Yvette Adams - Director

Specialty Areas: Strategy, Marketing, Websites, PR, Event Management, Social Media, Webinars, Business Awards & Tender Submissions

From Big Ben to the Big Pineapple, Yvette has led an exciting career as a freelance writer, speaker, author, PR/marketing consultant, editor, events manager and mother of two.

Yvette was born on the fortunate cusp of Generation X & Y into a techie family which at any one time had several computers littered about the house. She started her first business at the age of 17 – a newspaper – which was bought out by an American entrepreneur after its first issue. She created her second business and first e-commerce site in 2002 – an online tee-shirt business.

Within one month of launching she received a Government Grant and won a website award. In 2006 she sold the global business and concentrated on launching The Creative Collective. An international freelance writer of many years and a self-published author (see www.morethanmeetstheeye.co.nz), she has been the online content editor of a massive player in the UK magazine market (http://www.tntmagazine.com), and has consulted numerous businesses in New Zealand, the UK and Australia on their online strategies and built many websites.

She has won numerous business awards including the Commonwealth Bank Business Owner of the Year Award at the Telstra Business Womens Awards Queensland 2010 against a field of 4200. She is an experienced and inspiring speaker who shares her message with passion and enthusiasm and is available for public speaking engagements.

She is regularly called on by the media as a spokesperson and for commentary, is involved in a number of industry reference groups and a member of several professional associations.

Katrina Lees - Newcastle Franchisee

Specialty Areas: Graphic Design, PR, Websites, Marketing, Copy-writing

A real creative genius, Katrina has the rare ability to balance the left and right side of her brain! Her passion for design and visual culture is matched by her savvy business and marketing enthusiasm.

Katrina completed her her design and communication degree at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2007 but has been working in design and marketing for the past 5 years.

Over the course of her studies, Katrina balanced a hectic schedule of study, freelance/contract work as well as an exciting job within the property industry.

She brings with her to The Creative Collective exceptional knowledge of property and real estate as well as communication and PR experience from a range of campaigns including artist exhibition launches, event launches, and strategic campaign planning.

Her PR and marketing background also gives her an edge on graphic design. With design projects ranging from corporate branding and imaging to packaging and graphic art.

Katrina is proud to offer her creative services as part of The Creative Collective team.

Glenn Paton - Account manager

Specialty Areas: Project Management, Estimating, Client services

Glenn graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor in Business and grew up in several locations around the world, in a family immersed in business.

His worldliness and keen business sense led to his appointment as a part time Sales and Marketing Executive for The Creative Collective and later a promotion to account manager. In this high responsibility role Glenn liaises with a wide range of prospective clients by discussing their needs in detail, raising estimates and upon conversion coordinating numerous projects at any one time, carefully ensuring they are completed on time, on budget and most importantly, to client satisfaction.

His strong abilities as an effective communicator coupled with his knowledge of business principals have enabled him to become a key component in the company’s reporting processes.

Jag Quimby - Designer/IT SUPPORT

Specialty Areas: Graphic Design, Web Development, IT support, Social Media, Webinars, Trends, Technology

Jag is your typical Gen Z - highly connected and lifelong experience with communications and media technologies such as the World Wide Web, instant messaging, text messaging, MP3 players, mobile phones and YouTube.

Jag runs his life on his iPhone, is a multi-tasking maven given he usually has an ear plugged in to one of his favourite downloaded radio or TV shows from America while he ticks off his task list, and is our main ‘go to guy’ when it comes to researching technical possibilities for ourselves and clients and trouble-shooting IT related issues. At the same time however he has the ability to interact with human beings, showing great empathy and patience for those less technical than him.

Jag has been involved in excess of 100 webinars as a facilitator for a variety of organisations including AusIndustry, DEEDI, the Broadband Today Alliance and internally for

The Creative Collective and is highly experienced in providing technical support to participants as required.

Since joining The Creative Collective at the start of 2010, Jag has gone on to complete a traineeship, graduating with the Certificate IV in IT (Multimedia) and in the process being recognised as a finalist in the Bob Marshmann Trainee of the Year Category at the Queensland Training Awards 2011.

Jag is now a valued and versatile member of our team responsible for everything from administrating client support requests, web development and graphic design, facilitating webinars, trouble-shooting technical issues, and assisting other personnel on a variety of projects.

In his down time he's a massive Wrestling and MMA fan.

Penny Boyer - Accounts/ADMINISTRATION Manager

Specialty Areas: Accounts, domain purchases and renewals, hosting

Penny has an extensive background in administration and accounts in both New Zealand and Australia in various industries. These include stints in the health industry, working for Government departments, media, and more recently for an accounting and consultancy practice on the Sunshine Coast.

She thoroughly enjoys client interaction and assisting both prospective and current clients with any queries or problems that may arise. She also manages all the website hosting, domains, uploads material and makes any changes requested by clients on their websites amongst a range of other things! Penny has always been passionate about sport and has represented various top teams which has led to her latest hobbies, sports photography.

Zoe - Social Media Specialist

Specialty Areas: Social media, social media strategy, social media tools, social media training, Facebook & Linkedin PPC campaigns

Zoe Wyatt is a social media marketing specialist, speaker, trainer, business mentor and internet entrepreneur, operating multiple businesses from her laptop while travelling the world.

A marine biologist by trade, Zoe spent over 10 years working as an environmental consultant and strategic planner with Government agencies before starting her first home based business in the health and wellness industry in 2003 to allow for more flexibility to be mum to her family of five.

Having grown up in a family business, Zoe excelled at being her own boss and quickly advanced to a leadership/training role for a product supply company in Australia and New Zealand. With a hunger for knowledge and a drive to grow her business while still being a full time Mum, Zoe started marketing through social media in early 2008.

As an 'early adopter' of this technology it wasn't long before other companies were seeking her out to structure, manage and train their teams. This lead to the creation of a training program and community website, which quickly attracted clients from around the world.

As a result she was selected to attend the "10 for 10" internet marketing training intensive in New York and is returning to America for social media and internet marketing awards and training this month. A regular contributing author and speaker on social media marketing and building a business online, Zoe's enthusiasm for teaching and empowering entrepreneurs to embrace new technology in their marketing, shines through in her live presentations.

With a Twitter following in excess of 40 000, over 50,000 views of her training videos on YouTube, thousands of friends and 'fans' on Facebook and LinkedIn, combined with regular webinars to global audiences of top internet marketers and entrepreneurs, Zoe has become known as the "Social Media Go-To Girl" for savvy business owners wanting to learn how to get started on, and ride the social media wave.

Karen - SEO & PPC Specialist 

Specialty Areas: Search engine optimisation, pay per click, online strategy, online research

Karen has a varied background across industries - hospitality; tourism & accommodation; manager of a popular national magazine; and working as a SEO/PPC account manager for a top Sydney agency.

As the SEO & PPC Specialist for The Creative Collective, Karen draws on her qualifications as a recognised Yahoo Search Ambassador & Google AdWords Professional - including advanced knowledge of Google Analytics. She particularly excels at SEO (search engine optimisation) and pay per click.

Her broad range of experience has seen her successfully implement many successful strategies for clients' websites.

In addition to providing specialist advice and service to The Creative Collective’s clients, Karen has also presented at The Creative Collective event Web Wednesday presenting on 'Google AdWords' and 'Google The Search Engine'.

In 2010, she also worked as a Creative Collective trainer (both classroom and webinar training sessions) as part of The Creative Collective’s contract with AusIndustry for the SBO (Small Business Online) 6 month program, working with 100 small business owners in the Whitsundays, Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast regions. Participation in these sessions included creating and reviewing content & delivering supplied course content.

Jo - Designer

Specialty Areas: Graphic Design, Print, Branding, Retail Advertising, Press, Layouts

With several years of industry experience under her belt, Jo is proud to call herself a versatile graphic designer with the ability think creatively, aesthetically and strategically. While her current strengths and specialties lie in print-based media, branding, layouts and typography, she has recently started to delve into the realm of web design and photography. Her work is forever pushing boundaries through exploration and experimentation, while keeping within the constraints of the client’s needs and values.

After completing a Bachelor of Design (COFA, University of New South Wales) degree with high distinctions, she plunged herself into the world of corporate branding, retail advertising and pre-press before landing a prominent design role within one of Australia's foremost and reputable entertainment, hospitality, and tourism companies. During her time there, Jo worked across an array of high end renowned brands in the high out-put in-house design studio within the organisation, and has since proven her ability to multi-task, work under pressure and produce top quality work across various design mediums, from concept through to finished product.

In 2010, Jo took 6 months off to travel around Australia, whilst freelancing remotely on the side. Since her return, she has continued to freelance in design studios and agencies throughout Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra and has also launched her own design business. Feeling refreshed and inspired from her recent travels, Jo is hungry for design work that will challenge and keep her on her toes and is looking forward to bringing her talent and services to The Creative Collective.

Buck - Designer

Specialty Areas: Graphic Design, Flash, Web Design, Corporate Branding, Desktop Publishing, Pre Press

For 20 years Buck Rogers worked in the Australian Navy as a Combat Systems Manager where he created user interfaces for software development. During this time in the Navy’s Operational Design Group, he also designed interactive training packages using Flash, Power Point and Access database integration.

Following his Navy years, Buck has worked as a freelance website designer and graphics designer, designing templates for business logos, CMS websites and print media. Buck’s hobbies include t-shirt design, photography and cartooning. Since joining The Creative Collective in 2007 he is enjoying the challenge of providing designs with a difference.

Al - INTERNET MARKETING EVANGELIST

Specialty Areas: START-UPS, E-COMMERCE STRATEGY, BRAND DEVELOPMENT, ONLINE MARKETING (SEO, SEM, EMAIL & AFFILIATE), QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS & FINANCIAL MODELING

An industry pioneer and technical expert, Alastair has been at the forefront of online marketing since the late 90’s. He has an admirable track record launching, managing and consulting to hundreds of successful e-commerce businesses all over the world.

Alastair started his first company while studying business management and economics at university. Not satisfied with word-of-mouth traffic to the website, Alastair learned about pay-for-performance advertising. It was love at first sight. PPC became a passion that grew into all forms of digital marketing as well as both quantitative analysis and financial modelling for e-commerce businesses.

In 2002 Alastair moved to London where he established one of the UK’s first digital media agencies, managing accounts for many of the largest retail brands in Europe. He then became one of the first Google Adwords Professionals and Yahoo! Search Ambassadors, making contributions to Google’s new Quality Score algorithm and training Google and Yahoo! account executives.

Two years later, Alastair joined a UK start-up and has spent the past 8 years growing the business into a multinational group of companies - with hundreds of websites serving customers in over 20 countries and 10 languages. During this time Alastair lived in India for 3 years between 2005 and 2011 to build new offices and train designers, developers and marketing teams.

Over the years Alastair has also consulted to businesses in the US, Japan and Australia, at one point moving home to lead the launch of the largest dot com project in Australia’s history. He now spends an equal amount of time in Europe, Asia and Australia every year working on interesting projects armed with a laptop and Skype.

Dani - Designer

Specialty Areas: Graphic Design, Print, Branding, Layouts, Marketing collateral

Danielle has worked in the marketing, advertising, brand development and graphic design industries for almost two decades, and is skilled at delivering concepts that not only appeal to the target audience but also consistently exceed client expectations.

With her extensive knowledge in marketing and advertising, Danielle is able to look at the whole picture and not just the element of design. "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works!"

Danielle started her own design business on the Sunshine Coast in 2009 after having several hands on Marketing Coordinator and Management roles, which also heavily involved graphic design. It was a natural career progression.

Design keeps Danielle’s creative mind striving for more, keeping abreast of current graphic design trends and technologies and constantly expanding her knowledge and abilities.

Matt - Website Developer

Specialty Areas: HTML, CSS, Wordpress, Business Catalyst

He is a stickler for clean code and always loves a challenge.

Matthew graduated with a degree in Computing with Artificial Intelligence back in 2004 and has been working online ever since.

When he's not got his head in his MacBook, Matt enjoys catching up on the English Premier League and cheering on his beloved Bolton Wanderers F.C.