With an undergrad degree in journalism and English literature in hand, $500 to her name, a Kansas area code, and a lot of naivete, Anja set her sights on New York City with one goal in mind: To one day become an editor at a magazine. She landed her first job as a copy editor at a weddings publishing and media company called The Knot (The Knot Weddings magazine and TheKnot.com). Her career quickly grew from there and within years, Anja was the spokesperson for the brand, regularly appearing on national TV outlets and news organizations including The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox Business, CNN, The New York Times, Ad Week, and The Washington Post.
During her tenure at The Knot as editor and site director of TheKnot.com, Anja led an editorial team to grow the site from 7 million to 11.8 million monthly unique visitors and The Knot Instagram grew to over 1 million followers. That year, The Knot was recognized by Digiday as Best Brand on Instagram.
In 2016, she launched a series of social media and marketing workshops across 12 cities (from New York to Chicago, LA, and beyond) designed to help wedding businesses elevate their brands and reach more of the clients right for them. The workshops sold out to crowds across the country and became a model for dozens of other wedding industry workshops and summits thereafter. In 2017, Ad Week, recognized Anja as Chief Innovator of The Knot, helping small wedding businesses connect with a social savvy audience.
Recently Anja relocated with her husband and little girl from New York City to Kansas City and launched a marketing media and consulting company. EIC Media aims to help small business owners (large and small) from across the country and globe better position their brands and connect with their GenZ and millennial audiences.
In addition to writing, editing and consulting, Anja is the founder of Made for More PR, which helps local leaders and grassroots groups that make the world a better place better tell their stories online.
Anja also continues to speak around the country and globe, educating small business owners and connecting them to the right people, stories and tools to help them take it to the next level.
She shares her marketing tips and brand positioning advice for small business owners @EICMedia on Instagram and she blogs about all things -- from motherhood to leaving NYC for KC, building a business and living a purpose-driven lifestyle -- on her blog and YouTube channel, @Anja Winikka.
Social Handles:
Instagram @anjawinikka
Twitter @anjawinikka