We make digital marketing easy—so you don’t have to manage all the pieces. Today’s digital landscape is complicated, fragmented and requires an array of skills. BootstrapVT blends old school marketing with new school technology. We know all the acronyms and the underlying tech services. Marketing has changed dramatically in the past 5 years—just look at your own business. No longer can you spend money on traditional media and expect customers to find you.
We’re Here to Help
National Experience — based in Vermont
Geoff Strawbridge | Founder/CEO
BootstrapVT’s CEO and Founder is Geoff Strawbridge. Geoff has spent the last 20+ years leading Marketing, Product Management, and Operations for entrepreneurial tech companies and venture-backed startups. Geoff has extensive marketing experience with Health, Wellness, Travel, Fitness, and CPG brands. He brings hands-on knowledge with advertising platforms, digital marketing tools, subscription businesses, mobile app development, content management even his very own homegrown ad server (ask him about it)!
He’s managed cross-functional teams his entire career including: product, engineering/tech, marketing, editorial, customer support, ad ops, and even some sales. If you want the fancy terms this includes: product management, product development, general management, customer operations, digital marketing, social media, content marketing, sales, account management, and business development.
Bernie Walenty | Digital Marketing & Content
Bernie has spent the last decade working for some of the leading tech and e-commerce companies throughout the Northeast including the National Hockey League, Rue Gilt Groupe, Drizly, and more. Bernie’s background in graphic design and experience in digital marketing allows her to bridge the gap between traditional marketing and modern storytelling through creative written and visual content development.
In addition to email marketing, design, content and strategy, Bernie also excels in project management and process development. During her time at RueLaLa, she worked alongside the Chief of Staff to build out the company’s first specialized Project Management team, successfully launching over 100 cross-functional marketing & PR programs on behalf of the brand and its clients. Bernie joined the BootstrapVT team in 2019 to help strengthen the content strategy, creative and project management services that we are able to offer our clients.
When she’s not working, you can find her sampling a local beer at one of Burlington’s many award-winning breweries or enjoying a day out on Lake Champlain.
Erika McCarthy | Digital Marketing & Search Engine Marketing Expert
Erika is the founder and owner of Measurement Has Company. She has worked in Paid Search and search engine marketing (SEM) for 18+ years. Erika has industry-leading experience with Silicon Valley agencies to Vermont-based companies.
Her approach to digital marketing is about defining clear goals, getting unstuck from the status quo, testing new ideas, and applying data-based decision-making. Her work has helped many clients scale their DTC e-commerce business such as Runamok Maple, TableLegs.com, Vermont Woods Studios, Otter Creek Awnings and many more.
In her free time, Erika can be found drinking Vermont craft beer, mixing craft cocktails, cooking up a storm and spending time with her husband Pete, daughter Aoife, and mutt Citra.
Erika Austin | Search, Analytics & Digital Marketing
Erika Austin has eleven years of e-commerce and digital marketing experience from one of Vermont’s fastest-growing tech companies. She has since launched a full-time gig specializing in e-commerce, inbound marketing, technical SEO, analytics and advertising.
Also known as a Shopify & CV3 partner, Google Ads, Facebook Ad Manager, Google Merchants Center, Google Business, Google Data Studio, Google Search Console, and a ScreamingFrog enthusiast. Erika aspires to be the ultimate webmaster.
When Erika is not geeking out in spreadsheets or an Airtable she can be found in a videogame, playing D&D, behind a drum kit, dancing, or with cats.
Brooke Hoyt | Operations Specialist | Virtual Assistant | Perpectual Helper
Brooke started BRAHVA in 2022 after realizing that her talented friends who were entrepreneurs needed some help with the back end of their businesses. She knew that if her talented, brilliant, totally capable friends struggled with everyday things like organization, data management, and customer service needs, that others most likely were as well!
With 15+ years in management, administrative, and operational positions within corporate-sized careers, Brooke has the organizational, tactical, and project management edge that so many businesses struggle to keep up with. From email management, copywriting and systems standardization, to helping you map out your goals long-term and creating customized task lists that have only ever lived in your head, Brooke adds an operations and administrative brain to the Bootstrap collective that we use with our clients regularly. She is also a top-notch hype woman and will always be the first to celebrate any wins with anyone, no matter how big or small!
When Brooke isn’t making a hard core color-coded spreadsheet or catching all tasks that her clients throw at her, she can usually be found hanging at her homestead in Central VT with her husband and two dogs, on the field hockey pitch, or knitting up a storm while watching endless documentaries of all kinds.
Marianna Nowacki | Data-Driven Marketing Automation & Email Marketing
Marianna Nowacki is the owner and founder of Moosehead Digital. She has 6+ years of hands-on email marketing, strategy, content and coding for data-driven businesses. Marianna has helped many clients with segmentation, automation, customer journeys, integrations, data integrity and CRM programs.
Her experience with all the various customer engagement and email marketing platforms (ie. HubSpot, Iterable, Braze, Pardot, MailChimp, Klaviyo, etc) have allowed her to support both small, medium and large enterprise clients.
From copywriting and coding (for proper rendering across all major email clients) to logistical implementation and strategy, Marianna’s goal is to send the right message at the right time to nurture leads throughout the sales funnel and increase conversions.
Sasha Weilbaker | SEO Content Writer & Email Marketing
With a B.A. in English from Bucknell University, Sasha started her career as a brand writer and journalist before realizing that words are only impactful if they’re found. Thus, she transitioned to search engine optimization, using words and nerding out on data to help small to medium sized businesses boost their online visibility and reach their target audiences effectively.
She’s worked full-time for outdoor industry companies including Title Nine and BUFF USA before starting going off on her own. She’s also a freelancer writer with bylines in Thrillist, Business Insider, and The Vegetarian Times. She’s particularly interested in the intersection of sustainability and materials.
When not running, cycling or backcountry skiing, Sasha can be found at sashaweilbaker.com.
Kaitlin Chylinski | Paid Social Media Marketing
Kaitlin Chylinski is a seasoned ecommerce and social media marketer at BootstrapVT. Kaitlin has spent the past 8 years helping clients with paid/organic social media and e-commerce marketing. Her knowledge of this vertical continues to help her plan and execute a variety of paid social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest…to name a few. Kaitlin oversees marketing spends ranging from $5,000-$200,000/month for a range of clients with different goals. She’s had roles as Director of Social Media to Managing Editor.
In her free time, Kaitlin loves to hit the beaches in Orange County, CA with her husband, daughter and a really good book. She is also known to spend her extra time in the kitchen baking her “famous” chocolate chip cookies.
Hanna Blankenship | Digital Marketing Associate
Hanna Blankenship is a student at Champlain College pursuing a double major in law and marketing. During her time at Champlain, she has taken courses ranging from Market Research to Consumer Behavior, giving her the foundational knowledge needed to succeed in the digital marketing world. Hanna has been able to utilize her classroom learning to solve real-world marketing problems through her role leading Champlain’s student-run PR firm, Maple Street Media, and marketing internships at Hunger Free Vermont and the Center for Urban Pedagogy.
Passionate about creative storytelling, Hanna has a particular interest in social media and content marketing. Through joining the BootstrapVT team as an intern in 2022, she has contributed to several client projects and helped increase Bootstrap’s personal social media presence. With a willingness and desire to learn and absorb new information every day, Hanna continues to grow her digital marketing skill set and confidence working in the industry.
In her free time, Hanna enjoys baking, yoga, exploring Burlington, and spending time with her dog, Winston.
The Bootstrap Collective
Who Is The Collective?
Collaboration is a core philosophy of BootstrapVT, which is why we have assembled an All-Star team that we have dubbed, The Bootstrap Collective. This flexible and ever-growing collection of on-call professionals allows us to provide a custom suite of solutions to match each individual client’s needs. Partnering with us gives you access to our collective which includes experts in SEO/SEM strategy, Copywriters, Graphic Designers, Web Developers and more.
Why BootstrapVT?
We believe in hard work and self-reliance.
We believe our team is entrepreneurial by nature and has an inexhaustible (and renewable) supply of creativity.
We believe there is innovation all around us, you just have to uncover it.
We believe the on-demand economy will continue to replace traditional full time Marketing Departments.
BootstrapVT provides consulting services for content marketing, search engine marketing, pay per click, seo, digital advertising, social media and traditional marketing operations. We save you time and money, allow you to get back to running your business. Small businesses, agencies, brands, publishers, platforms, B2C, B2B companies are all relevant for BootstrapVT’s services.