As Vibe Creative Marketing celebrates its fifth anniversary and I reflect on my own four-year journey with Vibe, I see a common thread. For me, it all comes back to courage: the courage to start something new, the courage to evolve, and the courage to stay true to your values.
What brought me to Vibe? A bit of fate, luck, courage, and a helpful Google Search Ad ;)
Let’s take a quick trip back in time to 2021! There I was, sitting in my room in Virginia, just beginning a new job search. I typed "digital marketing agencies in hawaii" into my search bar, and the name "Vibe Creative Marketing" caught my eye in the sponsored results. As I explored their website, I knew I'd found my dream job—an agency I could grow with that aligned with my values. The only problem? They weren’t hiring.
Despite seeing no open positions, I decided to reach out anyway. I introduced myself, made my pitch to join the team, submitted the contact form, and crossed my fingers. As luck would have it, Vibe had just decided to make their first full-time hire! A few interviews later, I was moving to Honolulu to start my new chapter.
When I first connected with Vibe’s Founder & CEO, Erica Mau-Schank, she was in the midst of her own courageous transition—transforming what had been an in-house marketing team into a full-fledged marketing agency.
Erica’s vision wasn't just about business success; it was about building a team where everyone could thrive. And it turns out, when you put people first, you can find business success as well! In 2025, Erica received well-deserved recognition in Pacific Business News’ Women Who Mean Business Awards, for her excellence in both business and community leadership.
Over the past four years, it has been so inspiring to watch her pursue her vision and grow the company with such thoughtfulness and determination. Looking back as Vibe's first hire outside the original team, I'm grateful I had the courage to reach out, and that Erica was bold enough to take a risk by launching her own business.
Scaling from a solo operation to a team serving dozens of clients requires constant reinvention—new software, new collaboration methods, new work structures. What I love about our culture is that we're never afraid to revisit and reevaluate our approach.
Shortly after joining as an eager 23-year-old, I got to participate in a brainstorming session that shaped Vibe's future. We revamped our mission, vision, and values, agreeing on five new core values: Empathy, Collaboration, Openness, Continuous Improvement, and Dependability. Together, we crafted mission and vision statements I truly believe in—ones that have guided my work ever since.
As we celebrated the company’s second birthday, we thought about how we wanted to market our marketing agency, and what kind of impact we wanted to make on our community. Then we created an action plan to do it.
I’m grateful to have been given a seat at the table and the opportunity to help rewrite Vibe’s purpose. We are a team driven by our desire to help small businesses and nonprofits succeed, and I’m so glad we’ve been able to do just that.
My own role at Vibe has evolved as the company and I have grown together. I’ve had four different job titles, some of which were created just for me! Erica has a talent for recognizing potential and creating spaces where people can excel, and a management style that nurtures both personal and professional development.
In my current role overseeing Google Ads Strategy for our clients, I've come full circle—Google Ads led me to Vibe, and now I get to help our clients get discovered by the right people too.
Speaking of finding the right people… what makes the past four years so special is definitely the people! You could say a lot has changed with new offices, new teammates, and new clients, but our foundation of kindness and collaboration has remained constant.
Each team member brings their unique personality to the lunch table, yet we all embody those values we identified together in 2021. And this extends to our client relationships, where we partner with organizations who share our values and contribute positively to our community.
As we celebrate five years as a company, I'm celebrating four years of personal growth, meaningful work, and connections that go far beyond the traditional agency-client relationship.
To borrow from my client, my time at Vibe has shown me how much is possible when you dream courageously, uplift and inspire others, and grow together. To everyone who has been part of this 5 year journey—our team, our clients, our community—thank you for being here and believing in us!
