Emily Steele

CEO of Love Local

Graduation year: 2012

SJMC major: Public relations

What your business does: We help local business owners build an irresistible and profitable local brands. We offer 1:1 services, digital products, and an online course to grow their business using tools like email marketing, social media, and relationship-building strategies.

What inspired you to start your business: I had grown a handful of my own local brands with a lot of success (POP UP YOGA DSM + FemCity Des Moines as two examples) and was using strategies I wasn’t seeing anyone else teach or offer as a service to local brands. So I packaged up my offers to sell and then decided to make a bigger impact by offering courses so more people could have access to these strategies.

How are you using what you learned in the SJMC in your job? I think about building my PR Campaign with Dr. Bruhn and all the pieces that went into it. I pull all of those pieces into how I support my clients + community, especially setting objectives, strategies, and tactics. I pull knowledge from my PR classes and writing a press release and how important Drake instilled the idea that “it’s not what you know it’s who you know” and continuing to stay in touch with the Drake community.