Elemental Salt
Background
Elemental Salt
Dedicated to healing, transformation, and liberation, Shakti Rising’s programs cultivated whole person health, financial resilience, and leadership in women and their communities for 25 years. When I first attended one of their Salt programs in 2016 I immediately noticed that their branding and communications did not fully convey the beauty, impact, or magic of their methods. Fast forward to early 2022 when I was talking to founder Shannon Thompson about how we were using Salt skills to remain rooted and resilient during the pandemic. A long-awaited realization crystallized leading us to embark on the process of building a comprehensive Elemental Salt program and identity to convey its stunning, profound essence.
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The Work
My main objective with this project was to create an identity that embodied the power, energy, and personality of Salt’s uniquely feminine framework. I worked collaboratively with Shannon for the better part of 2022, feeling our way into the positioning and putting our intuition to work to pull through the themes, messaging, visual design, and strategic communications needed to reach the women reaching for Salt.
After conceptualizing the program’s main offerings as Caves & Waves (Salt of the Earth and Salt of the Sea, respectively), we developed a compelling digital portal that offers a unique “choose your own adventure” UX, calling the soul with playful curiosity, wonder, and creativity. To support program enrollment we created a graduated launch email campaign and then followed each class cohort with strategic doses of content designed to enrich the course material.
As the radical acts of deep transformation and liberation often demand, a great shift came once Elemental Salt was launched. Shannon and her team made the brave decision to close the chapter on Shakti the nonprofit to accelerate their ability to offer Salt more widely and nimbly.
Our work remains ongoing as we strategically position Elemental Salt as its own identity, sprinkling and seasoning the path as we go. I’m honored by the experience, deeply touched by the process, and legit gobsmacked by the best testimonial anyone has ever written for me (see below).
Sample Copy
pass the salt – soul medicine for somatic healing and elemental growth
For centuries women have been told our gifts, senses, and knowing are simply “too much”. No wonder, then, that so many of us have forgotten the path inward to draw strength from our very own depths.
We all need space, tools, and support to make our way through these difficult, changing times. Salt gives you the chance to be well-supported while immersed in your inner terrain. Discover with us the life-changing benefits of staying longer and moving in deeper
My Services
+ creative direction
+ Positioning
+ brand story
+ Website Copy
+ Messaging
+ launch email campaign
+ course email campaign
IN COLLABORATION WITH:
SayFinn: Design
Years:
2022-2023
TESTIMONIALS
Lovely Words
Sarah McGowan Dear is an artist and artisan, brilliant strategist, gifted writer, and business soothsayer. One of her – dare I say it – super powers is that she grasps complexity quickly then distills it to its truest, clearest essence with a real understanding of the intended audience. Sarah is the rabbit in the hat, the ace up your sleeve, the secret sauce that makes the mouth of your soul water. Literally.
For years I’ve tried, experimented and struggled with how to best communicate our work. We brought in ‘experts’ from various fields and perspectives who frankly over promised and under delivered. Over time it became demoralizing. I started to feel like I just sucked at marketing.
Enter Sarah. From the first it was a whole different deal. There was joyful curiosity. A strong creative, collaborative partnership. Meetings that are so fruitful, generative, provocative that I don’t want them to end. The materials we created are EVEN BETTER than I ever dreamt. All of that and a bag of chips.
Sarah helped create a synergized team, co-led a project in emergent design, kept us on target with what matters as well as our deadlines. The identity bundle we created helped me actually come to a greater understanding of the body of work I developed over the past two decades. This was the hugest, most unexpected gift.
If you want to grow in your craft while working with one of the best, Sarah is the real deal.
Shannon Thompson
Shakti Rising Founder & Salt Bearer
Images Courtesy of Elemental Salt