Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Flythe.
Hi Anne, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always had a creative curiosity that followed me into adulthood. Even in the super numerical or detail-heavy classes, I found a creative way to understand things. I drew concepts out, made things visual, and figured out how to make information make sense to me. That learning style eventually became part of how I approach marketing too. I LOVE the business side: the strategy, the analytics, the why behind something, but I also need the creative side of it.
Going into college, I knew I wanted to blend those two things, so I graduated from Christopher Newport University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, concentrating in Marketing, along with Leadership Studies.
Outside of school, I grew up watching both of my parents build successful businesses. My mother, a major dealer in Native American jewelry, and my father, the owner and manager of our award winning family tree farm. I think I absorbed a lot of that entrepreneurial spirit just by being around it. I helped wherever I could, especially with their digital presence, and I loved finding ways to make their businesses look online the way they actually felt in real life. I wanted people to see the amount of care and passion behind what they had built.
Throughout college, I also freelanced with small businesses, galleries, antique shops, and other local brands to figure out if this was really something I wanted to pursue. I had always had that entrepreneurial side to me, but I was surrounded by a lot of people who were very focused on the traditional corporate route and climbing that ladder. For some reason, that only made me want to prove to myself that I could build something of my own, know exactly who I was helping, and put everything I had into it.
That is really where Elevate Creative started.
I started quietly in April of 2025, right before graduation. I was making logos, building ideas, testing organization, and honestly just trying to see if this could become something real in this chapter of my life. The website went live in May, and I barely told anyone. I wanted to see if I could actually do it before making a big announcement. Even my own family found out from an Instagram post announcing the business.
I think that says a lot about how I started. I knew I could create something good, but I wanted to keep my head down and work until I felt successful.
By August, I had landed my first major client, and from there, I gained confidence, and the business really started to grow.
Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work with industries I never would have expected, and I’ve met some incredible people along the way. Now that I’ve built more of a social presence, I also make a real effort to promote businesses even when they aren’t my clients. I’ve lived in this community for 23 years, and helping local businesses means a lot to me because I’ve watched firsthand how much work it takes to build something from nothing.
Going forward, I want to keep growing Elevate Creative while keeping it personal. I want to remain the face of the business, and the one meeting with businesses and doing the designs. I’d love to expand more into Northern Virginia and Richmond, work with even more businesses, and keep building something that helps as many people as possible. The best part for me is seeing the impact. When someone tells me their traffic went up, more people came through the door, or they finally feel proud of how their business looks online, that makes me feel proud, and makes me feel like I have truly made it.
Just in saying my story out loud, I know I am exactly where my younger self dreamed I would be.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. I think one of the biggest lessons has been realizing that loving what you do does not automatically make running a business easier.
A lot of the struggles have come from learning how to balance the creative side with the business side. It is one thing to create something interesting, and another to price it, have to explain its value, set boundaries, manage timelines, answer clients, market yourself, and still have enough energy left to actually do the part I love.
I have also learned a lot about confidence. When you are building something yourself, it is really easy to second-guess every decision or compare yourself to people who have been doing it much longer. I have definitely had moments where I wondered if I was charging too much, too little, doing enough, growing fast enough, or even if I was qualified enough to be doing this at all. I think that is something a lot of young creatives struggle with. I can overcome that lack of confidence, but I believe that we are always right where we need to be in life, and everything is meant to happen. Make everything a learning experience.
Client relationships have probably taught me the most. Almost all of my clients have been amazing and have learned with me along the way, I am beyond thankful for everyone who trusts me with their businesses. However, there have also been situations that taught me the importance of contracts, communication, boundaries, and understanding that being accommodating does not mean saying yes to absolutely everything.
Another challenge has honestly been how personal the work feels. When your business is just you, your work, your ideas, and your name attached to everything, feedback can hit a little harder. You have to learn how to separate constructive criticism from letting one difficult interaction make you question everything.
But I think every uncomfortable moment has made me stronger, even beyond Elevate Creative. My processes are better, my contracts are better, I communicate more clearly, and I know much more now about the kind of clients and projects I want to take on.
It has definitely not been a perfectly smooth road, but I do think the bumps are needed to grow and succeed.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Elevate Creative is a marketing and creative firm that helps small businesses show up strategically, and consistently online.
I specialize in social media management, content creation, photography, branding, websites, campaign strategy, and just about everything in between. A lot of what I do is taking the stress of marketing or social media off of a business owner’s plate while still making sure their personality and voice never get lost. It is their business, and while my designs are important, it is still their business, their message to publicize.
I think what sets Elevate Creative apart is how personal it is. When someone hires me, they are working with me from start to finish. I am the one on the call, building the strategy, taking the photos, writing the captions, editing the videos, checking the analytics, and answering the text when they have a random idea at 9 PM. There is not a giant team passing the work around, so the vision stays consistent. I try to match your passion for your business in my work.
I also really believe strategy and creativity HAVE to work together. I do not want to post just because a business “needs a post today.” I want to know who we are talking to, what problem we are solving, and how that piece of content is actually going to help the business. That means a range of content. A polished photo, sometimes a funny Reel, sometimes an educational carousel, and sometimes just showing the face behind the brand.
I am probably most proud that Elevate Creative has grown while still feeling very local and personal to me. I work with businesses in so many different industries, but I make a real effort to understand each one instead of forcing everyone into the same marketing strategy. I also enjoy promoting local businesses even when they are not clients, because I have grown with the community of Fredericksburg, and I want to continue that growth.
At the end of the day, I want people to know that Elevate Creative is not about making something look pretty just for the sake of it. It is about making businesses feel confident in how they show up and connecting with the right people, and creating content that actually gets people through the door, onto the website, or ready to buy.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Canva and Google Calendar are genuinely my best friends. My friends laugh and call me a “Google Calendar warrior” because everything is color coded, categorized, and sorted out exactly how I like it. For content calendars, I usually use Excel or Google Sheets depending on the client, and I map out everything from the date and time to the platforms, caption, image, and any extra notes we need to remember. For logos and branding, I love bouncing between Adobe Illustrator and Canva. Illustrator gives me a little more freedom to really build something from scratch, and Canva helps me bring the full vision together in a way that my clients can understand a little easier.
Surprisingly, I probably study social media now more than ever. I follow a lot of larger creators who give advice specifically to social media managers, and it constantly helps me shift my perspective on both the business side and the creative side of what I do. Beyond all of that, I think experience has been my biggest resource. The places I travel, the people I talk to, and the situations I put myself in have taught me more than any book, podcast, or blog ever has. A lot of my best ideas come from simply paying attention to the world around me.
Pricing:
- Social Media Management: Starting at $350 a month
- Branding Packages: Starting at $1,000
- Websites: Starting at $3,500
- Creative Campaign Development: Starting at $850
- Photography: starting at $100
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elevatecreativeva.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatecreativeva/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Elevate-Creative-VA-61578608824439/
