MCKLCO

Years ago, collaborations with Josh Albright involved guitars. Over the past year, however, we've linked up in support of After Action Foundation, the nonprofit that Josh and his lovely wife Kristin started to provide active military members opportunities to relax, recharge and reconnect with their families after deployment. Here's a lil' snapshot of the new AAF logo/branding as well as new AAF website.

Head to afteractionfoundation.org to learn more about the organization and support the mission!

Off The Beaten Path Nursery's annual Fig Tree Cuttings Sale is live! Whether you're a longtime fig enthusiast or just getting into the hobby, this sale is not to be missed!

» offthebeatenpathnursery.com/pages/fig-tree-cuttings

Fun fact: While you might think of figs as thriving in more temperate environments than what we get here in the northeast, so very many of the 300+(!) varieties that Bill has been cultivating here in Lancaster have proven their resilience to our cold winters. To really hammer that message home, OTBPN offers a handful of "Cold-Hardy Packs" which contain 10 cuttings – 2x each of 5 different varieties – that have stood up to and performed well in our climate. For novice growers or anyone looking for some inspiration when growing their collection, the Cold-Hardy Packs are a great place to start » offthebeatenpathnursery.com/collections/cold-hardy-packs

Had the pleasure of once again designing the logo for Annie Bailey's Irish Public House annual Oysterfest event. If you’re into such bivalvian delicacies, then your gonna want to make your way down to the pub on 10/1 for the 15th annual .

In some ways, self-employment found me. My career path has seen great jobs, good jobs and not-exactly-my-favorite jobs along the way, and each one of them has provided me ample insight into who I am, how I work best and, ultimately, how to operate as a business. And while the learned lessens have been many, I think one important takeaway has been that even the best-laid plans have a way of not exactly going how you'd expect...and that's OK. In fact, one of my favorite parts of working for myself has been that I am able to bob and weave as needed, for both my clients' sake as well as my own.

With that in mind, I'm happy to report that despite having a mostly-formed idea of where MCKLCO was heading in both the near and long term, it's come to pass that a new opportunity has come along and offered me a different path that wasn't even on my map.

Starting next week, I will be officially joining the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County as Director of Marketing & Communications!

This opportunity comes on the heels of my having worked with the EDC for the past 6 months as a marketing consultant, and for a year prior to that in a strictly design capacity. During that engagement, two things became quite clear: EDC is doing important work for and within our community, and I really enjoyed working with their team. In short, I cannot wait to continue to apply my skillset to support EDC's mission moving forward!

As for MCKLCO? Well, it's not going anywhere. In fact, I hope to be better at using these here profile pages to showcase previous work, as well as ongoing projects for the clients I will continue to support.

(I am thinking about all of the people I should be name-dropping in this post to formalize my appreciation for helping me get to this point in my professional life. While I'd like to say that you know who you are, I will at the very least use this occasion to commit myself to finding you and thanking you personally in the not-so-distant future!)

We never planned to have physical copies of the 2021 Annual Report, but I couldn’t help but wonder how it would look in print. Well…now I know.

Check it out in all its digital glory at edclancaster.com/annual-reports 📈 📊

Some fresh lil’ postcards for & its retail many locations (specifically , , & )

Today marks the 4-yr anniversary of being an actual thing. (At least in the eyes of the PA state department, which is not an insignificant part of the equation.) What started as a part-time, side-hustle, take-work-as-it-comes situation has grown – or at least evolved – in ways that I hadn't ever expected. But in the months since officially adding the ol' LLC, I've been blessed to have had a wide range of opportunities to support some really freaking cool local businesses and community organizations, some starting up, some growing, all dedicated to doing their best work yet in need of a little extra creative fire power to get to where they wanted to be. To have their trust & confidence is humbling as all heck, and I am so very thankful for each and every one of you!

To mark the occasion, here's the most recent version of the mcklco logo.

No, it's not exactly a best practice to alter your branding as often as I apparently have since March 7, 2018 (high five to anyone holding a business card with v1). But the truth is, the process of carving out your identity – whether it's a business entity or your very own existence – is just that...a process. And I think that being open to iterating along the way is a critical component to keeping afloat – knowing that even the best-laid plans may miss the mark, or require additional plans, or take just a little bit longer than anticipated. As we all have learned one way or another these past couple of years, contexts can change quite quickly, & what remains in the wake of such changes might look a bit different than it had beforehand. And that's totally OK.

My mom taught me early in life that "necessity is the mother of invention." In many ways, mcklco has been built upon that notion. There's never going to be a shortage on the number of curveballs that life can throw at you, & that might seem like a disconcerting reality to some, but I for one am excited for the infinite opportunities to further examine, suss out & hone in just who it is that I am & what it is that I do here.

If you've read this far, you get a high five, too. And hey, I'll throw in a few dozen old business cards, too. Because I have a lot of them.

There’s a thin line between “best VDAY present” for your love person & “VDAY survival kit” for yourself. Whichever camp you may find yourself in, it’s safe to say that these limited Valentine’s-inspired shrubs, syrups, bitters, mixers, cordials & confections from Lancaster Distilleries make for some good company.

Pick ’em up at the LD stand at The Lancaster Central Market or order a VDAY Booze Box online » lancasterdistilleries.com/collections/valentines-day-features

A hodgepodge of recent photos for which may or may not highlight gift ideas for the holidays (or otherwise). Or for yourself, because you totally deserve them. 🥃

Find ‘em at lancasterdistilleries.com!

Here's wishing one & all a merry, safe, relaxing Christmas!