Smart, skilled and super savvy – Nita Childs is the powerhouse behind the success of multitudes of Sunshine Coast businesses, forging a name for herself as the head of one of the region’s leading creative agency.

“If you toe the line and just do the same thing that everyone else has always done before and live to other people’s expectations, you’ll never stand out.”

This is the philosophy Nita Childs lives by to succeed in business, and it’s clearly working. You see, Nita and her team of talented ‘foxes’ at What The Fox Creative, help businesses of all sizes steal the spotlight in their respective industries. And while much of their work goes on behind the scenes in the world of branding, strategies and digital marketing, they have built a reputation that rivals that of many of the big city agencies.

I realised design has this ability to really make a difference in people’s lives – that by thinking about what you’re designing and who you’re designing it for, you can change how people perceive things.”

But leading such an influential business is no simple feat and it has taken years of hard work, long hours, steely determination and family support for Nita to get to this point.

Nita’s career in marketing developed 10 years ago from her experience in graphic design. Having started out making gig posters and CD cover art for her musical friends, Nita went on to design a weekly street press publication, before working in design support roles for the Australian Conservation Foundation and Oxfam, where she realised the true potential of good design principles.

“I realised design has this ability to really make a difference in people’s lives – that by thinking about what you’re designing and who you’re designing it for, you can change how people perceive things,” she says.

Employing these principles, she became the mastermind behind the marketing strategy for Think Money – which was so successful, they had businesses asking for her to do the same for them – and in 2013, What The Fox Creative was born. Starting with an initial team of two graphic designers and one website developer, Nita juggled assisting clients to achieve marketing success with being a new mum. Her team has since quadrupled in size and her client base has exploded.

“We wanted to show people that marketing and business growth strategising doesn’t have to be boring – it can be fun and quirky. But since then our mission has become more sophisticated than that,” Nita explains.

“People often see design and marketing as a different section of their business but I think everything needs to be central to that – we call it following ‘design-led’ principles. Every decision that you make should be about your customer, whether that be what colours you use, your key messaging, or what time of day you post on social media.”

Fast forward four years and Nita’s business has now expanded to offer not just design, advertising and branding solutions, but also clever marketing strategies and quality digital services such as web design, email marketing and social media campaigns. Nita is now sought after to publically speak on digital strategy and her expertise and ability to stay on top of the fast-moving game is gaining attention within the industry. She is also regularly approached to partner with marketing professionals in bigger companies to support their efforts to stand out from the crowd. And while she humbly credits her supportive family and talented team with her success, it’s her fantastic and varied clientele that she says is at the heart of what she does.

“Our clients have achieved really incredible things, which is testament to the fact that the people we work with are amazing and the Sunshine Coast is full of really incredibly inspiring people,” says Nita.

“Our success is always based on the success of the businesses that we work with and I just feel really blessed that we get to be a part of their growth journey.”