It’s pretty simple how Orso’s newest Account Manager Krista Allenby describes herself:
“I’m a dog-loving, adventure-seeking bird nerd. Basically, if there’s dirt, trees, and dogs by my side, I’m in my happy place.”
And while that’s accurate – the woman seriously loves dogs – it’s not complete.
Krista’s diverse work background includes entrepreneurship, construction, fundraising, and photography. In addition to her full-time job helping Orso’s clients grow their businesses, she fosters special-needs dogs and raises money for dog rescues in her Austin, Texas community. She also loves owls, tattoos, two-stepping, and motivating people to show up.
Tell us about your job – do you like it?
I love it. I absolutely love it. I’m client- and team-facing and every day is different so I never get bored. Before Orso, I was an owners’ rep and worked for myself in the construction industry. When I learned about Vince’s approach to prioritization – clients first, team second, individual third – it really resonated with me. That was my mindset working for myself and so it felt aligned to my values.
My job here is to be sure clients are happy, seeing great results on time, and having fun. That’s really important to me; I want to make people excited to work with me whether on site or over the computer. Work can be boring sometimes, so I want to make people want to show up.
What made you want to join Orso?
I have ants in my pants and need variety: meeting new people, doing new things. Learning more about Orso was the first time in a while a job opportunity made me go, “Oh! I NEED to work here!”
Orso is a small team but works with big clients. I see these national brands in stores and think, “Orso helped with this!” The passion for what the team is doing felt contagious to me. As I met team members who are experts in all of these services that Orso offers, I felt like it made me want to be more collaborative and creative.
I’m new-ish to agency marketing, but so much of my work history has been transferable, especially project management and working for myself. The people here understand what it takes to start and grow a business. Plus, they’re transparent and authentic. That’s so important to me. We have 12 service lines at Orso. Imagine if I was trying to push 12 services on someone when they only needed 2! It feels really good that I can tailor what clients need when they need it because we believe in transparency and authenticity.
And then, of course, there are the dogs: I have two rescue dogs, Hippo and Sebastian, and they get to snore upside down next to me while I’m on calls. Interviewing here and learning that Vince and his wife foster bulldogs sealed the deal.
So let’s talk about the dogs…
I’ve always wanted to help dogs. My first memories of “what do I want to be when I grow up” are all around dog stuff. I’ve fostered over 60 dogs since 2019, all with special needs or medical needs.
It’s hard. I have to take breaks for myself sometimes so I don’t burn out. There have been dogs that die that I can’t save, maternity dogs who are expected to have four puppies and then have 14. Those things are so hard.
But there are also moments like this: I recently took a hospice dog, he was supposed to have two weeks to live. He’s now going on three months, has an adoptive family, and is about to have his first heartworm treatment on Monday. His name is Turkey, very appropriately. It makes the hard stuff so worth it.
There’s so much that goes into dog welfare: ending pet overpopulation, mental health, so much. It’s easy to think “I’m not doing enough.” Then I remind myself, no, I’m doing what I can; sometimes we have to put ourselves first to keep doing what we need to do to save dogs.
This year, I raised $60,000 for Austin Bulldog Rescue. I got silly with it, whether I’m dressing dogs up like pickles on social media or giving them absurd names, I am essentially branding each pup to be adopted and help us raise money. The foster world can get very heavy, with the Sarah McLachlan sad songs and all that, so it’s fun to be a little lighter sometimes.
It’s time now, for the hot seat…
- Jeans or sweats? Sweats! I live in Austin, jeans only work a few months out of the year!
- Coffee or tea? Coffee
- Books or movies? Books
- Beach or mountains? Mountains
- Favorite holiday? Christmas
- Hidden Talent? Elite parallel parker
And finally, tell us about your tattoos!
Ha, well as you can imagine it’s a lot of dogs. I have a dog on each knuckle: Lexi, Moose, Sebastian, and Turkey. I have two owl tattoos, I’m about to get a sleeve done. This is a hippo in a cowgirl hat. But mostly dogs or owls.