Meet Kama
Kama was born in New York, the middle kid of three (which basically means she’s an experienced mediator). She’s even-keeled. And, if author Gretchin Rubin were to meet her, she’d totally categorize Kama as a “Questioner”.
For some unknown reason, “Transformation” isn’t Kama’s middle name. But it should be. She’s a passionate change-artist that loves nothing more than to take something and make it better. Basically that means she can’t walk into the credit union without analyzing their various signs–mentally toying with what could be made more attractive.
Maybe her “transformation” theme came from the 40 different moves her family made before she turned 18. Or maybe it came from the family’s artistic genes… but none-the-less, it’s there and there to stay.
What’s distinctively interesting about Kama though is that she has an uncanny ability to get a real sense for who someone (or some business is) in very short order. This allows her to create transformations that beautifully bring out the distinctive (selling) features of her clients, without all the hassle that most agencies require.
She’s has been designing and working marketing strategies since the mid 1990’s. After an adventurous overseas administrative appointment with a humanitarian organization to Zambia and El Salvador (where that ability to get to the root of things came to good use), she and her husband, Trevor (who you’ll meet further down the page here), along with their first two little kiddos, returned home and started an online business. By 2008, they were making their entire income in the online space–and mostly loving the rollercoaster independence.
Three more kiddos joined the family, all spaced out (thankfully). A few pets did too (not as evenly spaced, but reportedly easier to raise). Eventually, the whole big family settled in Central Oregon and now can’t imagine living anywhere else, except possibly Hawaii.
As a design strategist, Kama has an unusual background of personally designing and developing over 700 websites for the family’s own internet marketing business portfolio. Only after doing that did she and Trevor open Smitten’s doors (formerly known as Peppermint) to the public. She says it’s actually way more enjoyable to design and strategize for other people…
She and her hubby earned a substantial living from internet marketing during the time when the internet bubble was bursting. (Nope, she never saw the bubble, just in case you were wondering. And yes, everyone said she and Trevor probably couldn’t make much money online.) She cultivated a tremendous amount of internet marketing and branding know-how during that time. Rather than keeping all that undercover, she now uses it in her design, strategy, and transformation work for her clients.
Being open and honest is the foundation of her work ethic, pervading everything she does for her clients (a.k.a friends, because she doesn’t work with a client who she doesn’t grow to appreciate as a friend as well.)
Interestingly, Kama has worked alongside the founder/owner of one of the first SEO agencies in the world (which is still in operation working with big-name companies such as Honda, Nestle, Acura, Penske, World Vision, etc.) doing web design for some of his projects. In addition, she’s done project management and web design for a highly successful social media expert out of the UK (who’s now traveling the world).
Kama’s project list includes clients who are investment bankers, entrepreneurs, a motivational speaker, interior designers, start-ups, a contemporary architect, medical and dental professionals, manufacturing companies, established businesses, new businesses, a custom home builder, marketing agencies, even other web design agencies…and possibly you.
And importantly, her favorite foods list includes ice cream (the yummy kind like at Bonta Gelato in Bend, Oregon). It also includes pizza, even though she’s also taken with ethnic foods like Indian and Thai. It totally depends on the day. Her oldest girls are such fantastic cooks, she prefers home-cooked food almost all the time.
While Kama has been said by others to have an exceptional design talent little-found inside the world of website designers, it’s possible that her greatest gift is in stepping into the shoes of her clients and creating results for them that don’t require tremendous input on their part. To her, there’s little better than seeing her clients (and her human kids) become their own success stories in a larger way.
