In four years, digital and branding agency Edelmade transformed from a nights-and-weekends side hustle into a Pendleton staple, with reputable global clients like Apple. However, the journey from daydream to full-time day job was anything but easy. According to Edelmade principal and co-founder Lauren Corso, 33, it all started as a leap of faith.
Corso, who worked in project management for General Electric, and her ad-agency husband, Michael Hauss, 32, joined forces in January 2016. “We were both itching to be masters of our own domain,” Corso said. “We always enjoyed the spaces we worked in, but felt strongly that if we were going to enjoy our work and enjoy the time we spend at work, we wanted to steer our own ship.”
After eight months working nights and weekends, Hauss left his job to pursue Edelmade full time. Eight months later, Corso jumped ship and joined him. Fast forward nearly four years and two offices later, Edelmade is now churning out creative branding and digital projects across varying industries — CPG, restaurants, manufacturing and technology, to name a few. Their clients range from brands like Tide and the aforementioned Apple, to local brands like Fifty West Brewery and The Arepa Place in OTR. The latter is where their major passion lies.
“It’s important to us that Cincinnati is a place where people want to grow up then stay,” Corso said. “For a while in the creative community, people wanted to get their education here then move to a bigger city, but we feel passionate that cool stuff should happen in Cincinnati. We want to be the catalyst for that.”
“It’s important to us that Cincinnati is a place where people want to grow up then stay."
Client selection is one way Edelmade is catalyzing creative change in Cincinnati. One of Corso’s favorite projects to date is Findlay Launch, a storefront accelerator program that provides early-stage food entrepreneurs with mentorship, education and nine months of storefront at Findlay Market. Edelmade’s role includes designing the spaces and running the branding portion of the program.
“This is going to allow more small business to get over that hurdle of needing a ton of money to invest in build-out,” Corso said. “We were super excited to be involved in any way, big or small, with this program.”
With strong ties to Cincinnati’s startup and creative community, one would think Corso and Hauss grew up in the Queen City. Surprisingly, though, these two are transplants. Corso, from Pittsburgh, and Hauss, from Columbus, fell in love with the city upon moving here for work. After launching Edelmade, expanding into their new Pendleton office and bringing on their first co-op this year — not to mention adopting Louie, Edelmade’s four-legged mascot — there’s no place this creative couple would rather be.
“The barriers to entry here are a lot lower than other big cities,” Corso said. “Financially, you can live and rent office space here, and people are just loyal in Cincinnati. The city also has this great energy right now. It’s an exciting time to start a business in Cincinnati.”
