Written by a Gen Z Digital Storyteller

Regular

Giving Tuesday has raised a lot of eyebrows at Black Sheep over the years. But nonprofits are in dire straits across the country—and it's time to think through how we can give back when we're tapped out from 2020.

#GivingTuesday2020

We were over it. Now it's all we can think about.

Condensed

A reflection on the weird parade of life and grime that this obnoxious pandemic year has spurred.

Triumphs and Laments of 2020

A reflection on the weird parade of life and grime that this obnoxious pandemic year has spurred

Hey—are you on a quest to tell better stories? With experience writing for brands and organizations in a cause-based space? Cool. Please apply.

We are hiring: Copywriter

Hey—are you a digital whiz? With experience running paid, organic and emergent digital programs for brands and organizations in a cause-based space? Cool. Please apply.

We are hiring: Digital Analyst

We Are Hiring: Social Media and Content Manager (Closed)

Hey—are you a social media whiz? With experience writing, crafting and producing social media content for brands and organizations in a cause-based space? Cool. Please apply.

We are hiring: Social Media and Content Manager

A government official outreach guide for student activsts

How do I contact elected officials?

A student activist’s guide to making connections that create social change.

The jingle? Dead? Not in 2020—not if you think about it.

Now Is the Time for Jingles

Back in September, I witnessed something that jogged some much-lodged information out of my skull. 

As COVID-19 has driven us apart, online community hubs, like Ethel's Club, are finding ways to safely bring us back together and redefine an online experience.

Connecting in Crisis

The last eight months have redefined the word “community” for all of us. 

With the election behind us and much to happen these upcoming weeks, it's important to take a mental moment for ourselves. Here's a playlist to help keep it chill.  

Keep it chill

My iPhone screen time was up last week by 86%. 

Manifestation doesn’t just come in the form of furniture you need showing up near an oversized trash can. Manifestation is bringing something tangible into your life through attraction and belief. If you think it, it will come.

The Magical Dumpster and Manifestation

Amanda Oleander's paintings encourage us to take a second and appreciate the little things. Let it ground you, let it feel special. Then wholeheartedly soak it in.

Grounded by the Little Things

In efforts to encourage the let’s-all be-happy-and-ignore-the-chaos-for-a-little-bit ways, this’ll be short and sweet.

If you are feeling overwhelmed right now, you are not alone. Let this year's World Mental Health Day be both a celebration of those invisible milestones and a reminder that help is out there and there is no shame in seeking it out.

Have You Considered Therapy?

There’s a meme circulating that says something along the lines of: When I tell you to go to therapy, I don’t mean that I think you’re crazy. I mean that I think you deserve someone to listen to you, without judgment, and help you process your feelings.

WE ARE HIRING CREATIVE DIRECTOR (Now Closed)

Calling all creative brains—we're hiring for a Creative Director. Learn more about this latest opening in the flock and see if you're right for the role.

We are hiring: Creative Director

NSL Bites: Yvonne Force Villareal on the Power of Public Art

Yvonne’s statements on public art providing accessibility inspires work that can guide humanity and create opportunities for pause in new ways as we enter this new creative period.

The Power of Public Art

I’ve been thinking about this clip of Yvonne Force Villareal and what she said about the power of public art leading up to my trip to Marfa last week:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved the way for women across the country to become architects of their own success—and encouraged us all to never give up on a good fight.

Here's to a Heroic Fight

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a hero of ours at Black Sheep, for obvious reasons. Without her work, quite frankly, who knows if Black Sheep would exist. 

Why Originality is Wildly Unpopular (According to Neuroscience)

Originality is the courage to oppose and the insight to see how that opposition can change what we see in front of us.

When we think of the word “originality,” we think of the act of creation.

It's time to step back and envision all of the ways we’ve mirrored our beloved plants and adapted this year.

Phototropism

There’s not a single person on Earth who would call me a green thumb. I’ve never been able to keep a plant alive for more than a week, and that includes succulents. 

We Are Hiring Chief of Staff (Now Closed)

New role for a visionary Chief of Staff at The Black Sheep Agency

Now hiring at Black Sheep in Houston for Chief of Staff

Because a lot has happened (and not happened) since 1971.

Alarmed (But Resolute)

There’s a particular kind of project that doesn’t feel like a project.

It feels like something else entirely. Over Black Sheep’s 16 years, we’ve learned to recognize these engagements — the ones where the stakes are real, where the mission is load-bearing, where getting the story right genuinely changes what’s possible for the people an organization serves. We’ve also learned that these are the projects we want to fill our days with.

Right now, our roster is full of them. I want to talk about that — not as a highlight reel, but as a reflection of what we believe this work is for. And if you’re leading one of these organizations right now and it feels heavy or uncertain or like your story isn’t keeping pace with your mission, this is for you too.


Some projects aren’t a single scope — they’re a relationship, built over time, through the kind of trust that only comes from doing hard things together.

Houston Arts Alliance is in one of the most pivotal moments in its history. A new CEO — the first woman and person of color to lead the organization — has stepped into a role that carries both enormous expectation and extraordinary possibility. We are building alongside them from the ground up: immediate messaging and leadership transition tools, a mission and vision refresh, a public education campaign, a community engagement process and a full brand foundation. Long, layered, listening-first work. Some of our favorite kind.

Houston Parks Board is marking its 50th anniversary at the start of an exciting new chapter — bold new leadership, a visionary strategic plan and a future that has been a century in the making. We’re evolving their brand to match the scale of that moment. Being trusted when the foundation is strong and the future is wide open is its own kind of honor.

Good Reason Houston is an organization we know well — we built their original brand in 2018, and they’ve called on us at several points of strategic inflection since. This is one of those moments. The world these leaders are navigating looks almost nothing like it did seven years ago, and our work together right now is about finding language that tells their story with clarity and confidence for where things are today.

Civic Builders designs, finances and builds educational facilities in underserved communities across the country. We completed a full messaging and positioning strategy with them, and we’re now deep into their visual identity system — in genuine collaboration with their extraordinary internal team. This partnership is the kind we aspire to: the work belongs to all of us.

The Greater Houston Partnership is building an AI-powered tool to connect educators, employers and community partners in ways that expand workforce opportunity. We’re building the brand that makes it accessible and credible from day one.

Fervo Energy is redefining what clean energy looks like. We are their strategic design agency — giving visual and creative form to the complexity of what they’re building, because a breakthrough technology deserves a story told with equal craft.

The University of Nevada, Reno trusted us to direct a digital campaign for their Black Youth Mental Health Initiative — designed to reach young people at the right moment, in the right channels and keep them connected to support that can change the trajectory of their lives. This follows our branding and strategy work for their CDC-sponsored Safer Nights opioid overdose prevention campaign last year.

The Center for Civic and Tech Life is now publishing a magazine for local election officials — the people who make democracy function at the ground level. We named and developed the publication’s visual identity, because this community deserves tools that reflect the seriousness of their work.

In collaboration with January Advisors, we’re working with the League of Women Voters Houston on a set of core values and a strategic plan built for what comes next. The League has been doing this work longer than most organizations have existed. Helping them articulate where they’re headed is not something we take lightly.

Much of this work is happening in Houston — the city where Black Sheep was founded, where many of us live and where we feel the stakes of these institutions personally. When you’re a Houstonian working on Houston, it stops being a client list and starts being something else.

It takes something to make this call. The leaders we work with aren’t doing it because things are easy — they’re doing it because they’ve decided that a story that can’t carry the mission is a liability they can’t afford. That takes clarity about what’s actually at stake. It takes a willingness to look honestly at the gap between where you are and how you’re being perceived. And it takes the kind of courage that doesn’t always get named as courage — the quiet decision to invest in something foundational when there are a hundred urgent things competing for the same resources.

But the thread running through all of it — local and national — is the same: find the organizations doing the most necessary work, and make sure their story is strong enough to carry their mission forward.

If your organization is in a moment that demands more clarity, more confidence or a story that finally matches where you’re headed — we’d love to be in that room with you.

A reflection on 16 years of learning which projects are worth our days — and the mission-driven organizations we're building alongside right now.

The Work That Doesn't Feel Like Work | Black Sheep Agency

What it takes to build a story strong enough to carry a mission forward.

A reflection on the partnerships filling our roster right now — and what it takes for mission-driven organizations to build a story strong enough to carry their work forward.

The Black Sheep blog is turning up the volume on community engagement, social media strategy, Houston happenings and what it means to lead a purpose-driven life.

The Black Sheep Agency | Social impact and nonprofit blog

We like to type as much as we like to listen.

We're not shy.

The Work That Doesn’t Feel Like Work