by Laura Love

Twenty-five years ago, I started GroundFloor Media in a small basement in Boulder with a lot of hope, a healthy dose of fear and no real sense of where the journey would lead. What I did have was a simple belief that good work, done with integrity, has a way of finding its people. 

What I couldn’t see then (but understand deeply now) is that this agency would become about far more than communications and marketing. It would become about community. A place built on trust, shared purpose and people — colleagues and clients alike — who show up for one another. 

Twenty-five years later, that belief still guides us. And that focus on building community inside and outside of our walls is still at the heart of everything we do. 

The Privilege of Growing Up Together 

Being part of a community for this long means living real life together. It means showing up for one another during moments of celebration, heartbreak and everything in between. There have been seasons when the work felt secondary to simply being human and when grace mattered more than deadlines. I will never stop being grateful for the way this community has held space during those times, with compassion, steadiness and loads of big human love. 

Being part of this community for 25 years has meant growing up alongside our clients, our partners and our team. It’s meant weathering change together including economic shifts, pandemics, media revolutions, personal milestones, losses, celebrations and reinventions. 

Some of you trusted us early, when we were scrappy and still figuring it out in real time. Others found us later, when the work became more complex and the stakes higher. Many of you have stayed with us through multiple chapters including new roles, new organizations and new ideas. And that kind of trust is never taken lightly. 

What I’m most proud of isn’t just the work we’ve produced, but the relationships we have built. 

The People Who Make This Place What It Is 

GroundFloor Media has always been shaped by the people who are part of it. 

Our team members brings heart, intellect, humility and an unwavering sense of responsibility to our work. They show up for clients, for one another and for the community with deep care and boatloads of conviction. Watching people grow here has been one of the great honors of my life. 

This agency works because it’s built on mutual respect, collaboration and shared values. Titles matter less than trust. Curiosity matters more than ego. And doing the right thing is never optional. 

Community Is Not a Buzzword Here 

From the beginning, we believed that if we were lucky enough to succeed, we had a responsibility to give back. 

Over the years, that belief has taken many forms — supporting nonprofits, donating time and expertise, creating space for hard conversations and standing alongside organizations doing critical work in our community and beyond. 

Giving back isn’t something we do in addition to our work. It’s an inherent part of how we define success. 

Being part of this community means using what we know, what we have and who we are to make things a little better than we found them. 

Why This Moment Matters 

As we celebrate our 25th year, I’m less focused on how far we’ve come and more focused on how grateful I am for the people who have made the journey possible: 

• Clients who trusted us. 
• Partners who challenged us. 
• Team members and my fellow business partners who built something meaningful together. 
• A community that supported us, held us accountable and welcomed us in. 

That’s the story that matters most to me. 

The name on the door matters, but what it represents matters more. It represents relationships, responsibility and a shared belief that work can be both excellent and ethical. 

Once You’re Part of This, You’re Always Part of This 

One of the greatest privileges of building this agency has been watching people grow — sometimes here and sometimes beyond our walls. Even when team members move on, they remain part of our story. We celebrate them, welcome them back at alumni gatherings and stay connected because the impact they made here matters. 

GroundFloor Media has never been a stop along the way. It’s a community you carry with you. We’re deeply grateful for every person who helped build what this agency is today, no matter where their paths have taken them. 

Looking Ahead – With Gratitude 

As we embark on our next 25 years, we’re entering that next chapter with clarity, humility and a healthy dose of optimism (which is desperately needed right now), and we are grounded in the same values that have guided us from the start: mutual respect, passionate collaboration, uncompromising ethics and unwavering accountability. 

To everyone who has been part of this community over the past 25 years — thank you. You’ve shaped this agency in ways I could never have imagined, and I’m deeply grateful to have shared this journey with you. 

Here’s to what we’ve built together and what’s still ahead.