Yes, Experienced and Talented – but also Interesting, Eclectic, Creative, Driven, and Focused. Yes, all at the same time.
Strategy before tactics, always. Okay, why?
Short answer: Marketing guesswork is a waste of everyone’s time, talent, and money.
Long answer: A marketing strategy is more than things you could do; it’s your roadmap to success based on goals that matter and the best path to achieve them.
When we start with strategy (why does this goal matter and why is *X* the right effort to help achieve it?) rather than tactics (we need a brochure!), your marketing efforts are stronger and far more effective for reaching your business goals.
No matter your industry, company size, or challenge, we first work to understand your business, brand, industry and marketplace so we can help you build a strategy that makes sense for your goals before we talk tactics.
Mission and Values
We help clients discover the power in their story and how to use it to connect to their market.
What it’s like to work with us:
- We genuinely care about the history and vision of our clients.
- We operate with integrity.
- We believe in and practice strategy before tactics.
Our Team
Mandy Vavrinak
President
Fearless leader. Chief squirrel herder. She who signs the paychecks. Mandy Vavrinak goes by many names around the office, but none more so than ‘team leader.’ As founder of Crossroads and captain of the ship, Mandy helps clients capture and cast a vision, set strategic marketing plans, and see them through to completion with support from our talented team. She knows how to dig deep and find stories that matter to our clients, and to the world around them.
When she’s not managing people, projects, or plans, Mandy enjoys traveling, baking, reading, and time at home with her husband and children.
Gail Fritz
Director of Business Operations
Gail approaches business operations from a holistic point of view. She is in her groove when she is working five steps ahead of the team to build the operational infrastructure they need to serve our clients best. Gail thrives on developing a healthy work culture, championing our #CrossroadsCares and DEI efforts. Her professional experience and ability to generate and implement lasting solutions works seamlessly to support our team members doing great work for our clients.
When Gail is out of office, she enjoys her quiet time as well as close friends and adult children. Activities are often centered on supporting and celebrating efforts for various marginalized communities. Gail is an INTP to the core, and apparently so is Yoda.
Lynn Starnes
Director of Production Operations
Strategic production planning is a complex balancing act, and no one balances it better than our Director of Production Operations, Lynn Starnes. With her many years of experience in strategic marketing, communications, and staffing, Lynn brings to life the vision our clients have for their brand in ways that leverage our talented team best.
When Lynn isn’t balancing ‘who,’ ‘when,’ and ‘how,’ you can find her reading by the lake or playing with her dogs, Emma and Ella.
Meagan Duvall
Account Manager
With a cup of coffee (or three) at hand, Meagan Duvall’s mission is to find out each client’s “why” and turn their objectives into results-driven marketing strategies. Helping a client see their vision – perfectly tied to their mission and strategy – through to completion, with support from the Crossroads team, is what she does best.
When Meagan isn’t serving as Crossroads Cruise Director (for us AND our clients), she’s easy to find outside tending her flowers with her husband and son.
Jordan Ballard
Production Manager
Jordan Ballard-Kriegh is a powerhouse production manager and multi-talented copywriter for the Crossroads team. She is our external brain, responsible for helping our clients - and our team - stay on track and get projects done on time and on budget, every time. She also takes pride in turning client thoughts into powerful stories to meet their marketing goals.
Outside the office, she puts her passion for well-written, creative copy to work as both a self-published novelist and Colorectal Cancer Alliance Ally Author.
Courtney Starr
Process & Applications Administrator
Processes and applications keep our production work rolling and staying ahead of the ever-changing technology landscape is Courtney Starr’s superpower. Her years of experience in scalable systems and processes mean that no matter the process or application problem you bring to the table, she can find the right solution.
When she’s not lending a hand to her human coworkers, Courtney is busy tending her dog, cat, chicken, and rabbit coworkers on her urban farm.
Richard Brown
Senior Graphic Designer
Marketing specialist and graphic designer extraordinaire, Richard Brown thrives on producing creative concepts and collaborating with a team of like-minded professionals. His passion for drawing and eye for print and web design gives him a broad spectrum of expertise and talent to meet client needs and exceed their expectations.
Outside the office, Richard enjoys running with his friends, tending the plants in his apartment, and spending time with his family and girlfriend.
Jack Cotton
Graphic Designer
One of his hats may say ‘Garphic Designer,’ but his design skills speak for themselves. Jack Cotton is a talented graphic designer and illustrator whose love for drawing and designing comes through on every client project. His ability to think outside AND redefine the box delivers outstanding visuals to meet their mission every time.
When he’s not turning a client’s request into stunning graphics, Jack is out on the field playing kickball with his friends or enjoying an OSU football game.
Kyle Lester
Web Developer
Former freelancer turned full-time employee, Kyle Lester is our team’s front-end WordPress developer. He is our resident web visionary, who sees websites not just for what they are but what they can become. Never one to back down from a coding challenge, Kyle’s extensive coding, design, and layout experience – coupled with his passion for learning – delivers powerful websites perfectly tailored to our clients’ objectives.
When he’s not building and updating websites, Kyle spends his time woodworking and exterminating bugs of a different kind in his beautiful Bartlesville garden.
Adam Love
Videographer
Adam Love does it all. Music, animation, photography, and – most importantly – videography. He develops innovative video concepts and executing them in the field with help from our team. Light on his feet and flexible under tight deadlines, Adam can turn video projects around faster than you can say ‘quiet on set.’
When Adam isn’t following our clients (or us!) with a camera, he’s working on his personal passion projects from the comfort of his latest set.
Roxanne Roark
Digital Content Creator
Roxanne Roark is an accomplished, enthusiastic digital marketing professional with a background in social media. As a content creator, she enjoys researching and brainstorming new ways to help clients educate and/or entertain their customers as well as expand their audience. From social media posts to blogs, website descriptions and landing page copy, Roxanne is a bit of a digital unicorn with the ability to creatively craft a great messaging experience in a variety of media.