red hair like her father and is doing great. Marni, her husband Tim and big brother Casey, are treasuring every moment with their new bundle of joy.

Dean McCready has taken the reins while Marni is on maternity leave. Dean studied under Sherry Heart in Boulder and came away with a fun heartfelt balance of color theory and composition focusing on oil painting and Prismacolor pencil drawings. He graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art in Graphic Design.

Dean is a Boulder native who now resides in Congress Park here in Denver. He brings a wealth of experience to Brand Iron with more than 20 years experience as a graphic and fine artist.