Business with Purpose Podcast EP 122: Kassia Binkowski, One K Creative

Business with Purpose Podcast EP 122: Kassia Binkowski, One K Creative

I love meeting people who see a need and they fill it. They see an area that they can specialize in or an area that is underserved in this world and they just do it. They don’t make excuses, they don’t come up with reasons why it won’t work, they just go for it. They find solutions, not excuses. They make a way instead of just saying that it can’t be done. My guest today saw a need to elevate the voices of social impact companies and decided to fill it. My guest this week is Kassia Binkowski, the founder of One K Creative, a full-service studio that works to tell a story for companies and social impact brands that have a social change component.

A CIRCUITOUS ROUTE

Kassia grew up in a huge and supportive family in the midwest. She had traveled a lot domestically as a child, but not much internationally. When she had the opportunity to travel to East Africa, her eyes were thrown wide open to the reality of poverty. This was her first exposure to social injustice on a personal, intimate level, and it led her to delving into the world of public health. Kassia wanted to look at the community systems and the social systems that were influencing health outcomes. She got her Master’s in Public Health and spent years working with the maternal a child health space. When she and her husband decided to move from Seattle, Washington (the Public Health mecca of the United States) to Boulder, Colorado (where they knew they wanted to be and raise a family, but a public health desert), Kassia knew she had to get creative. She was hired as a communications director for a non-profit that was doing education work in Guatemala. Kassia had never done communications and marketing on a professional level, but the non-profit trusted her cultural knowledge and background so much that the door opened for her. She loved the work she was doing! Kassia flourished and began getting inquiries from other organizations about her design work. She began to realize that there was space for a studio that exclusively focused on social impact organizations.

THE VISION

One K Creative was born as a result. One K Creative works with clients who have a social or environmental mission, regardless of whether they are for-profit, non-profit, social-responsibility, etc. It simply has to be a cause that their team cares about. One K Creative produces the content that drives these organization’s audiences towards action. While they started out primarily doing writing and graphic design, their services have now expanded to include photography and film. They originally were called One Thousand Design – a nod to the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Kassia always wanted to build a creative studio that was bigger than herself, and she has wildly succeeded.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Maybe it is a photo or an audio-clip in an email. Maybe it is a film that gives you a glance at production in a completely different country. Finding connection–that is exactly what Kassia and One K Creative find so motivating. They seek to help audiences empathize with a cause whether or not they have had a direct connection to it. It is both a challenge and One K Creative’s storytelling sweet spot.

About Kassia, founder of One K Creative:

Kassia Binkowski grew up in Madison, WI and traveled her way around the world to Boulder, CO which she now calls home. Nestled against the Rocky Mountains, Kassia supports innovative organizations from Colorado to Kathmandu tell stories of social change. Kassia is an eternal optimist, backroad wanderer, and founder of One K Creative.

CONNECT WITH KASSIA

Join my Purchase with Purpose Facebook group and let’s continue the conversation! https://www.facebook.com/groups/purchasewithpurpose/

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