Hey there! You’ve made it to the Projects page of my website! The below is a collection of projects that I’ve worked on throughout my career as both a three-time entrepreneur and business owner, digital artist and creator.

Have questions about any of the below? Feel free to email me at cristin.f.grogan [at] gmail [dot] com.

DESKGLAM

DeskGlam was a subscription box business that I founded, created and launched, featuring monthly deliveries of fun and colorful office accessories to desks of ‘girl bosses’ around the country…and beyond (our furthest delivery was to New Zealand)!  Each month featured a set of 6 – 8 products targeted toward women who loved office accessories, between the ages of 18 – 55.

Having always been obsessed with desk accessories and office supplies, I desperately searched for an all-in-one desk kit that I could purchase that would have an assortment of items that were both fun and functional. Having come up short on my search, I (unknowingly) began a research and development phase and conceptualized a subscription box that provided exactly that. To (scrappily) test and gauge interest in the idea, I made an initial $15 investment to purchase a domain name and hosting to set up a website that featured a simple ‘coming soon’ landing page with a box to enter an email address to join a waiting list, as well as an Instagram and Facebook account. Putting my previous photography, Photoshop and digital marketing skills to work, I styled and photographed layouts of items that fit the product mix and defined and added the ‘creative’ (font, filters, signature brand colors, layout, ‘voice of the brand’, etc.). These pictures were then posted on Instagram to further test market interest in the idea. In a matter of three weeks, relying solely on social media marketing, I had collected over 100 emails for the initial launch of DeskGlam. The positive results from the test inspired me to bring the product to life.

What followed were about 8 weeks of sourcing products, A&B testing of the pre-launch website, building and designing the actual website with a checkout/payment gateway, social media marketing, blogger partnerships, e-commerce, prototyping and designing the boxes, budgeting and forecasting, selecting/negotiating/working with vendors and creating all graphic design, layout and photography that communicated the brand and products. Leading up to the launch of the first box, over 700 emails were collected with specific intent to join the ‘waiting list’ demonstrating serious consumer interest in purchasing.

The first box was created and in it’s first month, DeskGlam launched to about 150 individual customers/addresses. At it’s peak, DeskGlam reached over 300 subscriptions, in 10 different countries and boasted 5,000+ Instagram followers.  Each month’s box sold out for the 8 months the company was active.


GIRL ABOUT WESTCHESTER

Girl About Westchester | Cristin Grogan | Social Media

I built my first website at the young age of 13. I borrowed money from my mom and purchased ‘Little G 13’ (my nickname at the time) dot com from Register.com and built my first website with their instructions, where I was introduced to HTML (I remember falling in love with HTML because it was like a secret code-word language that no one else around me knew!). Soon, my appetite grew insatiable and I started building more and more websites on Yahoo’s GeoCities, updating content often, clicking around and making lots of mistakes with my code as I was learning…My love for all things ‘secret language’ still hasn’t changed and, though I know now that more people speak it, I continue to teach myself ‘secret’ codes like HTML5, SQL, PHP and more!

Fast forward many years later to when blogging was an actual hobby…even, in some cases, a career! Looking for a way to put my web-design skills to good practice and a great excuse to take pictures and work on my Photoshop skills (…and shop), Girl About Westchester was born. Girl About Westchester was my first ‘big girl’ blog and I aspired to join the ranks of fashion + beauty bloggers around the country (today known as ‘social media influencers’).  While GAW was similar to other blogs in it’s focus on fashion, beauty and daily style outfits, I decided that I would start small and cater my blog hyper-locally to the residents of Westchester, NY (I had just moved back to NY from Boston and wanted to explore all of the changes in my hometown!). Turns out, this move was ahead of the curve and is now a strategy that fashion + beauty bloggers employ regularly to quickly build up their brands! Doing this allowed me to quickly build an audience, make connections in the local area and gave me more focused content options. The purpose of the blog was to not only showcase my personal style + taste but as a way to introduce and connect the Westchester community to events, experiences and local businesses (including shops and restaurants). Girl About Westchester was the first fashion, style and beauty blog in Westchester, garnering the attention of Westchester Magazine and PR from various independent publications in the New York area and beyond. Additionally, it enabled me to create a platform where I was sought as a consultant to other bloggers and business owners who were looking to build their online brands.

CG SOCIAL MEDIA, LLC

CG Social Media Westchester Stamford Social Media Agency

After Girl About Westchester, I decided to take the leap and turn my ‘part-time’ consulting gig into my full-time career. In 2014, I launched my own LLC, CG Social Media, which focused on providing social and digital marketing solutions to local clients in Westchester.  Because I enjoy partnering and working with small businesses, I took my corporate digital marketing expertise and applied it to local Westchester clients to help promote brand awareness, drive business and establish brand reputation.