Exploring Life & Business with Taylor Rosty of Yonder Marketing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Rosty.

Hi Taylor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I was born and raised in Wyoming. We were a middle-class family, but my parents both grew up poor and college was never an option for either of them. My mom was a small business owner, and as a tech-savvy millennial kid, I ended up helping her with things like her website, social media presence, and other marketing. When I was in 5th grade, I was already running payroll and managing her social presence.

Fast forward a few years, and I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the world’s best business schools. I took it, and while I was there I discovered my love of nonprofit work. After graduating, I worked in fundraising consulting and in-house marketing for a nonprofit before landing at what would become Lasso Digital.

There, thanks to an incredible friend and mentor (Erich Kirshner), I had the opportunity to lead a company. I started as an Account Associate and worked my way up, becoming Managing Director in 2020 and CEO in 2022. Our boutique marketing & fundraising agency helped nonprofits and government agencies get the word out about the good work they were doing, and we served several large and notable clients.

In early 2024, Lasso Digital closed, and I needed to decide what my next move would be. I thought back to the very first marketing work I’d ever done for my mom’s small business and saw an opportunity: to provide small and medium-sized businesses with solid marketing strategy and execution for an affordable cost.

In January 2024, I partnered up with my longtime colleague at Lasso (and sister) Jordan Yates to launch Yonder Marketing. Our business seeks to help small business owners and nonprofits with the marketing strategy and support they need to grow their organizations and make more money.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not! Thriving at Wharton was hard; I was surrounded by people whose parents had high-profile corporate jobs and who had wanted to go to an Ivy League since they were kids. Moving from my blue-collar town in Wyoming to Philadelphia was a complete culture shock. I remember my first day of Economics 010.

Most of my peers had already taken economics in high school, and here I was, thinking “I hope they teach me what the economy even IS.” I was lucky to find my people and to have support from a few key mentors who believed in me and helped me find my place.

When I became Managing Director and then CEO of Lasso, I had never run a business before. I feel now like it was a real-world MBA. I learned how to make difficult business decisions, how to hire and manage people, and a whole lot about myself.

During my time at Lasso, I also had my first child, so I learned how to balance full-time work and parenting. When my son was young, I took many a Zoom call while rocking him to sleep or feeding him a bottle. It was incredibly difficult at times but I’m so grateful for the experience.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In January 2024, I partnered up with my longtime colleague at Lasso (and sister) Jordan Yates to launch Yonder Marketing. Our business seeks to help small business owners and nonprofits with the marketing strategy and support they need to grow their organizations and make more money.

What sets us apart is our combination of skills and size. Freelancers are affordable for small businesses, but they often specialize in only one area of marketing, like graphic design. Agencies, on the other hand, can offer full-service marketing but are often expensive. With Jordan’s background in social media management and content, and my own background in digital/traditional advertising and SEO, we can offer almost any service a small business would need.

And because there are only two of us, we can work at a lower cost than an agency, which has a higher overhead. Through our previous agency work, we’ve worked with everyone from small nonprofits to government agencies running comprehensive statewide marketing campaigns, and we can bring all of that experience to our clients.

The word “Yonder” means “at some distance in the direction indicated; over there.” We chose the name because our goal is to get our clients from where they’re starting to their Yonder, or wherever they want to go.

What makes you happy?
What makes me happier than anything is being a mom. I always knew I wanted kids, but didn’t know how much joy it would bring me until we had our son, John. Watching my son develop into a little person with his own personality and worldview has been magic.

I especially love when John (who is 2.5 years old) says something that reveals how his brain processes the world; it’s just fascinating. Lately, he’s been obsessed with feelings and told me the other day that he was having some “green feelings.” I have no idea where he got that, but I love seeing how his brain works to make sense of the world around him.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yondermarketing.co/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorrosty/

Image Credits
Let the Light In Photography and Radiant Reimann Photography