ABOUT US
Our genesis as a company arose from higher education & the fine and performing arts. We believe that the values underlying the liberal arts - creativity, inquisitiveness, a willingness to learn and adopt new points of view - are the same values that can help nonprofits and businesses succeed.
Our hallmark is creative problem solving from a fresh perspective, combined with a thoughtful and nuanced approach to what makes you and your mission unique.
FOUNDER + PRINCIPAL
Dr. Katie Clark
A successful former academic and historian, Dr Clark left higher education in 2011 to become an entrepreneur in the arts and humanities. She is engaged in a number of public and civic service efforts both locally and internationally.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Principal, The Applied Humanities (2013-Present)
Ahmanson Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology (2009-2011)
DPhil, Oxford University, Corpus Christi College (2009)
Centenary Fellow, Royal Historical Society (2008-2009)
Teaching Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University (2007-2008)
M.St. in Historical Research, Oxford University, Faculty of Modern History (2006)
Marshall Scholar (2005)
Beinecke Scholar (2004)
B.A., Tulane University; Latin, French, History, and Medieval Studies (2005)
PUBLIC SERVICE & COMMUNITY EFFORTS
Elected Trustee, Altadena Library District Board, independent special district (2018-Present)
President’s Award, California Library Association (2020 Recipient)
President, Altadena Library District Board of Trustees (2019-2021)
Campaign Chair, Yes on Z for Altadena Libraries (November 2020)
Chair, National Women’s Political Caucus-Greater Pasadena Area (2020-2022)
Alumni Advisor, Run For Something (2018-Present)
Los Angeles Regional Selection Committee, Marshall Scholarships (2015-2021) and Los Angeles Committee Chair (2016-2021)
Member, UK Ambassador’s Advisory Council (2016-2021)
Nobody can be an expert at everything.
That’s why, in addition to our lean staff, we maintain an extensive network of outstanding and trusted specialists who parachute in on projects as needed. It keeps us current on the latest industry practices, and keeps your costs low.
Our experts cover a huge range of areas, including:
Paid search (including Google AdWords, Google nonprofit grants, and paid social media)
Videography
Photography
SEO, paid, and organic search
Social media strategy and emerging practices
Printed and promotional products/materials
Reputation management
Polling and data collection
Online community building
ABOUT OUR LOGO
Our logo is a playful visual metaphor for the layered, complex, and nuanced relationships among art, design, power, commerce, and communication, based on the famous Diana of Versailles.
The original Diana of Versailles (Fr: Diane chasserese) was a partially-restored Roman statue based on a (lost) Greek original, and was a gift from Pope Paul IV to Henry II of France in the mid-sixteenth century. But she was more than just a pretty present: the statue was a not-so-subtle comment on Henry’s open, lifelong relationship with his mistress Diane de Poitiers who was herself a tremendous patron of Renaissance art.
The Diane chasseresse popped up all over throughout the centuries: from the Jardin de la Reine at the château de Fontainbleau to the Louvre to Versailles and back again to the Louvre, where she can be found today in the Galerie des Caryatides that was designed around her. A bronze copy was made for Charles I of England (and now resides at Windsor Castle), and a miniature version even adorned the first-class lounge on the Titanic - although it now rests, of course, at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Apart from being a beautiful work of classical sculpture, Diane represents the ways in which power and authority seeks to self-legitimize through great art, specific and clever context, good messaging, and repetition.
Our version of Diane has turned her head in the opposite direction - looking forward, not back - and she’s sporting a pair of aviators, because she’s just that cool.