Conversations with Colleen Medlock

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Medlock.

Hi Colleen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.

At various points in my twenties, I experienced challenging health crises that left me hospitalized and tied to solutions from Western medicine. During these times, I was working in intense environments, often with a vigorous travel schedule. And like many people, I was also unknowingly recovering from traumas experienced in my childhood years, and for this I had no guidance.

Slowly but surely, into my thirties, I was increasingly looking for ways to not just manage but improve my own health; not just when I hit a wall and was in crisis, but through regular practices and treatments. In addition to working with the Western MD doctors who saved my life, I tried therapy, yoga, acupuncture, massage, coaching, and functional medicine, to name a few modalities. I was starting to understand the power of not just maintaining my own health but actually healing. Throughout this process, I kept seeing practitioners in need of support developing a brand and digital presence. They were so gifted at their work but did not have the skillset to translate their offerings to attract clients online. So I took my few decades of experience in politics, fundraising, sales, and marketing, as well as my experiences as a patient and a client, and went out on my own to offer branding and digital services to healing, health, and wellness brands. I wanted to support the growth of people and brands in service to healing from the roots.

To me, the central question in this work is: what is healing? For the answer, I look to the etymology of the word, which shows that it means to become sound or healthy again, coming from the Old English hælan “cure; save; make whole, sound and well,” from Proto-Germanic *hailjan, literally “to make whole,” from PIE *kailo- “whole” (taken from the Online Etymology Dictionary). So to me, healing is a return to wholeness or a re-centering of wholeness for the individual human and for the community. I see the work I do with clients as chance to do my part in creating a world where there are many healing, health, and wellness options for people that honor the rich, complex diversity of identities and experiences in humanity.

To me, people are not just individuals. Each person is also their own individual piece in our shared collective, humanity. So when it comes to healing, I believe we get well not just for the sake of our own wellness, or for wellness’ sake, but to illuminate what is possible by example and light the way for others to heal, and most importantly, so that we can become stable enough to be of service to the community, to do our bit to restore our collective humanity. Most of my clients are in service to this mission, be they addiction recovery professionals like The Advocacy Group or meditation teachers like Thomas Davis IV and Joslyn Hitter. It is an honor to get to work with them because their skills are so necessary for the community, and really, for humanity. As I see it, my role is to help my clients get clarity who they are serving so that we can build a brand and digital offerings to attract those clients.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I started out offering branding, sales, marketing, and web services. My goal was to set up structures and systems for my clients to use and then exit. A few years in, I realized I was casting too wide a net in two ways: 1) I most enjoyed working on branding and website design, and 2) people really only sought me out for branding or website design and were confused when I wouldn’t agree to become a sales consultant for then. 🙃 Now I typically start with a branding project, build a website for my clients, and then move into email and/or social media offerings after the website has launched. Once I get to know a client through this process, it makes an easy transition to ongoing digital content support. It’s so special for me to see my clients book their own clients and grow their businesses.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in branding & digital marketing, specifically web design, copywriting, and content for email and social media. Typically I will work with a client on their branding, build their website and then post site launch get asked to stay on to run their email and social.

What Are You Most Proud Of?
I have launched dozens of websites for clients who otherwise would not have had a web presence or would have had a web presence that did not fully or accurately represent who they are and what they offer clients now.

What Sets You Apart?
Project Management: I work one on one with my clients and manage the projects from A to Z, bring in graphic designers, photographers, and other creative services as required. I set clear timelines and drive the process, so my clients can focus on what they do best – their own practice – and understand the time commitment involved on their end. I have structured my processes to be respectful of the pressures on client’s busy schedules.

Copywriting: I have two decades of experience with copywriting, which I have found is the glue that bonds practitioners and their clients. Copy is what determines whether a potential client connects or not. Whether they know that this is the practitioner for them or not. They need someone who understands their unique needs and can clearly articulate the benefits offered in the services provided.

Investment: I keep client budgets in mind. My baseline rate is $3,000 per project, which is low within the scope of work I offer and my level of experience, and I always customize my offerings based on the specific needs of a client.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I like best about Los Angeles is the way community comes alive here. There are too many examples of this during the pandemic to list, but to name a few that moved me: the grassroots efforts to make masks and distribute them to the community, and get garment district workers back to work, socially distanced, people volunteering in the community at COVID testing sites or food pantries in spite of the risk, mutual aid networks, uprisings in defense of Black lives, people doing everything they can to support small businesses and local restaurants, people using their skills and getting involved in local advocacy campaigns to dismantle systemic racism and build a community of care, like Reform L.A. Jails or Frontline Wellness Network.

What I like least about Los Angeles is the disconnect I see between what Angelenos need and deserve, and what our local government largely delivers. For example, a couple of years ago I was attacked by a woman at a local park who was clearly suffering either from addiction or severe mental illness. Had there been a local emergency number to call to see that she was given services by mental health professionals, like mental health paramedic service, I would have called it. Sending her to jail would have only created additional problems. I still think about her, and I have no idea if she ever received the help she needed.

To me, old thinking and old practices – some of which can be traced to origins in the Roman Empire and Medieval Europe – continue to deliver and exacerbate solvable problems. We will continue to live with the problems we choose not to eradicate. Do we really want to live with standards from times, and cultures, where actual heads on spikes, public hangings, and debtors’ prisons were normal? I don’t. The trauma these practices unleashed on people in the past is still driving so much harm in our society today, and reinvesting in policies and programs driven by these “norms” continually fractures our communities.

My wish for our city is that we recruit, elect, and hold accountable a new generation of leaders who actually dismantle structural harms like racism and poverty, and deliver material gains through laws, policies, and programs. I want to live in a city like Reform L.A. Jails articulated, one that centers care and healing. I want Los Angeles to lead the world in studying, developing, and testing experimental pilot programs, like universal basic income, and grow the programs that work. May we dream a city big enough for our collective capacity and work to make that a reality.

Pricing:

• Branding Package starting at $3,000
• Monthly Retainer starting at $4,000 per month
• Copywriting starting at $500 per project

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: colleenmedlock.com
• Instagram: @colleenmedlock