Happy birthday, Courtney! We started featuring and celebrating our team during their birthday months, and now it’s our branding bestie Courtney’s turn!
We asked our audience on Instagram to drop questions about anything they want to know about Court. Have fun getting to know her!
What’s your favorite holiday and why?
I definitely have two, and I’m not sure which one wins.
I love Halloween, and I love the Fourth of July. If you’re new here, you might not have known that, but if you’ve been here for a while, you know my crazy obsessions.
But there’s something about Halloween that I love. It’s the extra level of dressing up and decorating my house, and I throw a Halloween party every year.
For Halloween, I literally take two days off to decorate my house. I just don’t have that level for the Fourth of July.
My husband Justin gives me an allowance for Halloween decor, and we keep adding to our collection.
Why do you love Halloween so much?
Growing up, we celebrated every Halloween, and my mom got really into it. She decorated the house a ton, and we got so excited to hand out candy and dress up.
My dad loved Halloween and the Fourth of July, too.
So, I think my dad’s excitement around these holidays really got me excited as a kid growing up.
I’ve kind of carried his love and excitement for them with me. As an adult, it just grows and grows.
Now that I have my own kid, it’s even more fun because I can make her things like boo baskets, we do arts and crafts, and we get to take her trick-or-treating.
I’ve taken from what I’ve grown up with and my memories of it to start building my own.
October is such a beautiful month in Minnesota, too. It’s gorgeous out, and it’s not the heat of summer anymore. You get the cool breeze and the trees are changing—it’s just so pretty everywhere you look!
What’s a fun fact about you?
When I was younger, I was in taekwondo. My parents put me in that when I was really young, just for self-defense reasons.
I think it also helps with respect—it’s not just punching and kicking. I helped lead the classes and instructed other kids, too.
When I was 13, I was ranked seventh best in the nation for my age range (13-15-year-olds). We went to Disney World because they had a karate tournament in Florida, and we made it a whole family trip. I got to see Mickey Mouse dressed in a black belt and uniform.
I had a whole article written up about me in the paper. I love to look back because I was just this little kid, and they were interviewing me. One of the questions the guy asked was like, “Do you use your moves on your brothers?” I think my mom answered the question and said I’m really good with my brothers, and I didn’t beat them up!
That’s also when I had a little boy haircut, so I legit look like a little Karate Kid.
Growing up, what did you want to be when you were “big”?
It just goes right back to Mickey Mouse again. The biggest thing that I wanted to do when I was in middle/high school was to draw movies for Disney.
When I was little, I wanted to be in the arts or some sort of fashion. I have always been artistic, whether it’s using my hands to paint, color, draw, or whatever it might be.
The older I got, the more technology and graphic design became a thing. That’s where I began to develop my skills and apply them in the same way I use them today.
I do miss drawing as much as I used to. I should start doing that for our brand or clients!
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
That’s a little bit of almost like a tear-jerker! I think two things.
1. Don’t Take Life Too Seriously
One would be not to take life so seriously. I think as we grow up and become adults, we start to lose our imagination, our creativity, and our sense of fun because we’re so focused on the real things in life. And obviously, you need to focus on those things, but I think we lose touch with the inner kid inside of us.
Whether or not you have kids, you still just need to tap into the inner child inside of you and explore, be spontaneous, and have an imagination. If you do have children, you luckily get to live that through them, too.
Ever since having Mila and seeing her imagination, I want to tap into that somehow as an adult.
So I think it’s not taking life too seriously and making sure that you have time for things like exploring and being adventurous. For me, maybe that’s going back to painting like I used to love doing.
2. Trust That Things Will Work Out
The second thing I would tell my younger self is to just trust that things in your life are going to work out or turn around for you.
When I talk about this, I’m talking about the fertility journey I’ve gone through. That was a really rough time in my life. We ended up getting pregnant, having Mila, and she was the best thing that’s ever happened to us.
Looking back now, I know I had to go through all those feelings and emotions. I wish I had been able to see a little bit further into the future and knew that it was coming.
So I think it’s just being patient with things in life that might seem really tough at the time, but knowing that you’re gonna get through it, and to make sure that you’re leaning into the things in life that help you get through those things.
What’s your favorite “outside-of-work” hobby or passion?
My husband and I are really into adult rec sports. We’ve played in a kickball league for 10+ years. The older I get, the harder it is to move my body like that, but it’s still really fun.
It’s a good way to get outside, get exercise, meet people, and see our friends. Adult rec sports are one of my favorite hobbies outside of work.
What’s your favorite destination to date, and where do you wish to visit?
Abbey and I are both avid travelers. We love to get around the world as much as we can.
My favorite one to date is Iceland. It was such an incredible place to visit. It’s just a whole other world over there. There are things that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. You can see so much while you’re there, too, because it’s not a big country.
There were a lot of waterfalls, sheep and goats, and lava fields. We went in August and had perfect weather. I urge anybody to visit Iceland if they have the opportunity.
As for where I want to go someday, that’s tough! We’ve always wanted to go to the French Polynesian islands.
Africa is another place that would be so cool to visit. I’ve heard Abbey’s stories and really want to go, but I think it kind of scares my husband.
I want to go somewhere where the culture is completely different, and I get culture shock. The further away from home I can get, the more of an experience it is to me. When you have destinations where you truly explore their land, see new things, and learn about their culture, that is a true experience.
What’s your favorite thing about being a brand expert?
There are many favorite things about being your branding bestie, but I think the all-time favorite is seeing the excitement from our clients when their brand finally feels like them, looks like them, and is aligned with them, and they step into it with so much excitement, clarity, and confidence.
That is the reason I do what I do.
I love to see how excited our clients get about their brand.
We work with clients whose style differs from mine, but we’re still going to deliver them everything they love. It means so much to me when clients feel like we nailed it.
Then, when they take the brand we created and put it on their website, print T-shirts, make custom wallpaper, or something else, it’s so exciting to me.
At the end of the project, that’s all I want. That’s all that I ever care about: having a client who is just so thrilled that they finally feel like their brand is them.
Go to her birthday Instagram post to ask other questions about Courtney, and don’t forget to wish your branding bestie a very happy birthday!
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Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts, educators, and co-founders of boutique marketing agency Duo Collective, which specializes in SEO, social media strategy, and branding for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs. To learn more about Duo Collective, or to inquire about working with our team, head over to www.duocollective.com.
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