Why I Founded VVITCH Digital
Photo by Love Yrself Project
In August 2019, I attended a beloved retreat called Feminist Photo Vaycay (run by friend and VVITCH Marketing Coordinator, Carly Romeo) that was taking place in Salem, Massachusetts and was focused on photography, witchcraft, and feminism.
To say this was a transformative experience would be an understatement. At the time I was deep in my work as Editor and CEO of Catalyst Wedding Co., a wedding publication I have been a part of for more than five years, but I was not feeling totally at home in my work life.
I went into the retreat hoping to find a respite from the endless hours of work that always felt like they weren’t leading me where I wanted to go. Work in the wedding industry can be draining, especially when you’re working to change it.
I walked away from the trip relaxed and rejuvenated, but what really stayed with me after were the words of my new friend and fellow retreat attendee Seo Kelleher: “This isn’t the work you’re meant to do.”
Hustling was unsustainable for me and my mental health.
I spent a lot of time over the trip discussing my frustrations with Seo, and discussed how I wanted weddings to play a slightly smaller role in my life so I could focus on my career as a user experience designer. I wanted to try to work for myself, by myself, but years of hustling with Catalyst made me question whether I could really juggle all the aspects of a new freelance business.
I’d also been struggling for years with anxiety and depression and my self-esteem was low. I had tried freelancing a few times before, but I always overcommitted myself and undercharged. Seo encouraged me to give it one more try, with a focus on charging my worth. Taking care of myself the way I take care of others is not something that comes easy to me. But after the retreat, I went home, began a money jar spell, and started focusing on the things that were making me happy AND making me money.
Shortly after that retreat, I gained my first freelance client in years.
I wanted equal pay for equal work.
Through the rest of 2019 I slowly took on more freelance clients but I was still not sure I wanted to take on all the aspects of running a business by myself. For a brief period I was reapplying for corporate jobs, but each time things didn’t work out, I felt a small bit of relief.
I worked in corporate settings from 2005 through 2016, first as an intern at an architecture firm, then as a proofreader, and then as a user experience designer at two different companies.
When I began working as a user experience designer it was partially because of my design education and partially because my company didn’t want to hire someone with experience who might question the low salary they were offering. I was desperate for a chance to get back into design and accepted. Two years later, I had received a few raises and was asked to manage a few other designers.
I remember the day I was asked to approve an offer letter for a white man who would report directly to me and would be making $15k a year more than me. I asked if this would mean that I would also receive a raise, and was told no. A few weeks later I put in my notice and moved to a different company.
I wanted a work environment that was safe for marginalized folx.
While my new company had a lot of advantages over my old, I was quickly learning all corporate settings had their issues. In my eleven years of corporate experience, it’s hard to count all the things I witnessed that were sexist, racist, xenophobic, ableist, homophobic, transphobic...the list goes on.
While I know of so many stories that are not mine to share, I experienced sexism and homophobia first-hand many times, but a few stand out. The only other womxn and I were pulled from a weekly team meeting, told we asked too many questions. The man I shared a cubicle wall with led another employee in prayer and then discussed his conviction that homosexuals were going to hell, loudly and during office hours. I raised both occasions with a number of my peers at work. The general feedback I got was to not report anything to HR because the employees in question were senior to me.
As a white cis femme, who was not out at the time, I knew that what I experienced and heard paled in comparison to what other LGBTQ+ and BIPOC folx have experienced while working. I enjoyed the freedom that came with Catalyst and choosing WHO I worked with. That wasn’t something I wanted to give up again. Frankly I don’t think anyone should have to suffer through daily microaggressions to pay their bills, but that’s capitalism for you.
I missed having a team.
Once I settled on working for myself, I began diving in with new clients and quickly realized there were lots of tasks that me and my fellow business owners didn’t love doing. For some, it’s social media. For others, it’s SEO. Every solo entrepreneur has something they hate doing and wish they could outsource. More importantly, they wanted to be able to outsource it through one place and to people they knew they could trust.
I spent time chatting with Kate Schaefer, now the Brand & Marketing Strategist here at VVITCH, and she shared how she really enjoyed working with agencies because of the consistency and the team. Next thing I knew, Kate was telling me to start my own agency. Things came together quickly and I launched VVITCH in February 2020, just in time for the pandemic to rock everyone’s world.
Since then, we’ve been lucky enough to work with some phenomenal clients and have grown our team to more than 10 freelancers specializing in strategy, social media, web design, branding, copywriting, SEO, content strategy and more. Seeing this team grow has been a complete delight during what has also been such a stressful and grief-filled time.
I wanted to have fun with my work.
Starting VVITCH gave me an opportunity to create a workplace that I actually enjoyed, where I get to be unabashedly myself and not hide any pieces of who I am. Six months in, and I’m already in awe of the folx that I get to call my clients and teammates. I’ve looked for a lot of guidance along the way, but following my intuition and manifesting the business I really wanted to have is starting to pay off.
Meet the Author
Jen Siomacco, Founder and UX Designer
Jen has worked in technology, marketing, and publishing for ten years. After years as a UX designer in the corporate world, Jen put her skills to work as one of the owners of Catalyst Wedding Co. After seeing both the corporate and entrepreneurial world, Jen is committed to helping feminist small businesses grow into revolutionary brands.
