Dear Lea,
I am writing to you today in hopes of gaining both a position on the marketing team with Holy Yoga and a trade of services for the Holy Yoga Masters program, beginning on January 14th, 2019.
I want to start this letter with a brief note on my time becoming an instructor with Holy Yoga. When my career as a professional baker was still at its peak, I found myself drawn to yoga and seeking a place to take my instructor training. An acquaintance suggested Holy Yoga, and aside from some basic research, I never thought much else of it. Fast-forward a couple of years to receiving my Life Coach certification and the dream to use yoga and coaching to impact Christian women was placed on my heart. This was a path I knew God was calling me to walk and when the timing was His, He brought Holy Yoga back into my life. I signed up for the 225-hour training this past fall and as all of my best-laid plans to cover the finances failed, I placed my trust in God and still signed up. Taking the Holy Yoga training has been the most transformative experience of my life and I know God is going to use the modality of Yoga to further His kingdom.
I am a firm believer that each step leads to another, and that all acquired skills can find their usefulness across multiple platforms and through many exciting adventures. I can honestly say I never thought I’d find myself doing marketing in the manner I am now, but when I reflect on my life, it is easy to see how it is now an area I shine in.
When I look back at a varied career history, from retail management where exceeding daily sales goals was an added perk to visual merchandising and seeing a customer finally feel confident in their new pair of jeans, to a fellowship program with an anti-human trafficking non-profit that helped me define my personal brand as an individual passionate about open source activism, I can see how God was moving to equip me with the skills I would need to continually take one step further on the path He is revealing. I don’t know where this path will lead but I know where He leads I will follow.
The day I clearly heard God say, ‘You should quit your job’ regarding my position as Head Baker at a popular bakery, I slightly questioned His direction. The questioning ended when Noella, my current boss at WellCurated Creative Agency, offered me a job over Instagram just two days later. Her proposal was for a job at her creative marketing agency doing social media management and some copywriting for theWellCurated Creative Agency brand. A year and a half later I have become an integral part of the WellCurated Creative Agency team with a roster of happy clients who I have the honour to serve each day. As the staff copywriter forWellCurated Creative Agency, I have the incredible opportunity to work with a number of our clients to write the words that will bring their brand to life. Seamlessly transitioning from each unique client voice into the other is a skill I use for not only writing copy for blogs, course materials, websites and newsletters but also for social media management. While I started atWellCurated Creative Agency mostly for social media management, showcasing my draw to visually appealing aesthetics and an eye for strong brand cohesiveness, it is my copywriting abilities that have made me an indispensable employee. Clients trust that they can hand over projects they are passionate about to someone who genuinely cares for their work and will manifest their vision in ways more robust than they could have imagined.
Working one-on-one with clients to create full marketing strategies, including social media and newsletter campaigns, blogging, and continued brand awareness comes naturally to me and seeing the resulting success is always encouraging to both myself and the client. Being able to implement the same skills I use at WellCurated Creative Agency in a new position as Marketing and Communications Assistant at the bakery where I once held the title of Head Baker is a wonderful testament to a company that understands how skills can be transferable and growth within a company isn’t linear. I can see how this work in marketing strategy was influenced by my prior radio-broadcasting career as a Promotions Coordinator and how I was able to use these skills to develop my own personal brand.
What it comes down to is this; I believe God gives us each unique gifts and abilities as He prepares us to do His work in the world. I truly believe part of my purpose in life is to serve others and help them realize their God-given potential to be a catalyst for positive change in the world. With each opportunity, I can clearly see this thread woven in the tapestry of my life all starting with God as the one who wants to see more people find Him through how we, as Christ-followers, serve those we have the honour to work with. In the world of marketing, we have the opportunity to grow the brands we work with to their fullest potential. I believe in the mission of Holy Yoga to spread the gospel throughout the world through the modality of yoga and I believe my skills and passion for the mission will be an asset to seeing Holy Yoga continue on their path to building Christ-centered communities across the globe.
Please see the following resume, portfolio and references to support this letter.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Aelea Semenowich
PORTFOLIO
PROJECT:
“Hello Guide”
CLIENT:
Kevin Lowery Photography c/o WellCurated Creative Agency
NOTES:
Kevin Lowery is a wedding and engagement photographer based out of Georgia. His brand is inclusive, ensuring every person understands they have a place. His ‘Hello Guide’ is sent to all incoming inquiries. I met with Kevin over Zoom to discuss the content, then put it together from the notes of our meeting as well as content from his website. Guide design by our in-house designer.
FROM KEVIN:
When I was asked to write a reference for Aelea, I immediately thought to myself, “how can I possibly condense my fondness of and embarrassingly huge reliance on Aelea into one, concise reference letter?” Aelea’s presence transformed by business and took me from barely surviving to loving running a business.
When we first started working together, Aelea took the time to spend with me to get to know my voice, my point of view, and my mission. I learned that having a copywriter is so much more than just having someone who can write and sound like me. It’s about having someone who can be an extension of your brand and your mission in everything they write for you. Aelea’s versatility and dedication to the WHY and the mission behind what she writes is what gives her work its life and its usefulness. Beyond an incredible ability to write and convey, Aelea’s work ethic puts her ahead of all the others. I frequently will have a call with her, task her with creating something for me (usually with limited details), and I’m always amazed at the speed with which she’s able to whip up amazing work. And the more we work together, the more I find that her work sounds and looks just like mine.
I’m so lucky to have her and recommend her whole-heartedly for future opportunities! She has been a lifesaver for me!
-Kevin Lowery
PROJECT:
Blog Post – Time Saving Tools for Photographers
CLIENT:
Twyla Jones Photography c/o WellCurated Creative Agency
NOTES:
Twyla Jones is an emotive family photographer based in Florida. Her brand style is emotive and dramatic yet whimsical. When I describe her brand and brand voice, I often say it’s less like fairies dancing in a clearing at dawn and more wolves running through the wild forest at dusk—both create beautiful imagery but the later is more of the alchemy of her brand. Aside from writing course content, responding to interviews in her voice, website content and newsletters, writing blogs on photography specific topics require additional research on field-specific content as well as using her brand voice to speak to her following. The blog below required basic notes on programs as well as research on best practices. Blog posts are written then put into the backend of her Squarespace website with images, tags and keywords before being posted.
PROJECT:
Newsletter Campaign to promote Unbridled Chaos: A Complete Mentorship in Family Photography with Jayme Ford.
CLIENT:
Jayme Ford – The Paper Deer Photography c/o WellCurated Creative Agency
NOTES:
Jayme Ford is a family photographer out of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. To promote her photography mentorship, I put together a detailed marketing plan that included blogging, social media (including scheduling Live sessions and copy for Instagram stories), sales page and newsletter campaign including a freebie to grow the mailing list to promote the course, followed by a newsletter campaign once the course launched to convert those who had not yet registered. The links below take you through the newsletter campaign from the date registration opened until the date registration closed.
PROJECT:
Instagram Management including sourcing, creating and scheduling content.
CLIENT:
Yay!Brand c/o WellCurated Creative Agency
NOTES:
Yay!Brand is a lifestyle brand that features affirmations on mugs, journals and shirts. WellCurated Creative Agency started working with Maegen, the owner of Yay!Brand, before her company launched and have helped grow her brand from the beginning. From newsletters to product shoots and social media, building her company from the ground up has been a unique experience.
Instagram Management for Yay!Brand has included content creation including flat lay photography and sourcing quotes to send to our designer to create as branded graphics for her feed. It also includes writing engaging captions in line with the Yay!Brand brand voice, tracking hashtags, engagement and building a consistent feed to build brand trust.
PROJECT:
Blog Post – Yoga Teacher, Gospel Preacher
CLIENT:
Wander to Wonder Coaching, personal business
NOTES:
I write to process. When I returned home from my immersion week with Holy Yoga, I knew I needed to write out my experience to begin the processing work of this transformative week. Those in my cabin, then Brooke Boon, shared this blog post before additional staff remembers of Holy Yoga and other students who I had never met before. To know my experience and the words selected to express the experience resonated with so many was touching.
Creative writing is my favourite form of writing. Sharing stories that have the power to impact another is a gift and I use my words carefully to inspire, to breed authenticity amongst those who read and to create a community where each person feels valued and accepted.
REFERENCES
FROM NOELLA ANDRES
OWNER, WELLCURATED CREATIVE AGENCY
My name is Noella and I own WellCurated Creative Agency, a small marketing studio that helps women by empowering them to realize their business goals and dreams can become a reality with the right team of creative and talented women behind them cheering them on and providing the skills to curate and execute marketing strategies, branding and design projects, and online business management.
When I first decided to start my company, I knew that I would need to hire someone that had the same passion and love for helping others as I did. I also knew that I would need to hire someone with the ability to convey my mission better than I could. I wanted to find someone that was passionate, dedicated and could transform my voice (or lack thereof) into something meaningful, fun and captivating. I found Aelea on Instagram and was immediately drawn to her aesthetic as well as her ability to draw her reader in. After the first 5 minutes of meeting Aelea, I knew that I had found the right gal to move my company forward.
Aelea has been with WellCurated Creative Agency now for almost two years and I can very confidently say that my business would not be where it is at without her by my side. Since hiring Aelea, our Instagram feed has grown by 5000 followers, our website traffic has increased exponentially, our reputation locally has increased tenfold which, in turn, has brought so many new opportunities but most importantly, my vision of helping creative women find more freedom has come to life. Every single one of our clients loves Aelea and her ability to take on their brand voice. Our clients all come from a wide variety of backgrounds and Aelea is able to research on any topic and write about it with confidence and accuracy in a way that is really quite incredible.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Aelea for a position within your marketing team as the work she has done to grow WellCurated Creativey Agency leads me to believe she will be the perfect fit for your team.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I can be reached at noella@wellcurated.ca or 204-990-1178.
Warmly,
Noella Robinson Andres
Owner and Creative Director
WellCurated Creative Agency
FROM ASHLEY DEAN
CO-WORKER AT WELLCURATED CREATIVE AGENCY
To Whom it May Concern,
I have worked alongside Aelea this past year with WellCurated Creative Agency. she exuded the utmost patience and care while training me this past year as a social strategist. Aelea is optimistic, engaging and easy to get along with. She is a true joy to have on our team and has fostered many positive relationships within our industry and community.
Aelea gives great attention to detail for every project she works on. Her faith, strong work ethic, creativity, confidence, excellent communication, and organizational skills would truly be an asset to the Holy Yoga community.
If you would like to speak further about my experience working with Aelea, please email me at ashley@wellcurated.ca.
To connect with professional references, please contact:
Noella Andres – Owner, WellCurated Creative Agency
noella@wellcurated.ca
1-204-990-1178
Ashley Illchuk – Co-Owner, Jenna Rae Cakes
ashley@jennaraecakes.com
1-204-510-1110
Ashley – Co-Worker, WellCurated Creative Agency
ashley@wellcurated.ca
1-204-894-0509
CONTACT
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. I WOULD LOVE TO CONNECT TO DISCUSS FURTHER.
Aelea Semenowich
aelea@wandertowonder.ca
1-204-952-5676
880 Grosvenor Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3M 0N3