by Alyse Horn.
Caitlin Rae is a young entrepreneur who defines her line of business as “brand architecture”. She started her own consulting firm in 2014. By harnessing her individuality and creativity, she has turned it into a professional lifestyle. With experience gained through marketing, event planning and hospitality, Rae focuses her energy on helping business owners materialize their ideas.
“A lot of times people have a vision, but they’re not able to fully bring what’s in their brain to the table and it can be frustrating,” Rae says. “I use the skills I have gained from years in marketing, hospitality and event planning to help people bring their vision to life.”
Rae came to Philadelphia in 2010 to attend Temple University and study 19th century philosophy, but she didn’t feel like she was fulfilling her calling. “I hadn’t made any friends in school and felt like I was wasting my chance at an education with a bull major,” Rae says. “I ended up dropping out and redefining what education is to me.”
Through the grapevine and mutual friends, Rae found herself among similar minds that were focused on the same goals. She started attending different festivals that were focused on spiritual growth and wellbeing, and within that found a supportive community.
Rae says that attending these festivals is what urged her to join the production team and be part of creating and shaping other peoples experiences. Through her involvement, Rae became inspired at the do-acracy by the producers down to the participants.
“Being in that environment, I experienced people speaking their ideas and seeing their words turn into action,” she says.
All photos by David Savoie Photography
A truly inspiring moment in Rae’s life is when she watched her friends plant the seed of starting their own festival, and saw it grow into Freeform Arts Festival. This amazing experience inspired her, because “it showed that the possibilities are endless and if you’re willing to put in the work and give a shit, you can make it a reality.”
Rae also attended and helped produce Return To Roots. Being involved since day one as a volunteer, Rae assisted in producing the hooping and yoga festival in 2013. Both Freeform and R2R cater to many interests. At Freeform one can find themselves walking into workshops like Superman Yoga, create a duct tape corset, stepping into your power and “what’s your spirit animal.”
Contrastingly, Return to Roots brings in artisan vendors for one of a kind clothing, parasols, leather accouterment, and more. Rae also mentions that the flow art and yoga instructors the producers have teaching at the festival are renowned throughout the country and abroad.
The workshops are the skeleton of these festivals, but the soul is the camaraderie. Throughout the few years Rae has been attending these events, she has met a lot of amazing people. They have become her circle of friends and support system.
“The people I met all have incredible ideas, and we are able to bounce ideas off of each other,” Rae says. “It’s super cool because it isn’t pipe dreaming, a lot of the things we talk about, we do. Being a part these events can help shape what you want to do outside of that world.”
Rae has used these transformational events to guide her motivation in starting her consulting firm; KELE Consultants. Presently, she is juggling a number of different clients and helping them design new business models. She serves as a connecting link as to what has been missing for a myriad of clients and their businesses; ranging from the beauty and wellness industry to food and hospitality.
“One of the largest lessons I have learned throughout doing this is what I am worth, and to not be afraid to ask for it,” Rae says.
She has done a lot of work for free in her day to expose her talents and for networking purposes, but as she says, “that’s for the birds. Free work only makes sense if it makes me feel good, but if it isn’t making me feel good and it isn’t making me money, I wont be there.”
With this motto in mind, Rae doesn’t work for anyone she doesn’t want to work for. She is her own businesswoman, and she gained the confidence and drive though life-changing festivals and training that helped her morph into a well rounded, critically thinking, business savvy individual.
To get in touch with Rae, email her at caitlinkelemen@gmail.com
