The Social Elm was founded on a simple idea: growth marketing shouldn't be a black box. It should be a partnership — one grounded in strategy, sharpened by data, and built to fit the way your business actually works.

That philosophy comes straight from founder Kailee VanDamia, who has spent over 15 years helping brands turn marketing insight into measurable growth. Kailee started her career on the agency side - with one of the first agencies to bring large-scale social strategy to major consumer brands. Over 11 years there, she rose to Strategy Director, working alongside elite marketing and product teams to translate ambitious business goals into strategy that teams could actually execute — building the systems, briefs, and processes that let a growing agency deliver consistent, high-quality work for Fortune 1000 brands, from Chrysler and Samsung to World Kitchen and ConAgra Foods.

From there, Kailee moved client-side, leading paid media and performance marketing teams — owning the marketing P&L responsibility, coaching teams, and driving the kind of record profitability that helped set up a successful company acquisition. Along the way, she built deep, hands-on fluency across paid social, paid search, SEO, CRO, martech, and marketing automation — the rare marketer who's just as comfortable setting the strategy as she is getting into the platform to build it herself.

In 2021, Kailee brought that full-spectrum experience — part creative, part technologist, part analyst — into The Social Elm. Today, she partners directly with agencies, brands, and nonprofits to scale customer acquisition through smart, full-funnel growth marketing: paid media, lifecycle marketing, conversion rate optimization, and the advanced analytics that turn campaigns into real ROI. Whether it's a lean startup or a business managing an eight-figure marketing budget, Kailee brings the same thing to every partnership: structure, hands-on execution, and a genuine investment in helping her clients grow.

She's a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate (Go Heels), a Cary, NC local, and someone who believes the best marketing strategy is the one your team can actually run with.