Our Founder & Creativity Catalyst
Learn more about Upside Down...
Leita Hermanson Crossfield, founder and owner of Upside Down, is an award-winning writer and marketer
who has twenty years sales/PR/ marketing experience that includes 19 years experience as a business owner. Since 1991, she
has worked with companies like Bucher Aerospace, Prime Pacific Bank, Glacier Northwest, Puget Sound Trucklines and others
to help them create marketing strategies and promotions; from concept to finished piece; to solve problems, increase exposure
and increase sales.
Hermanson launched her first firm in Seattle at the age of 25 from a small corner office
in the terminal building at Boeing Field.
"A plethora of new ideas, an asset to her community, Hermanson
lives her life with determination and zeal and is an innovative thinker, craftsman of words, with an honest desire to change
our world." In addition to running her own communications company, Upside Down, Hermanson volunteers within her community.
Hermanson has served on the board of the Arts Council of Snohomish County, attends chamber of commerce meetings
and has been called upon by the Superior Court Judges of Snohomish County to make speeches to jurors. She balances all this
while raising her young son and supporting the many other people who depend on her.
A naturally gifted writer,
Hermanson has worked as a writer for the Everett Herald and started out working at the Yakima Herald Republic, a daily newspaper
in Yakima Washington. Her appetite for adventure unappeased, Hermanson joined the United States Air Force hoping to fly jets.
From there she went on to start her own public relations and communications business in Seattle, Washington.
In Seattle, Hermanson pioneered the Industrial Strength Advertising program for clients in heavy industry which resulted in
costs savings for clients, and her firm being featured in the Puget Sound Business Journal and other media. Hermanson has
won awards for her efforts, including a Washington Press Association Award among others.
On the high-tech side,
in 1998, Hermanson launched the marketing/PR department for a growing software development firm focused on the wireless automated
data capture industry (bar-coding) where she developed the marketing plan and strategy; created the overall look and design
of all marketing pieces; produced a direct mail campaign targeted toward strategic business partners which garnered a 13%
response rate; plus established budgets and schedules for all advertising, PR, trade show, and marketing functions.
In 2000, through a program she created called Sales Catalyst Coaching, Hermanson worked with Trans America Auto Glass,
a division of Speedy Auto Glass, to revamp their sales process and re-invent their proposals, presentations and marketing
pieces.
Other examples of her work include: an industry review for a national wire manufacturer which
resulted in the firm being featured in local and national media when it received its ISO 9000 certification; and a PR strategy
which resulted in a local clothing manufacturer being featured on King 5 Evening Magazine and in key national media.
Early in her career, Hermanson was as an award-winning manager at Nordstrom where she received the company s highest
honor Customer Service All-Star and numerous awards for exceeding sales goals and for creating innovative promotions. Her
experience also includes work for a daily newspaper, first in the newsroom and then in the advertising department where she
headed up the national advertising. Hermanson has served as the volunteer Public Relations Director for the Downtown Everett
Action Committee, as well as PR director for Fresh Paint Arts Festival, and public relations for the 4th of July committee.
Through her involvement with DEAC, she created a downtown restaurant guide to assist the Snohomish County Superior
Court with its Juror Appreciation program. She is now expanding this guide to become a Downtown Everett Restaurant and Entertainment
Guide.
Hermanson has been an active community volunteer for over twenty years, beginning in high school where
she served as editor of her high school newspaper, was Miss Selah, an ambassador for the Apple Juice Capital of the World,
and then served as the volunteer royalty coordinator for several years when her year as Miss Selah ended. She has also volunteered
for the Allied Arts Council where she assisted with communications projects, as well as the Children s Hospital Light Up a
Child s Life Auction in Seattle.
This bio contributed by Ronda Renee
