The Culpepper and Company Story
Located on the Emerald Coast of Florida in sunny Pensacola, Culpepper and Co. was founded by former photojournalist Heather D. Hawkins.
Culpepper & Co. has been helping botanical brands create authentic connections with audiences across the United States since 2016. Through visual storytelling and clear, crisp writing, Hawkins goes above and beyond to craft narratives and unique Brand Identities by designing websites using UX principles.
Hawkins began her career in market research in 1986 with Kapuler Marketing Research in Arlington Heights, IL where she made cold calls and conducted surveys about products used by those she called upon.
After high school graduation, she went on to study Psychology at Harper Community College in Palatine, IL where she (almost) finished her Liberal Arts degree. But life got in the way and she decided to leave the Windy City for sunny Pensacola, Florida where she’s lived on and off for the past 32 years. While in Florida, she attended the University of West Florida where she studied Communication Arts and was a Dean’s List student in the summer of 2012.
Hawkins began her career as a Photojournalist at the Pensacola News Journal in May 2007 where she began writing for Gannett’s specialty publications, including Pensacola Home & Garden magazine, Bella magazine for women, Bella Baby & Bella Bride.
She has also worked as a wedding photographer for Winterfest serving directly under Denise Daughtry.
FROM THE CEO:
When Pensacola Home & Garden closed shop for good in 2017, I decided to build my own company, Culpepper Creatives. I taught myself Web Design starting in 1995 and obtained certificates in UX Design and Content Strategy in 2019. I’m skilled in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD, Canva, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Publishing, and Creative Direction.
I'm a self-taught web designer who learned how to hand code in 1996.
I also produce a digital magazine where I am the publisher, Creative Director, photographer, editor, sales manager, writer, designer, content strategist, and social media strategist. I published ten issues over a period of four years from November 2018 to June 2022 with a team of just three people.
Additionally, I produce ambient electronic music for film. It's something I just started doing a couple of years ago and will pursue further in 2023. My music is on Soundcloud where I garnered a lot of positive attention for my single, THUMPER, which I independently released on Amazon Music.
THE DEEP DIVE ABOUT ME:
I am a chronic pain patient with an autoimmune disease who became disenchanted with the side effects of pharmaceuticals and eventually found relief by changing to a plant-based diet and using natural supplements.
This led me to create Kratom Culture magazine, the world’s first digital magazine dedicated to Kratom advocacy. Kratom is a botanical related to coffee used by chronic pain sufferers to help alleviate pain.
Kratom is currently being studied at the University of Florida with grants from The National Institutes of Health as a possible treatment for opioid addiction. One study found Lyophilized Kratom Tea as a Therapeutic Option for Opioid Dependence.
There is a documentary about Kratom by Chris Bell called A Leaf of Faith which goes into detail about this plant and how it saved thousands of lives from opioid addiction.
I also worked alongside the American Kratom Association to help pass the Kratom Consumer Protection Act in six states. The KCPA legislation actively regulates kratom as a dietary supplement which means it can be sold only by supplement companies that comply with cGMP manufacturing standards. This ensures the safety of kratom supplements on the market and also ensures that products aren’t contaminated or adulterated.
The publication which I created features articles about Kratom legislation, stories of people who were able to return to a normal way of life and function again after discovering this natural botanical, as well as lifestyle features targeted to people living with chronic pain and fibromyalgia.
From the relationships I built with our advertisers in the magazine, I built a separate design business focused on rebranding and redesigning websites with UX principles for herbal supplement companies.
