Meet the Founders
Hello, world! It’s Steph and Jess, co-founders and the executive team at Kismet. It’s no secret that we are both great friends and a great team, that is singularly focused on delivering excellent customer service and creating branding magic. But who are we really?
Steph Giera, CMO and Creative Director
Steph is a wife, mother of three incredibly beautiful kids, and the creative soul behind Kismet. As Creative Director, she makes good on her art history degree daily, bringing true creativity, artistry, and critical thinking to every account, creating something truly unique and special for each client. Ever a dreamer, her workplace strengths include quickly creating solutions, engineering neverending streams of ideas, and co-leading the team with kindness and humility.
With a tendency for wanderlust and craving culture, Steph has traveled to incredible places across the world. A true gypsy, she satiated her love for sailing and the ocean by spending an entire summer living on a sailboat in the Caribbean. She now finds herself happily rooted in Ocala, Florida with her husband and their wild pack of kiddos. She is also co-owner of the Ocala-based boutique that sells artisanal home goods, Indigo Family. To say that she is the absolute vision of an entrepreneurial, millennial woman is an understatement.
Jess Rogers, COO and Finance Director
Left-brained Jess handles all things operations, finance, and human resources at Kismet. She is also our resident copywriter, editor, and team cheerleader. Let’s call her the practical one. Jess’s creativity serves her in a different way. Focusing on the big picture, she is constantly improving processes, creating infrastructure, and effectively managing people, projects, and clients with strategy and deliberation. With a degree in Communications from the University of North Florida, her love of people and learning made the world of marketing a perfect fit for her personality.
She lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with her longtime partner where they have – so far – rescued three dogs and four cats. A huge believer in the impact of nature on mental health, Jess finds herself outside whenever possible, working from her back porch, walking her hound pups, or devouring a book on the beach. On any given day, you can find her over-caffeinated, sharing rescue posts on Facebook, and listening to too loud music on her AirPods. Recently engaged, Jess and her partner, Andrew, plan on tying the know in Jacksonville Beach in 2023.