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Meet Sara Grossman of CODE mktg. in Capitol Hill

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Grossman.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My story began when I was in graduate school, getting my MFA in creative writing at The New School in NYC. So many people wondered what I was going to do with a degree like that. At the time, there were two options after graduating: teach (didn’t have the patience) or work in publishing (which I tried and hated).

While I was working for the marketing team at a big publishing house, my cousin, who is a serial entrepreneur, approached me asking if I’d be interested in copywriting for a new website of his. I only had a personal essay writing experience, but he showed me the ropes and got me started. I’m forever thankful for that.

This was 2009-ish, right when social media was really starting to take a turn. I was personally interested in it, so I learned all of the professional aspects of running social media for businesses.

I stuck around NYC for a couple more years and then moved out to Denver, where I continued to freelance. After a few months, I was invited to do some online communications work for the Fields Foundation — the foundation launched by Senator Rhonda Fields to honor her son. She was so impressed with the work that she asked me to help run communications for her re-election campaign. It was during that time period that I really got a taste for politics and the nonprofit world. We ended up winning her campaign by a landslide — she won 72% of the vote!

I knew, right then, that I wanted to take a turn into the political world. I landed a job with One Colorado and was proud to be on the team that helped secure marriage equality for the state.

Something they don’t tell you about nonprofit work, though, is that you burn out after a couple of years. It gets to be a lot. So, at the end of 2014, I left my position at One Colorado and branched off on my own again. For a couple of years, I was doing a lot of consulting and freelance work for other marketing companies and tech start-ups. I loved it and thought I truly found a new groove.

Unfortunately, that all ended June 12, 2016, when I found out I lost one of my closest friends from college – Christopher Andrew Leinonen – at the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.

When I returned from his funeral in Orlando, I nullified all of my contracts. I was so struck with grief that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. But after a month, I decided to get back into the saddle. I knew I needed to move back into the advocacy sphere. The day I decided this, I went to the Colorado Nonprofit Job Board and I kid you not — moments before I clicked on the website, the Communications Manager position for the Matthew Shepard Foundation had been posted. I thought that was some sort of serendipity and immediately applied. Then, I nudged every executive director of a nonprofit I knew in Denver to bug Jason Marsden – MSF’s ED – and get him to interview me.

My fate was sealed after speaking to him. The similarities between Matthew and Drew were eerie in some cases. Jason and I chatted like we were old friends.

I knew that when I took that position, I was going to run with it like a supernova – until I burned out again. I am so, so proud of all the work I helped accomplish while running communications for the Foundation, but stepped down earlier this year to pursue my own LGBTQ-specific marketing company, CODE, as well as push some of my efforts towards the nonprofit I helped launch in Orlando to honor my friend – thedruproject.org.

And, as they say… here I am!

Great, 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?
Grief has probably been my biggest challenge. Sometimes, when you are steeping in secondhand trauma by reading about hate crimes throughout the week or sitting in bad news (which, it mostly has been since November 2016, in my opinion), it drains you.

I am one of three people running our nonprofit (The Dru Project) as a volunteer.

I also volunteer a lot of my time to Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action as a public speaker. So, the balance between all of that and my actual career sometimes gets sticky.

I did what I had to do, though, and am really excited about the prospect of helping LGBTQ+ businesses grow while also getting to continue my advocacy work.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about CODE Mktg. – what should we know?
When my now business partner approached me, he said that there was only one other national LGBTQ-specific digital marketing firm. I couldn’t believe it. I also couldn’t believe how dated and crass their brand was. It was… well, very overtly gay. I think that worked really well in the late 90s because you had to make yourself known. But there is a lot more going on in the sphere of both branding and LGBTQ media right now.

So, in came CODE. If you check out our website, you will see that there is a bandana in our logo. I wanted it to be much less overt than the other company’s branding. The bandana is a nod to what I consider the “original gay marketing” – the hanky code. When being gay was still illegal, men would go to bars to “go cruising” and would wear different colored bandanas in their back pockets to signal they were gay and looking – and what they were looking for.

I’ve always loved that concept. Covert marketing. If you know, you know.

What sets me apart from others? I care. I really care. I want businesses to succeed. If I don’t think I can help them, I won’t take their money. I also find it important to give back to the community, so I dock all fees in half for nonprofits. They’re doing the important work. I know it firsthand. I’d be remiss to not help them however I can.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
This is so silly, but being a good friend. I’ve kept in touch with almost everyone I’ve ever met. I reach out to people more than the average person. I try to be a good person. I think when you have someone who is inherently good and empathetic at the helm of a business, then that business is also going to be inherently good.

I think that’s the most important thing anyone can do. Just be good.

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