How are you a thought leader? Answer these 6 questions to find out.

By Kelda Rericha | May 3, 2016

If you are reading this you likely already understand the value of thought leadership products. A thought leadership product is anything – written, video, multi-media – produced to help inform an audience on something you do really well. These products are especially critical for service organizations that rely on the smarts and unique capabilities of […]

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Passion, Practice, and Teachability

By Kris Travis | Apr 26, 2016

I had the opportunity to check out a number of cool events during last week’s 2016 Design Week Portland, and especially enjoyed hearing Dana Tanamachi’s talk, “Perfectly Imperfect” on Wednesday night at PNCA. It was inspiring to get a glimpse of her background in design, her unexpected successes, and to hear her thoughtful reflections on her evolving work and […]

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2016 Design Week Portland

By Kris Travis | Mar 31, 2016

It’s comin’ up quick! Design Week Portland is “a week-long, city-wide series of programs exploring the process, craft, and practice of design across all disciplines.” April 15-21, all four corners of Portland will see a flurry of design-related talks, events, workshops, studio tours, and shows. This is a huge week for designers, but also offers […]

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2015 Forest For The Trees Mural Festival

By Kris Travis | Sep 28, 2015

I wrote about this very cool project on the blog last year. Though I’m a little late on this post, I did want to mention this year’s Forest For The Trees mural festival, which took place August 23-29. You may have already seen some of the new murals around town, either in process or finished. The FFTT website describes the project: “Established […]

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A tale of two cities: ACME shows how good employee relations made good business sense

By Kelda Rericha | Apr 20, 2015

In addition to being an incredible A. Wordsmith client and a brilliant business partner to some of Portland, Seattle and San Diego’s biggest and best companies, ACME Business Consulting is a really great place to work. Sara Fritsch, ACME’s marketing team lead, has worked with ACME for nine years in a variety of roles. Today […]

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Design & Happiness

By Kris Travis | Oct 28, 2014

Design Week Portland 2014 was great fun, and I felt lucky to attend the sold-out talk by Stefan Sagmeister on Design & Happiness. The Austrian-born designer has been a design “rockstar” for decades, but when he’s not working for clients of Sagmeister & Walsh, he’s studying how we attain happiness. His ultimate goal is a […]

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Design Week Portland

By Kris Travis | Sep 18, 2014

Are you ready for Design Week Portland? It’s coming, and it has something to offer everyone, designer or not. From October 4-11, a series of events, open houses, installations, talks, and parties will take over spaces throughout Portland, all in celebration of design. As the website states, “Design Week Portland is a weeklong series of […]

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Mural Madness

By Kris Travis | Aug 28, 2014

Have you seen all the beautiful new murals around Portland? During the week of August 18-23, the not-for-profit public mural project Forest for the Trees brought together 20 international artists to make their mark on our fair city. According to their site, “The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary […]

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Jennifer Huston, the "Missing Person"

By Ann Smith | Aug 1, 2014

For the past week I’ve becoming increasingly consumed with the ongoing search for Dundee woman Jennifer Huston.  On the outskirts of Portland, Dundee and neighboring Newberg where she was last seen are quite close to where I live in Tualatin and my kids went to school in Sherwood. I am not here to speculate or […]

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Inc. magazine recognizes Voodoo Doughnut as one of "Most Audacious Companies"

By Ann Smith | Apr 28, 2014

Great piece in Inc. on Voodoo Doughnut about how the company has earned its spot in history through outrageous doughnuts, word-of-mouth marketing, quirky weddings, and a record label. Love to see Portland businesses making national news!

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Changes in The Oregonian’s Editorial Policies to Significantly Impact Local News Content

By Kelda Rericha | Mar 26, 2014

New expectations for Oregonian reporters The media landscape has been ever shifting toward the Web, a move that has been seen as reflective of reader preferences and cost savings. As newsrooms are continuing to see massive headcount cuts, journalists are increasingly in a fight for their jobs, which are so often now measured by digital […]

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ChickTech

By Kris Travis | Mar 5, 2014

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to check out ChickTech’s High School Science Fair, held at PSU. ChickTech is a very cool organization whose mission “is dedicated to retaining women in the technology workforce and increasing the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers.” The high schoolers participated in a weekend-long set of […]

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