About the nomBat Team & Our Story
The Team
Jon Rawls
Co-Founder, Brand Strategist
Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Jon Rawls attended Soquel High, Cabrillo College, and a short time at UCSC before leaving Santa Cruz to try his hand in the larger corporate world in Northern California and eventually NYC. Although he loved New York and the world of finance his entrepreneurial spirit led him to found nomBat with Jules Henry in 2008. Being from Santa Cruz has really affected the way that Jon sees the local community, he is passionate about creating and improving successful local businesses and eagerly helps businesses embrace new media and the Social Web.
Jules Henry Rawls
Co-Founder, Creative Director
From Atlanta, GA. Graduated in 2006 from Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Graphic Design. Moved to New York and worked as Creative Director, Web, for the internet branch of a marketing and advertising agency. For more of Jules’ personal work, check out her site: Orignaux Moose.
Collaborators
Morgan McDermott
Programmer
Joshua Logan
Client Development
Dan Czyzyk
Drupal Developer
OUR STORY
We are a design team who started in NYC in 2008. After meeting, we quickly realized that our strengths were very well-matched; Jon as a masterful strategist and Jules as a talented designer. To try a new change of pace (and avoid snow) in 2010 they moved to the sunny shores of Encinitas, California and then North to Jon’s hometown: Santa Cruz, CA.
We saw a need for businesses to understand that a Brand can be much more than just a logo. Your Brand is everything you do, and only you can start the process of identifying what your Brand is. We will help you to uncover and express what you already know about your brand. Only after you have identified your brand should your logo come into the picture as an authentic expression of your overall vision.
WHAT’S A NOMBAT?
We are often asked what our company name means or refers to, and the truth is that it comes from a clever caption on a photo, turned internet meme, and eventually an inside joke among friends. Not the best branding strategy, we admit, but still a well loved and unique brand and mascot.
The urban dictionary defines NOM as “the sound made when someone is eating or chewing something and really enjoying it.” Our company slogan is Stay Hungry! and our mascot is a hungry Wombat, or… a nomBat.