Climb So iLL

Building a Climbing Community from the Ground Up

I served as the sole marketing lead at Climb So iLL for a decade, directing brand strategy, content, design, and communications across every channel during a period of rapid growth. Over that time, the brand grew to over 100,000 unique customers and 1,000+ monthly members across two locations.

The Power Plant — St. Louis, MO (2012)

Climb So iLL's first location was built inside an abandoned power plant—a massive, derelict industrial space that most people would have written off. Instead, it became a unique, awe-inspiring climbing gym, turning a vacant building into a St. Louis institution.

The marketing work here wasn't just about filling a gym. It was about building a thriving community in a once forgotten space. Through membership programs, classes, events, and competitions, we brought together climbers of all ages and backgrounds around a shared experience. That community became the foundation for the entire brand.

A climber in a purple top and black leggings reading "Take Hold" navigates an overhanging climbing wall, reaching for a red hold while clipped into a rope. A belayer below watches and manages the rope. The gym features green, black, and white climbing surfaces with colorful holds and exposed concrete walls.

A tattooed barber cuts a smiling client's hair with scissors and a comb in a barbershop. The client wears a gray cutting cape, and hair clippings are scattered across it. Exposed brick, a large window, and green-painted walls are visible in the background, along with barbershop products on the counter.

A group sits cross-legged in a circle on the floor of a climbing gym for a discussion, gathered around a small whiteboard with handwritten notes. One person wearing a mask speaks while gesturing, and the others listen. Climbing ropes hang against a wall in the background, and shoes are set aside on the floor.

A group practices a seated side-bend yoga stretch on a rooftop, arms raised overhead on colorful mats. A brick building with a white cupola and string lights overhead form the backdrop under a clear sky.

A climber ascends a large overhanging boulder wall covered in colorful holds while a crowd watches from the floor below and a balcony above, in a gym with exposed ductwork and a DJ station off to the side, suggesting a climbing competition or event.

A man with a spiked hairstyle smiles while looking off to the side in a climbing gym, with a climber ascending an overhanging red-toned wall blurred in the background.

The Steel Shop — St. Charles, MO (2020)

In 2020, during the pandemic, we successfully launched a second location, the Steel Shop, in a new market outside of St. Louis City. Like the Power Plant, it was built inside a historical, vacant building—and like the Power Plant, we breathed new life into it.

Launching a second location meant proving the brand could grow beyond its original home, carrying the identity, voice, and community-first approach established at the Power Plant into a new city, under difficult circumstances, without losing what made it work in the first place.

A woman watches a climber navigate an angular bouldering wall with black, gray, and white panels dotted with blue, green, orange, and yellow holds. The climber reaches for a hold on an overhanging volume feature while padding covers the floor below.

Fist bump between two climbers at Climb So iLL bouldering gym, colorful climbing holds on the wall behind them.

A woman climbs a roped route on a gray wall studded with yellow and white holds, reaching upward with her chalk bag at her hip. Multiple hanging ropes and a colorful wall of holds are visible in the background of the climbing gym.

A woman with a braided ponytail sits with her back to the camera, wearing a gray T-shirt with a tarot-card-style graphic and the caption "The Send." Another woman laughs beside her in a climbing gym with an orange bouldering wall visible in the background.

A person wearing a "Team Climb So iLL" T-shirt watches a climber ascend a wood-paneled wall covered in pink, gray, and tan holds. A water bottle with a skeleton hand graphic and "Climb So iLL" branding sits on the bench in the foreground.

A man in a black tank top smiles and fist-bumps a seated woman during what appears to be an award ceremony or event at a climbing gym, as a crowd sits and applauds on the floor around them. Someone signs paperwork in the foreground while another person holds a microphone in the background.

The Numbers

Over ten years, I helped grow Climb So iLL to more than 100,000 unique customers and 1,000+ monthly members across two locations. I built an audience of 50,000+ email subscribers and 40,000+ social followers through original content and ongoing campaigns, alongside multiple websites—designed and maintained in-house—drawing 15,000+ monthly visitors.

Behind these numbers, I directed brand voice and visual identity, produced photography and video, managed all print and digital materials, hired and mentored staff, and partnered across departments on launches and events.

A man clasps his hands behind his back while looking upward during a stretching or yoga session, with others doing similar poses in a bright studio with exposed brick walls and large windows.

A live band performs with guitar, drums, and saxophone at the base of a green and black bouldering wall, while a seated crowd listens on the padded floor of a climbing gym.

A groom in suspenders and a bow tie holds a coiled climbing rope while facing his bride during a wedding ceremony, with an officiant looking on. The scene takes place in front of a colorful bouldering wall inside a climbing gym.

Three women embrace and celebrate joyfully in front of a dark, chalk-dusted climbing wall with orange holds, one raising her fist in triumph while a crowd watches from the foreground.

The Throughline

Two locations, ten years, and over one hundred thousand customers later, the throughline was never the buildings. It is the community that fills them.