First Light is a marketing and communications collective specializing in bringing your brand to life.
Like a seasoned crew navigating uncharted waters, we work alongside you to assess your needs, craft efficient creative solutions, and chart a course toward a clear and compelling direction, wherever you are on your journey.
With First Light at the helm, your strategy can set sail with purpose, precision, and the tools you need to embark on your course.
Why Us?
We're industry-agnostic
We’ve supported small businesses, media companies, nonprofits, start-ups, creative agencies, and political candidates. Our thorough, communicative approach works across industries, because understanding people — both internal teams and your audience — is at the core of what we do.
We build lasting infrastructure
We don’t want to be indispensable. We want to help you build a strong foundation, set up systems for you to do your best work, and leave you to it. We aim to make our offerings accessible and actionable for you and your teams.
We understand your unique challenges
First we’ll get to know you and what you do, then we’ll tailor our solutions to fit your needs. We have a flexible approach to scoping projects designed to work for a range of different organizations and processes.
Our Collaborators
We know good teams. Which is why we work with some of the most talented strategists, project managers, copywriters, and graphic designers. Our flexible model allows us to easily scale and build teams, so that you have the right people on your project to help your vision come to life — or, in many instances, helping you discover what your vision is.
Leanna has 18 years of experience organizing and motivating people to solve problems, she is well-versed in managing large projects that involve a lot of people, and enjoy facilitating communication with diverse groups of people and organizations. She brings her experience and energy to each new endeavor, whether it is communications or operations strategy, talent and team planning, or running a city council campaign.
Producer by way of graphic designer. Heather has spent her career bringing a designer's focus to every level of content production.
Keefer is your go-to website and brand identity design partner. With over 13 years of experience across print, digital, and exhibition design, Keefer now specializes in crafting bold, modern brand identities and building clean, conversion-driven websites in Webflow. From concept to launch, he brings clarity, creativity, and strategic thinking to every project.
Ansley has worked across a wide range of clients — she applies her deep knowledge of systems, processes and creative magic to deliver projects on time, on budget and to clients' delight. She is exceptionally organized and pragmatic, but also imaginative, with a strong sense of creative and how to bring it to life.
Serena Connelly is a “Swiss-Army Knife” Creative Leader, Storyteller and Branding expert who thrives on combining brand purpose with emerging technologies and honed leadership skills to solve business problems, launch global branding campaigns, and position clients as leaders in innovation.
Janice specializes in defining and elevating strong brands through collaborative partnerships with companies and organizations big and small. With experience across diverse industries, Janice bring strategic thinking and creative execution together to deliver effective, engaging solutions that make an impact.
Sam’s expertise is blending data design with communications and strategy, his projects reflect this multidisciplinary approach. He will continue working across cultures and data systems to bring actionable insights to clients across the world.
Rebecca is a multidisciplinary designer with a well-rounded background in art direction. With over a decade of experience at leading advertising agencies, she has worked across a diverse range of clients and projects. She brings a strategic approach to design, is highly organized, and thrives in collaborative environments.
ONSLOT is an award-winning nonfiction content studio. Led by Ben Patterson and Ryan Decker, our team creates genre-bending docu projects and powerful brand films. Our clients include iHeart Media, Novo Nordisk, Steve Madden, Condé Nast and NBCUniversal. ONSLOT’s films have been distributed by Netflix, Showtime and Peacock.
Over the past two decades, David has led creative teams, shaped design-driven strategies, and delivered tangible results across mobility, media, arts, and the public sector. He challenges assumptions, crafts compelling end-to-end experiences, and works closely with confident, driven people who want to push boundaries and transform organizational cultures.
After shooting music videos all around the world for artists like Interpol, Cold War Kids, The Hold Steady, and Chromeo as well as a season of The Business of Life for VICE, he entered the world of commercial filmmaking shooting ads for GE, Arm&Hammer, Design Within Reach, Johnnie Walker, Olay and many others.
Strong conceptual and writing abilities. Enthusiastic and insightful team member. Proven record for developing exceptional content across media. With an ear to the ground of the sphere that goes round, he steers spirits from fear to astound.