Meet the
Vantage Team
Kelli Smith – Lead Marketing Strategist/Chief Executive Officer
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Kelli is strategy and brand driven. She has over 17 years media experience and has successfully developed and implemented marketing strategies for a variety of clients and industries. She is a big-picture thinker and has mastered the dynamic blending of traditional and non-traditional mediums to effectively reach the audiences targeted and drive results for clients, based on their end goals and available resources. Kelli also possesses more than six years of qualitative and quantitative research experience which affords her a scientific lens for analyzing audience behaviors.
Kelli adores her family and friends and will do anything for them. She has fun hosting dinner and parties at the farm – a good bon fire is always nice. She also likes her alone time and can likely be found watching HGTV and Food Network. Kelli enjoys summertime, her pool and mowing. She loves her partner of 20 years, he keeps her on her toes while also keeping her grounded. They like to frequent local dining establishments and travel when they can. Nashville and the beach are some of their favorite places. Kelli is passionate about her business partners and getting clients results.
Anna Lawrence – Client Relations Director/Chief Creative Officer
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Anna possesses over 22 years of experience in brand strategy and creative message development. She is a graduate of the Wizard Academy’s “How to Write Powerfully and Clearly” among other high-level writing and creative studies. Anna excels at developing intuitive messages that resonate with target audiences and move them to action. She has directed multiple creative projects for both traditional and non-traditional mediums, and has a talent for delivering poignant and effective communication. Anna is also an accomplished trainer and has assisted organizations with internal culture and communication strategies.
Anyone who knows Anna will attest that she is rarely quiet and tends to make friends wherever she goes. She still enjoys sharing an adult beverage or two with good company, and in her younger years, could often be found on the dance floor. These days she and her husband, David, stay on their toes with their precocious, grade-school-aged daughter Sophia, who is now Anna’s primary dance partner. They enjoy spending weekends as a family – either off on an adventure or hanging out in their backyard. They are avid Cardinal baseball fans, and also enjoy Mizzou football and Blues hockey. They like to travel, and often combine vacations with visiting family, which is plentiful and fairly spread out. When not with family, Anna enjoys cooking and organizing… pretty much anything!
Mandi Heiland – Our beloved friend and forever partner
Vantage Consultants was founded on the dreams and determination of three talented women, who wanted a business that allowed them to be successful doing what they loved while having the flexibility to prioritize their own lives. The three original partners were perfectly matched, with complimentary skills and talents that so completely fulfilled all roles required for success. More importantly, they were the best of friends - sisters by heart - whose shared aspirations drove them to build something lasting. That these three partners found one another was surely divine intervention.
In March of 2020, a year soon to become known as the year that everything changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mandi passed away from complications of pneumonia. She was 39 years old.
Not a day passes that her absence is not felt. She was a knowledgeable business woman, a wiz at spreadsheets and numbers, our resident IT tech and legal consultant, and rarely met a media rep she didn’t like. She was a caring partner, always willing to listen and lend support; a wealth of knowledge with a love for research and learning; a bright smile that always made the day better.
As the mother of two boys, Brock & Aiden, Mandi was never more proud than when watching them play baseball, basketball and shoot archery. She loved camping and fishing, and going to mud runs with her long-time partner, Scott. They also enjoyed taking the Harley out on the weekends and exploring little towns and local eateries. When at home, her time was most enjoyed with her family - watching football, playing pool and hibernating on a welcome snow day. She loved spending time in the kitchen cooking and canning. And for the car enthusiasts out there – she was the proud, longtime owner of a black ‘93 GT Mustang.
Although our Mandi is no longer here for the day-to-day triumphs and challenges, she will forever remain in our hearts. The success of Vantage Consultants, today and always, will be a tribute to her memory.
