Partner Profile: MB, Anne + Karen of kor group

MB Jarosik, Anne Calahan and Karen Dendy Smith of kor group, a creative agency in Boston, Massachusetts.

As media planners and buyers, we rely upon partnerships with media vendors, graphic designers, web developers, copywriters, SEO specialists, and creative agencies. It takes a team-based approach to see our strategy come to fruition in the form of a thoughtful, professionally-executed advertising campaign. And so, from time to time, we like to profile our partners. Today, we’d like to introduce you to MB Jarosik, Anne Callahan and Karen Dendy Smith of kor group.

Tell us a bit about kor group. What solutions do you provide to your clients?

We are a brand strategy, design, and web firm. We create voice, visual, and marketing communications for organizations. We are experts in leading the right team to provide the strategy and communications for branding programs–we are Brand Orchestrators.

How did you get into this line of work?

The three founding partners, Anne, Karen, and MB, all have various design degrees and worked as visual designers for ten years before starting kor group. We naturally fell into the education market because two of the partners held positions in the communications and marketing departments at BU, BC, and Suffolk. We understand colleges and universities from the inside out. We also work with a lot of professional service based companies, real estate developers, architects, construction firms, and engineers. Much of this work comes in part due to a partner’s previous experience working internally at two of Boston’s most prestigious architectural firms.

What inspires you about what you do?

We are inspired by solving communications problems in a thoughtful, memorable, and engaging way that delivers the results our clients are seeking. It is so satisfying to get in to the mindset of the targeted audience to solve problems through visual and written work. There is nothing more stimulating than collaborating with our team of designers, writers, planners, videographers, and photographers. It keeps us fresh and always learning.

Help us get to know you a bit better. How do you spend your time outside of work? Have you had any unique life experiences that our readers might find interesting or unexpected that you’d be willing to share with us?

Anne is a painter, art collector, and mentor to first-generation high school students. She is passionate about nonprofit organizations and has extensive experience in fundraising and capital campaigns. A featured speaker at CASE, AMA, and AFP, she is a member of the Women’s Business CEO Forum at The Commonwealth Institute. Anne also serves on the board of Stop Handgun Violence.

Karen is both a student and teacher of qigong, an ancient Chinese practice that combines mindfulness, movement and breath. One of her greatest passions is traveling. It’s not about gathering stamps on her passport, but experiencing other cultures. She is adjunct faculty at UMass Dartmouth and a regular speaker at CASE, AIGA Boston, and the Small College Conference. Karen also serves on the advisory TCcouncil for The History Project.

MB is passionate about interior design, political talkshows, and passing stricter laws on gun safety. Her ten years in architectural firms gave her an appreciation and sensitivity for where people work, live and play. It also honed her collaboration skills working with architects and landscape architects to create environmental graphics that work with their buildings and landscapes for a seamless user experience. She is proudest of kor group’s pro bono work for Stop Handgun Violence, which is moving the dial and getting laws passed to make this a safer gun-abiding society. As a part of her work with Stop Handgun Violence, MB had the honor of brainstorming with President Obama’s team in DC.

How would you describe your partnership with Richardson Media Group?

Richardson Media Group fuels the creative we provide with dynamic media strategies that place our creative exactly where it needs to be at the right time that it needs to be seen. They are an extension of our team working from a virtual office. What we like about the partnership is that it doesn’t feel like a hand-off from department to department like that of a large agency. Instead, we facilitate discovery, brainstorming sessions and client meetings together. We see exactly what the team is doing, which makes for a more cohesive program.

Anne Richardson

Anne Richardson is the owner and media director of Richardson Media Group, an agency specializing in media planning and buying, advertising campaign management, and SEO.

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Anne outside the door of the Richardson Media Group office.

In addition to her role as owner and media director here at RMG, Anne authors the majority of our blog posts and hosts our BSuite podcast. Favorite topics for both platforms include the entrepreneurial journey, sustainability + social responsibility, media planning, media buying, and forming productive agency partnerships.