About
Harness the magic within
“You’re crazy.”
“How will you find clients?”
“That will never work.”
These are some of the exact quotes we heard when we floated the idea of MOJO to our peers in 2014. This is the same year that location-based marketing and retargeting reached buzzword status. Instagram was just starting to take off, signaling the need for greater social and audience diversification. Terms like CDP, DMP, MDM and DAM were still figments of the imagination. And content as king (or queen) took on new meaning as the channels that required it, and the rules around who makes it, started to be reinvented.
Fast forward to today.
There is a growing group of marketing leaders who realize the complexity of the landscape is rendering the old-school, siloed approach virtually extinct. Collaboration with operations, sales and IT teams is now table stakes and the race to better effectiveness and efficiency with spend is only getting more intense.
Our original vision for MOJO has set us up to be at the forefront of this change. As a company, we might be hard to define: digital natives, one part management consultancy, one part strategic creative agency and one part early-stage investment firm. At our core, we are a family of creators, strategists, technologists, consultants, engineers and venture architects who have honed our skills of working iteratively, across disciplines and time zones, to help our clients and partners adapt, transform and thrive.


For us, MOJO represents the magic we help organizations unlock within their own teams and brands. We firmly believe everything you need is already inside of you and success is ultimately based on how well you harness and cultivate your greatness.
Last time we checked, no team has won a championship on the first day of practice — so let’s get to work and make some magic together.
What are our values?
- Think outcomes first
- Understand context
- Be empowered by data
- Commit to simple
- Design for people
- Tell great stories
- Iterate, repeat
- Micro wins = macro success
Our people
Leadership
-
Darnell Smith
CEO / Founder
-
Stephanie Smith
President / Founder
-
Doug Hovekamp
Executive Director / Creative
-
Chelsea Russell
COO + CFO
-
Magan Arthur
Managing Director / Consulting
-
Sam Thompson
Vice President / Communications
Core Team
-
Ben Crist
Associate Director / UX
-
Brian Zielinski
Associate Director / Graphic
-
Chris Kirk-Nielsen
Senior Developer / Front-End
-
Christian Trudeau
Copywriter
-
Erica Williams
Senior Technologist / Marketing
-
Erik Michelfelder
Senior Designer / Motion
-
Jen Frank
Director / UX
-
Jeni Kmic
Lead Client Partner
-
Madeline Guthrie
Designer / Graphic
-
Margaret Bridge
Senior Strategist / Communications
-
Matthew Kennedy
Lead Developer / Front-End
-
Megan Althaus
Lead Designer / Graphic
-
Michael Augustine
Strategist
-
Peter Kemme
Senior Designer / Motion
-
Ramey Morris
Senior Designer / Motion
-
Sarah Lengyel
Senior Project Manager
-
Ted Sartini
Lead Designer / Production