Buy Local Creston was born out of a shop local grant from Columbia Basin Trust to Kootenay Employment Services (learn more about my work with KES here). Launched in December 2021, I built the primary brand identity of Buy Local Creston. This includes logos, print material, social media imagery and more. Since then, I have played a vital role in a team of three people promoting local consumption to improve our small economy. This has been my favourite part of my position at Kootenay Employment Services as a Design and Communications Specialist. I’m passionate about our community and want to see it grow as I further root myself in this town.

Since the creation of Buy local Creston, some significant projects deserve to be highlighted, but the Come Along With Me Campaign is my favourite:

We created short videos for businesses who opted into this campaign. We made 14 videos in a year and have had thousands of views across Facebook and Instagram. I produced these videos while my colleague, Amy Hotchkiss, starred in and wrote content for them. These videos are the thing that caused Buy Local Creston to be a front-runner for local community engagement platforms. We’ve done giveaways, event promotions, weekly live music updates and business spotlights, all of which help promote the wonderful things our valley offers.