Hi, everyone! Avenue is a B Corp and 1% for the Planet digital and social media agency that drives real impact for nonprofits and purpose-driven organizations. Earlier this year, we launched our own nonprofit arm, Avenue Foundation, to keep building on our mission of using business as a force for good.

>What makes your business unique?
Relationships are our foundation within our team, with our clients and with our partners. This focus has built an unshakeable culture of trust, purpose, win-win outcomes and innovation at Avenue. This enables and drives us to engage deeply with clients, their industries and new innovations in AI, digital and social media. The result is solutions that meet our clients where they are and deliver creative, unique and measurable impact and results.

>Over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have been redefining what “the office” means. For some, that office now lives entirely online. Why did you decide to go remote?

We’ve always been digital-first, but the pandemic gave us the push to fully embrace remote work and give our team more flexibility and personal agency. This has significantly influenced our ability to both extend and earn trust, building a much stronger culture and commitment to the company and our clients over time.

At the same time, we’ve stayed intentional about meeting in person for strategy sessions, team outings, retreats, client events, shared meals, volunteer work, celebrating milestones and other opportunities to connect face-to-face. We haven’t lost any of the spirit of “around the water cooler” moments, while also gaining autonomy and higher trust. It’s a balance, though, and our culture must continually and consistently support and nurture both. This pivot has directly helped to intentionally build our culture, which has resulted in consistent innovation of our services and elevated client outcomes.

> How do you create culture and connection in a virtual world?
Flexibility and autonomy are big benefits of working virtually, but relationships always come first at Avenue. We make time for both structured and spontaneous in-person gatherings, alongside daily touchpoints through Zoom, Slack and text. We focus on knowing each other beyond surface-level details, what motivates, inspires and challenges each of us, and we lead by example in sharing openly with each other. Over the years, we’ve prioritized team trainings, annual and quarterly all company offsite strategic planning retreats, and a cadence of monthly, weekly and digital check-ins that have only deepened that culture of trust, connection and vulnerability.


>What are some challenges you experience for teams across different cities, states and/or time zones?
Honestly, this hasn’t been a major challenge for us. Early on, we had a team member who worked remotely from Thailand for a month and then another team member who worked remotely from Italy for three months, and those experiences helped us shape the plans and policies we still use today. Since then, nearly every team member has worked from different cities, states or countries at some point in their tenure (including another team member who recently worked remotely from Nepal while visiting family!). When one of our Portland-based team members made a permanent move to Austin, Texas, we created a plan to keep them connected, including flying them in for quarterly planning sessions and in-person gatherings. These experiences have helped us stay nimble and creative in how we work together. And like I mentioned above, it’s been all about extending trust to earn and receive trust, paired with accountability for us. That has helped us build a solid foundation for working remotely across different locations and time zones at Avenue.


>Where are you allocating the budget that was once for a traditional office space?
I’m not sure how creative this is, but the dollars were redirected right back to our people and our community impact! This came in the form of compensation growth, bonuses and increased resources for giving, grants and partnerships. Investing in our people fuels the cycle of belonging and growth, which in turn supports greater client engagement, innovation and results.

—
Anna joined EO Portland in 2023. Interested in joining a community of business founders? This could be your year! Learn more.