Meet the Pride
Like lions, our team is a pride of individuals who work together closely as a team for the greater good of our community while simultaneously working within the symbiotic circle of nature. The lioness leads her pride into the wild to hunt food for the family. As a business, we hunt down customers for our clients to maintain the top of the food chain. Meet our pride.
iLioness: The Beginning
Started in January of 2011, iLioness Marketing Strategies is a start up with a quick upbringing and a fast future ahead of it. With deliberate goals in mind, Amanda Forker began as a freelance marketing contractor so she could offer support ot multiple companies with smaller budgets and enjoy a life of constantly changing work.
Within only 3 months into her work, she brought on board website developers. In July of 2011 iLioness moved from being a Seattle based business with clients all over Washington and California, to a Portland based business, focusing on localization and small companies. iLioness now also specializes in companies with social empowerment in mind. These changes are a representation of how iLioness moves gracefully with trends, hunts down strong business practices and can adapt quickly.
Over the next couple years, iLioness will continue to grow, hiring more people onto the team and expanding what was a home based business to a complete marketing solutions firm for small businesses an start ups located in Portland, OR.
Amanda Forker
Lead Marketing Strategist/Owner
Amanda Forker has 5 years in the field of Internet and digital marketing. She graduated from The Evergreen State College with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and focus in communications for business, non-profit and the health care industry. In her senior year of college she moved to Seattle where she fell into a circle of business men and women, each actively pursuing the “next big thing”. Watching the process of a startup was enough to get her hooked. A palpable thrill in the air of the office spaces she visited, and the idea of starting a company, rather than becoming a corporate drone was selling point enough.
Over the course of the next couple years, she worked for various small businesses in the Seattle area, all with an emphasis on Internet sales and technology. Working for small businesses gave her the opportunity to learn on the job skills at a quick rate. She also learned the value of wearing multiple hats and often managed several marketing and operation details on her own. This is a skill rarely found in the corporate world.
In January of 2011, Amanda took a leap of faith and began working freelance for herself. She started encouraging small businesses and startups to stay focused, reach lofty digital goals and create philanthropic results for companies looking to do more for the community.
I want to companies to transform their industry. Business is changing, and that means considering your consumer benefit, watching how you impact the environment, and caring for employees. With Internet equality and social entrepreneurship on the rise, marketing has become as simple as demonstrating how much good your company does. People are ready to follow those principles.
As the Lead Marketing Strategist, Amanda helps companies identify their online goals and sets clear and available strategies. From website development to logo design to social media content management, she does it all. Her specialty is identifying the tactics that will work and bringing everything together congruently.
In her spare time, Amanda enjoys reading, walking around Portland, and yoga. She is currently addicted to avocados and if you follow her on Twitter you will learn that she will try almost any product Google offers. Gadgets are a magnet to her and smartphones, tablets, apps, integration devices and more are all readily at her fingertips. She suspects she gets the gadget-gene from her dad, who is also an active Consumer Reports follower.
Connect with Amanda
James Baez
Sales Manager
With over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing, James has helped businesses discover areas for growth and ways to generate positive community and internal improvement. The younger James passed up major Oregon universities, opting for a more focused education which offered a first name relationship with his professors. This landed him at Western Oregon where he received his B.S. Business Administration with a focus in Marketing. His passion has been in working with small and mid-sized companies ranging from <$250k to >$5 million in a variety of industries, including restaurants, business consulting, and retail management. He has an eye for detail and anticipates consumer needs in current business climates.
I love the energy… startups and small businesses have something that most all big companies don’t have. Passion and energy. Lots of energy. It’s the difference between a 5 year old at the playground and a 88 year old at the same playground; you just see the excitement for something new pouring off the 5 year old. They’re just like a new business.
James’ role at iLioness Marketing Strategies is to act as an ambassador for small businesses and startups who are seeking assistance with Internet marketing. He works closely with companies to pinpoint Internet marketing potential. James is readily available to assist our clients with any questions they may have and will be a constant point of contact during marketing campaigns.
Growing up in Bend, Oregon, James spent his youth fly-fishing, skiing, and all things Central Oregon. In Portland, James can be found at local brewery festivals, picnicking in the parks, and golfing. He is often in company with his Golden Retriever, Hunter. As of recent, he has been writing novels and is currently on his second book.
