Today we’d like to introduce you to Ross Donaldson.
Hi Ross, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
First and foremost, I’m a songwriter, violinist, composer, and music producer. I started writing and producing music under my stage name, Ross Christopher, back in college and quickly started touring the country – playing 150+ dates per year. As I continued to grow my solo music career and began working with more and more artists and bands, my network grew. I was working with Grammy award-winning artists and my string arrangements were being featured in TV, film, and documentaries.
It wasn’t long before I started having businesses reach out to me for help with the creative process. They’d tell me, “we don’t have a creative bone in our body… we’re spending hundreds of hours trying to be creative, and we just don’t have it… we need help.” So I started consulting businesses and organizations through the creative process. I worked with them to develop repeatable tools that would access the creative spirit that each person has.
After a few of these gigs, is when I decided to officially launch Amoveo Creative. Amoveo works with businesses and organizations to create the future. We pride ourselves in working with clients that are seeking to create progress and change. We teach and build all sorts of creative projects for clients – from branding to web experience, film to original soundtracks, strategic planning to creative storytelling, and social media campaigns to fractional C-suite work.
Fast forward a few years, I was attending a pitch day event at the Pageant in St. Louis for a couple of the startups I was consulting with, and I thought to myself, “I’d really like to be on that stage.” Later that Spring is when I had the idea for Sunstation USA. Sunstation USA is your #1 resource for community sunscreen dispensers. I applied to the Capital Innovators accelerator program and was one of six companies selected in Fall 2016.
Capital Innovators provided the necessary startup capital plus 12 weeks of intense coaching, networking, and tools to launch Sunstation USA successfully. Within a few months, we had a product fully developed and sales started to trickle in. In 2017, I was awarded with an Arch Grant and the business continued to grow exponentially. Now we’ve got Sunstations in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Our sunscreen dispensers are in small towns to major metropolitan cities, MLB and NFL stadiums, university campuses, military bases, beaches, parks, playgrounds, outdoor construction sites, schools, and pools. When a customer asks where the perfect spot for a sunscreen dispenser is, we tell them, “everywhere under the sun!”
I still write and record a lot of music. I just released my 16th album, ‘Apophenia,’ which you can stream on all music platforms. Sunstation USA continues to grow year after year. Amoveo Creative continues to work with amazing clients, doing really cool work. We’d LOVE to work with you and help grow your business!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Some seasons are smooth. Some aren’t. But that’s what I love about creativity! I’ve always found that creativity increases with limitations. Whatever the limitations are, it forces a creative solution. So whether I’m booking a tour, building a brand identity for a client, or selling sunscreen dispensers to the Super Bowl, there’s always obstacles and a creative path to the other side.
The pandemic has been especially illuminating of this. Sunstation USA pivoted early on to make our touch-free sunscreen dispensers available to millions of people that needed sanitizer stations. The global pipeline was shut down. Everyone needed dispensers yesterday, and we had a warehouse full and more on the way. It took a few weeks to make the necessary changes, but we did it because we believe at our core that healthy communities equal better communities. Not only were we able to meet the needs of essential workers all over the country, but we also nearly doubled sales.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
People know me as a fun-loving, creative problem solver. Any situation has creative possibilities. Clients, friends, and family all say that I have the unique ability to see things through a different lens and tackle nearly anything that’s thrown at me. I love to offer people ideas from 30,000 feet as well as super close-ups. I love the process of creating and adapting and taking people along for the ride.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Do it. Do all of it. Learn to say yes. Try new things. Meet new people. You’ll discover a lot about people and the world. You’ll discover even more about yourself. Build trust with your peers. Mentor whenever you can. Be mentor-able! In doing this, you’ll learn that your world is not THE world. This will change how you approach anything and everything.
Contact Info:
- Email: ross@sunstationusa.com info@amoveocreative.com
- Website: sunstationusa.com amoveocreative.com rosschristopher.com
- Instagram: @sunstationusa @amoveocreative @rosschristopher
- Facebook: facebook.com/sunstationusa facebook.com/amoveocreative facebook.com/rosschristophermusic
- Twitter: @sunstationusa @amoveo_creative @rosschristopher
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT18yPRnADFdJjnUIBmrFzQ
