Today we’d like to introduce you to Samie Worthington.
Hi Samie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I never actually set out to build an agency. Honestly, my journey started simply because I saw someone struggling and wanted to help.
I graduated with a communications degree right into the aftermath of the 2012 recession. I tried the corporate route for a bit, but I quickly realized it just wasn’t for me. In 2015, my now-husband had a great career opportunity, so we packed up and moved back to Newberry, SC—my old college town and his hometown. I didn’t have a grand master plan for my career; I just knew I wanted to do good work.
One afternoon, I was walking through town and saw a local boutique owner having a really tough time with her computer. I’ve always been tech-savvy, so I just stepped in and offered a hand. Two hours later, her Facebook was fixed, she had an Instagram, and we had spun up a website. Seeing the relief on her face sparked something in me. Word spread, people started asking for help, and I realized I had a skill that could genuinely make life easier for small business owners.
Growing up, entrepreneurship wasn’t something I ever viewed as an option. My dad was an immigrant machinist, and my mom drove a school bus and went to community college. They taught me the value of working hard, keeping your head down, and doing what’s right, but starting a business felt like a terrifying leap. Still, I jumped in.
For three years, I ran it solo—and if I’m being completely honest, I failed. I loved the clients and the work, but I was drowning in the admin side of things. I was spending money on webinars and industry “gurus” who gladly took my money to teach me about business, but never actually showed me how to run one.
Just as I was hitting a wall, I met Chris Kemper, a retired Army veteran and seasoned business professional. He saw the heart behind what I was trying to build—even if my ideas were about a decade ahead of where our small town was at the time. He believed in the vision and decided to jump in with me.
Today, eight years later, we are EMILY Revolutionary Marketing Group. We’ve grown to an incredible team of 12, handling everything from local vet offices to large-scale government contracts.
Because of my own early struggles, we built EMILY with one core philosophy: honesty above everything. Our tagline is “No-BS Marketing at its best,” but at its core, that just means we care enough to tell the truth. In an industry full of gatekeepers, we refuse to sell fluff. We make sure our clients are educated and empowered to make their own decisions. Nine times out of ten, they choose us because they know we genuinely have their backs.
We apply that same care to our team. We operate on a flexible, hybrid model and don’t track PTO. If someone needs to go swimming with their kids on a Wednesday afternoon, I want them to go. We measure success by the quality of the work, not the hours spent at a desk. Whatever profits come in go right back into our people through health benefits, retirement options, and quality-of-life raises, because taking care of the people who take care of you is just the right thing to do.
Looking back, the overarching theme of this wild ride has simply been working hard and doing what is right. I know I can’t change the whole world, but if I have a solution that can help someone, I will try my damn hardest to do what I can.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road. When you jump into entrepreneurship the way I did, you are quickly humbled by the reality of “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
In those early days, I made my fair share of uninformed business decisions simply because I didn’t have a roadmap. Even something as fundamental as building a team was a massive learning curve. We started by hiring mostly interns just to get things off the ground and figure out our internal processes. We were building the airplane while flying it.
And just as you start to feel like you have your feet under you, the world throws a curveball. When COVID hit, it was terrifying for everyone. Our immediate priority was our people. We made a conscious, strenuous effort to keep everyone we could on staff and make sure they stayed paid. But we also knew our community was hurting, so we looked outside our own walls. We fought for and won grants to help the businesses around us, and we ran digital campaigns to help our neighbors keep their doors open. We believe that if you have the tools to help, you use them. You do what’s right.
But the external challenges didn’t stop with the pandemic. Because our portfolio grew to include large-scale government contracts, we became vulnerable to things entirely out of our control. We’ve had to weather government shutdowns and two major election cycles that caused crucial state contracts to completely halt or dry up overnight. Learning how to pivot and protect the agency when the rug gets pulled out from under you takes a lot of grit.
Now, we are navigating the massive, rapid rise of AI. The marketing industry today is wildly different from when I set up that boutique owner’s Facebook page back in 2015. The ground is constantly shifting, and keeping up—and more importantly, staying ahead so we can safely guide our clients through it—is a continuous, daily effort.
The road has been bumpy, stressful, and entirely unpredictable. But every single struggle has forced us to get better, reinforcing that as long as we work hard, stay honest, and care about the people we serve, we can figure out a solution to almost anything.
We’ve been impressed with EMILY Revolutionary Marketing Group, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
A Revolutionary, Human-Centric Approach to Marketing
At our core, EMILY Revolutionary Marketing Group is a full-service digital marketing agency. We realized a long time ago that business owners were exhausted. They were tired of trying to piece together their marketing by juggling five different vendors for web design, SEO, social media, and strategy. To solve that, we built a comprehensive, in-house team that covers all areas of entrepreneurship and digital marketing under one roof.
While we specialize heavily in SEO and the AI-driven future of search, our approach is deeply human-centric. We don’t care about vanity metrics like follower counts or empty page views. We focus on human digital habits—understanding how your potential customers actually live, search, and consume information. By meeting your audience exactly where they are in their daily lifestyles, we save you time and money, allowing you to focus on the passion that started your business in the first place.
The AI Strike Workshop™
We are constantly looking for gaps where business owners and organizations across all levels of commerce are being underserved, which is why we are currently launching a new AI training course. Right now, tech “gurus” and software companies are aggressively pushing the latest, most expensive “shiny objects,” costing leaders valuable time and money on tools they don’t actually understand.
We developed The AI Strike Workshop™ to cut through that noise. It is a proven, human-centered bootcamp that strips away the tech jargon and meets people exactly where they are. By reframing AI execution through the everyday mechanics of bowling, we make this powerful technology accessible to anyone, regardless of their technical background. We teach entrepreneurs and organizational leaders to take a step back, adjust their aim, and gain a genuine, foundational understanding of how to make AI work for their unique goals.
Our philosophy is simple: AI is an accelerator, not an author. The human element must always remain entirely responsible for direction, judgment, and business logic.
What Sets Us Apart (and What I Am Most Proud Of)
I am incredibly proud that our brand stands first and foremost for honesty and trust. In an industry obsessed with “scaling,” we refuse to sell out to blind automations, software stacks, or outsourcing. Our team is 100% USA-based, and we keep the work in-house because quality and integrity matter to us.
What sets us apart is our commitment to ethical practices and real ROI. We named our agency after Emily Geiger, a Revolutionary War heroine from South Carolina known for bravely carrying a critical message through enemy lines. That revolutionary spirit is in our DNA. Whether we are working with a small-town vet clinic or a mission-focused nonprofit, our goal is to deliver the right message, the right way.
What We Want You to Know
Sure, we want to run a successful business and keep our amazing team well-paid so they can enjoy their lives—but ultimately, we want to make a tangible difference.
We want to share our knowledge. A major part of our mission with the AI Strike Workshop is to ensure our state education systems are fully educated on AI before they blindly implement expensive software. We want to see business owners making informed decisions based on solid strategy, rather than listening to influencers on Instagram who make building a business look like a breeze.
Marketing and AI are absolutely necessary, and while they aren’t as effortless as the internet makes them look, they are mechanisms that—with the right structure—can make your life a little easier. We are here to provide that honest structure so you can get back to your passion and build a company that fulfills your mission, too.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The “No-BS” Guide to Networking and Mentorship
Honestly? Don’t waste your time blindly networking.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that you have to aggressively protect your time and your energy. We are often taught to say “yes” to every coffee, every board seat, and every local networking group in the name of “business development.” I spent years volunteering my time, my expertise, and my team’s man-hours, only to learn a very hard lesson: It is absolutely okay to say NO. If you don’t know your worth, the vultures will take advantage of it. I found that as our agency grew, I was constantly becoming a free resource for others rather than finding genuine partnerships or mentorship. I am always happy to help, but you have to protect your business first.
Here is what actually works when it comes to protecting your time and finding the right connections:
Do Your Homework: Before paying dues or joining a group, research who is actually in it. Not every organization is going to be a good fit for your stage of business, and not everyone is out to be a true partner.
Go In With a Mission: Never walk into a conference or an event without a specific goal. Know exactly what you are looking for so you don’t waste time wandering.
Set Hard Boundaries: If someone doesn’t align with your business goals, it’s completely fine to just be friends. Not everyone is a potential partner, not everyone is a client, and—this is a hard but necessary truth—clients are not your friends. Keep those professional boundaries clear.
Beware the “Business Coach” Trap: When looking for a mentor, seek out someone who has actually succeeded and failed in your exact shoes. Just because someone has “Business Coach” in their Instagram bio does not mean they have ever actually run a real company. And no, running their current coaching business does not count! Look for real-world grit and experience, not just someone who is good at selling advice.
Ultimately, your time is your most valuable asset. Spend it with people who genuinely elevate you, and don’t be afraid to walk away from the rooms that don’t.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ermarketinggroup.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emily_ermarketing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhoisEMILYG
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samieworthingtonmarketingcreative/
