Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Chowning.
Melissa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’d worked in publishing my entire career. Starting with D Magazine in Dallas right out of college, after graduating from UNT. From there, I moved to a couple different areas (Portland, OR, Seattle, WA) to work for other publishers before returning back to Dallas and D Magazine.
Throughout the years, I was always taking a very holistic and digital focus to audience development, bringing the publishing companies I was working for to a more sophisticated digital place and growing audiences for the web, email and print products. And other publishers just simply weren’t keeping up. I left D Magazine in July 2017 to try my hand at consulting for publishers around the country.
It took off quickly, to my surprise. But it made sense that it escalated quickly. Publishers were all finally getting to a place where audience development and growing their readership was a top priority and required a specialized approach.
Since July of 2017, I’ve added clients and publishers for major markets such as Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland, OR, Seattle, Atlanta, Sonoma and even Maine to our roster, hired 3 additional employees, and developed a full audience development agency, specializing in media and publishing.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Of course, it’s never a smooth road. The struggles have mostly been trying to keep up with the demand and grow quickly with no real entrepreneurship experience. I can’t say it hasn’t been a blast though!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Twenty-First Digital – what should we know?
We specialize in audience development, consumer marketing and digital strategy for media companies and publishers. We’re passionate about media, publishing, and freedom of speech. I was the girl that gave a presentation on Larry Flint in high school, arguing the value of freedom of speech.
By supporting and helping to grow local and specialized media companies and publishers, in a small way I feel like we are helping the world be a more informed and accepting place. When you know and understand your community, you’re more informed and hopefully, more accepting of different perspectives, which hopefully has the ability to make the world a more open-minded and understanding place.
We’re known for approaching audience development in a very holistic way, involving ourselves in every area of the organization to best build strategies and results that support the entire business.
I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to turn this idea into a business that is employing 4 kick-ass females who are able to have a job that excites them, that’s flexible and that has a tremendous amount of growth opportunity.
We encounter a lot of businesses that are more fluff and shine than anything, especially in the consulting/agency world. Our goal is to be super approachable. We don’t want to be intimidating at all. We want our clients to feel like they we are a member of their own staff.
I’m also proud that the business hit a quarter of a million dollars in revenue in the first year.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
So many people…
My husband first and foremost. This has required a lot of late nights, busy weekends and we have two young kiddos (3 and 5). So, his support, patience, and encouragement have been hugely valuable and the company wouldn’t be where it is now without him.
Also, my teammate Ashley Mulder. She was my first hire but has also been my partner in crime in business for the last 5 years (we worked together at D). Without her fearlessly jumping on board at the beginning (January), we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish half of what we have.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1324 Saint Francis Lane
Flower Mound, TX 75028 - Website: www.twentyfirstdigital.com
- Phone: 940-535-4169
- Email: melissa@twentyfirstdigital.com
- Instagram: melissachowning
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