About

I don’t know how you found your way to my little about page, but I can honestly say that I’m glad you’re here! The world of social media has been a part of my life personally for nearly 25 years starting with chat rooms on Yahoo and AIM (Rest In Peace!). Then came the world of Myspace, Hi5, Bebo, and others that we’ve all forgotten the names of by this point.

Finally, we hit the birth of Facebook and my 1st year of college at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Back then, the only way you could get through the gates of Facebook was with a .edu email address. And since summer of 2007, I have been obsessed with Facebook. I wound up leaving the UofA after 1 year, dropping out and becoming a flight attendant for American Airlines. After lots of soul searching I found my way back to school online and obtained my Associates in Visual Communication and a Bachelor’s in Web Development.

Ah, web development. That’s what I thought my piece of the digital world would consist of, but life has a funny way of getting in the way of our plans, right? Through twists and turns, I made my way to a marketing associate position for a luxury real estate firm in Chicago.

From there, I absorbed as much social media marketing education as I possibly could. Which led to a Director of Marketing position (before I was even finished with that web dev degree) with a company in the Loop of Chicago.

Again, more pivots and twists, and I started my own digital operations company, Nissen Media, where I focused on social media marketing for startups and hyperlocal small businesses. That company still exists to this day but has been renamed to RevStrides.

RevStrides (formerly Nissen Media) took a backseat for around several years while I honed my skills at Atomic Revenue. I had such immense joy working with that team and helping grow that business to more than $1M in annual revenue, serving as it’s Chief Revenue Officer, and a part owner. 

As anyone can tell you, the life of an entrepreneur is hard. It’s not for the feint of heart. I ultimately decided to leave Atomic Revenue in 2022 when my world had become consumed in an unhealthy way around the business. 

Now, I serve as a Strategic Services Consultant at Sprout Social, a social management management SaaS based out of Chicago. 

I get to use my lifelong marketing and social media skills to to provided strategic guidance and consulting to the world’s biggest enterprise companies. Since joining Sprout I’ve been able to work with notable brands like Cigna Healthcare, Square, University of Michigan, and PENN Entertainment. 

Along with being in a career and company I absolutely adore, I speak nationally to marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and digital enthusiasts who want to learn more about the world of digital marketing, social media, and marketing analytics.

So now you’ve gotten a deeper look into the making of me, Steph Hermanson. Of course, there’s more to know about my journey, what I do, and where I’m headed, but I think I’ll leave that for you to discover as we get to know each other.

Talk soon!