The Change Brand Strategy and Design

Between 1993 and 2004, Jerry worked as a brand strategist, creative director and writer for leading brands, including MTV, Banana Republic, DKNY, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Chrysler, Jeep, Sun Microsystems, Puma and Reebok. After a decade in this traditional advertising and branding world, Jerry, convinced that the truth is your best tool, took his talents and skills to the more sustainable and greener side of marketing where he could work with good-for-the-world brands as well as justice-seeking, environmental and world-changing organizations. When he’s not writing, he spends his time practicing yoga, biking around town, and speaking at Green festivals and conferences. He also has a past life as a director of TV commercials as one half of the duo, “nomad short subjects.”

Chelsea designs Change projects across all media platforms and is especially adept in developing overall graphic schemes that make brands actually look and feel like brands . She also has a lot to say about strategy. Born and raised in Northern Michigan, her love for the environment grew from playing in the beautiful outdoors there. Prior to The Change, Chelsea created designs for a range of mission-driven companies, including Greenbusiness.net, Brewing Hope, and Food For Thought. She has also worked in publishing as the senior graphic designer at Common Ground Magazine. Motivated by faith, she believes design has the power to raise consciousness, educate, and make changes in our society. And she became a designer to do just that. She is a co-founder of Furhaha Children, developed to support The Kilimanjaro Joy Foundation orphanage in Tanzania. Chelsea has also met with farmers and activists on Fair Trade delegations to East Timor and Mexico.  She frequently volunteers her services to support the thriving local, sustainable economy in her home town of Traverse City, Michigan (See some of the work here). She is astonishingly fast.

The whirlwind known as Sami Grover arrived in the United States from the UK on a Thursday, joined The Change by Sunday and got married by Friday. A sustainability journalist and environmental activist, Sami has 11 years of experience with environmental organizations. He has also worked in academic publishing, specializing in issues related to sustainability and is a regular contributor to Treehugger.com, the largest and most frequented green lifestyle website on the internet. He has been published in Permaculture Magazine and is currently learning the cool permacultural art of beekeeping. Sami works with our clients to develop sustainability programs and interfaces with the media on their behalf.

Tracy Kondraki wanted to use her business acumen and knowledge of numbers to make a difference instead of just money. She stepped over from the world of printing to applying her financial acumen as a force for good. Her commitment to changing the world along with her deep knowledge of print production and design makes her a perfect fit for The Change.
Besides numbers, her other passion are to rescue animals. She shares 10 acres with her husband and a multitude of rescued dogs, cats, goats, pigs (and even four fish tanks). Tracy’s dream is to one day open a full-fledged sanctuary where even more special creatures can go to live out their lives with loving companionship in safety and comfort. She lives just outside of Pittsboro, NC which has an enviably energetic grassroots movement focused on sustainability. Tracy is proud to be a part of it.

Seemingly born with an intuitive understanding of service to others and the planet, Tracey is technically the one who started this whole shebang by osmotically nudging Jerry into free market activism. After years as a nutrition specialist in the Nutrition department at Whole Foods, she became a yoga teacher and yoga therapist and opened Yoga Bliss Studio in Raleigh, NC. Tracey ran her studio as one giant living blog — continuously inviting students to use their yoga awareness in productive ways, sharing a Manifest Wall of world-changing news and events like Fair Trade Nights and Animal Rights Parties. In addition to running our own blog, taoofchange.com, Tracey communicates in the blogosphere on behalf of clients, does copyediting and consults on specific projects.